Impact/Purpose:

Sustainable benefits of substituting biodiesel for petroleum diesel include reduced air pollution, carbon-neutral emissions, and diminished dependence on foreign oil. The most common feedstock for biodiesel production is virgin soybean oil; however, the cost and geographic distribution of soy feedstock has confined the production of biodiesel to primarily Mid-Western and Great Plains States.

Waste cooking oils are another feedstock for biodiesel production, but these are used locally as additives for animal feed. Trap grease has no secondary market and is therefore a true waste product. Due to the disposal fee structure for trap grease, a significant amount of it goes uncollected. Grease then enters the water system resulting in a financially and environmentally costly pollution problem.

We propose to use waste cooking grease captured from grease traps as a feedstock to produce biodiesel. This provides the combined benefits of generating biodiesel feedstock in soy-scarce areas, decreasing grease loading to publicly operated treatment works, and creating an incentive for restaurants to comply with municipal grease disposal regulations.

Description:

This project provides capstone senior design experience to several teams of engineering undergraduates at Drexel University through the technical and economic evaluation of a trap grease to biodiesel conversion process. The project incorporates two phases: Phase I characterizes thermogravimetric and trace contaminant properties of crude trap grease and Phase II involves the construction of a pilot-scale trap grease upgrading process based on the results of Phase I. The Phase II pilot-plant will produce feedstock for an industry partner's pilot biodiesel plant.

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Project Information:

Trap grease is distinctly different from so called yellow greases (waste cooking oil) and neat vegetable oils. Virtually any substance that enters the drain of a restaurant sink may be included in the trap grease, including putrescible solids and water.

Phase I seeks to characterize the properties of trap grease to provide design data for Phase II plant design. Arrangements have been made with Gloucester County Utilities Authority wastewater treatment plant in West Deptford, NJ to allow undergraduate engineering students to capture samples of trap grease that have been collected from local dining locations and conveyed to the plant for disposal. Crude grease will be separated into grease, water, and solids phases by thermal and gravimetric methods. Separate grease and water phases will be forwarded to the USDA Eastern Regional Research Center for more detailed analysis of lipid, free fatty acid, and trace contaminant content.

Cost :$9,065.00

Research Component :Pollution Prevention/Sustainable Development

Approach :

Trap grease is distinctly different from so called yellow greases (waste cooking oil) and neat vegetable oils. Virtually any substance that enters the drain of a restaurant sink may be included in the trap grease, including putrescible solids and water.

Phase I seeks to characterize the properties of trap grease to provide design data for Phase II plant design. Arrangements have been made with Gloucester County Utilities Authority wastewater treatment plant in West Deptford, NJ to allow undergraduate engineering students to capture samples of trap grease that have been collected from local dining locations and conveyed to the plant for disposal. Crude grease will be separated into grease, water, and solids phases by thermal and gravimetric methods. Separate grease and water phases will be forwarded to the USDA Eastern Regional Research Center for more detailed analysis of lipid, free fatty acid, and trace contaminant content.

Cost :$9,065.00

Research Component :P3 Challenge Area - Energy

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