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Utilization of Fats, Oils and Greases in Biodiesel Production: From to Market Study to Technical Feasibility

Zhang, Junsong
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1511801164066707

Abstract Details

2017, MS, University of Cincinnati, Engineering and Applied Science: Environmental Engineering.
The biodiesel industry has continued to boom in the past few decades and new technologies have been developed to handle low-cost feedstocks. Fats, oils and grease (FOG), a nuisance to the environment, has attracted increasing attention in biodiesel production in recent years. This thesis started with a market feasibility study on FOG management in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) to determine the potential market from FOG to biodiesel. Furthermore, a greener alternative titration method for measuring acid numbers in FOG was developed. Lastly, the challenges of reducing sulfur content from FOG to biodiesel are also investigated using three different types of FOG. The purpose of this thesis is to evaluate the utilization of FOG in biodiesel production, from the perspective of market to technical feasibility. We conducted a survey of 29 WWTPs, which indicated that the preferred method of FOG handling depends on geographical location. Landfill is still the major FOG disposal method (76.23% of capacity) followed by anaerobic digestion (12.29%) and incineration (11.48%). Furthermore, FOG processing technology also needs to be custom developed based on each location and each WWTP. A potential market of WWTP-FOG for biodiesel production could be achieved by reducing the current disposal cost significantly and producing environmental-friendly biodiesel. The current titration methods to determine the free fatty acid content in FOG could generate a huge amount of toxic solvent waste such as toluene. In this study, a greener method is proposed for measuring acid numbers (ANs) in comparison with the official AOCS cd 3d-63 method. This greener method can eliminate the use of toluene, and decrease the amount of isopropyl alcohol (from 125ml to 50ml), which in turn reduces toxicity and cost. 44 samples of yellow and brown grease with a wide ANs ranging from 0.133 to 170.369 mg KOH/g were titrated to compare to AOCS cd 3d-63. Various statistical tests including repeatability, linear model, f-test, t-test and calibration methods were conducted to evaluate the performance of green methods. Besides, the minimum detection for visual titration is determined as 0.0657 mgKOH/g for the first time. This green method can be recommended for routine titration for biodiesel plants. Sulfur issues may become an obstacle for FOG re-utilization due to high sulfur content (up to 1000 ppm). So it is essential to study sulfur distribution from FOG to biodiesel and ensure that biodiesel produced can meet the ASTM D6751 sulfur standard (15 ppm). In this research, three sources of FOG (SD1, MSD, JTM) were investigated to evaluate the sulfur transfer from FOG to biodiesel. Sulfur content of raw FOG may vary from 300 to 800 ppm. Implementing oil-extraction processes (blending grease with WCO) and biodiesel reactions, sulfur concentration can be reduced significantly, by 66.7% and 96.97%, respectively. By using an appropriate WCO-FOG weight ratio for oil separation (at 3.6 for MSD, 4.5 for SD1), all of the biodiesel products in this study can meet the ASTM D6751 sulfur standards (15ppm).
Mingming Lu, Ph.D. (Committee Chair)
Drew McAvoy, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
Fumin Ren, D.S. (Committee Member)
Maobing Tu (Committee Member)
106 p.
Environmental Engineering
FOG; Biodiesel; Market; Acid Number; Titration; Sulfur

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Citations

  • Zhang, J. (2017). Utilization of Fats, Oils and Greases in Biodiesel Production: From to Market Study to Technical Feasibility [Master's thesis, University of Cincinnati]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1511801164066707

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Zhang, Junsong. Utilization of Fats, Oils and Greases in Biodiesel Production: From to Market Study to Technical Feasibility. 2017. University of Cincinnati, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1511801164066707.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Zhang, Junsong. "Utilization of Fats, Oils and Greases in Biodiesel Production: From to Market Study to Technical Feasibility." Master's thesis, University of Cincinnati, 2017. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1511801164066707

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

ucin1511801164066707
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This open access ETD is published by University of Cincinnati and OhioLINK.