Grantee Research Project Results

2013 Progress Report: Community Based Biodiesel Production from Trap Grease: The Evaluation of Technical and Economic Feasibilities

EPA Grant Number: SU835291
Title: Community Based Biodiesel Production from Trap Grease: The Evaluation of Technical and Economic Feasibilities
Investigators: Lu, Mingming , Tu, Qingshi , Liu, Jason , Gillespie, Ron , Jacobs, Ethan , Greve, Anna , Pocker, Kathe
Current Investigators: Lu, Mingming , Tu, Qingshi , Zhang, Junsong , Liu, Jason , Wang, Jingjing , Xi, Ru , Waterman, Logan , Williams, Daniel , McNeeley, Adam , Luan, Ruiyuan , Vutai, Vincent , Holliday, Nathan , Greve, Anna , Pocker, Kathe , Gillespie, Ron , Jacobs, Ethan , Noronha Silva, Aklecio de , Rocha, Lohayne Vilela
Institution: University of Cincinnati
EPA Project Officer: Hahn, Intaek
Phase: II
Project Period: August 15, 2012 through August 14, 2014 (Extended to August 14, 2016)
Project Period Covered by this Report: August 15, 2012 through August 14,2013
Project Amount: $90,000
RFA: P3 Awards: A National Student Design Competition for Sustainability Focusing on People, Prosperity and the Planet - Phase 2 (2012) Recipients Lists
Research Category: Pollution Prevention/Sustainable Development , P3 Challenge Area - Air Quality , P3 Awards , Sustainable and Healthy Communities

Objective:

Trap grease is also called the fat, oil and grease (FOG), or brown grease by professionals in different fields. It refers to the oil containing waste (a mixture of liquid and solid) generated in the grease inceptors of commercial food service facilities. Most communities in the US have FOG ordinance to prevent illegal dumping of FOGs by commercial entities. The grease traps are pumped by professional grease haulers regularly and discharged to a waste water treatment plant in most US communities. The current disposal of the trap grease is to landfills, which is both costly and wasteful. FOG is the number one cause of sewer backup and overflow in the US, costing millions of dollars of damage.

The goal of the Phase II project is to continue (the Phase I effort) to evaluate other commercially feasible technologies to convert trap grease to biodiesel, to evaluate the impacts of the technologies (cost and environmental impacts), and to educate the community.

In addition to technology development, the team has worked closely with various stakeholders, including, the receiver of trap grease in our community: Metropolitan Sewer District of Greater Cincinnati (MSDGC), the potential buyer: Blue Grass Biodiesel, and we have been involved in various educational and outreach activities.

Progress Summary:

Summary of Findings:

• The patent has passed the one year provisional and has been officially filed.
• More experimental conditions have been repeated for the patent pending technology, and a journal paper will be submitted.
• The project has been leveraged to obtain $40K funding from the UC Technology Accelerator program, which allows the team to build a pilot scale reactor to more accurately estimate the cost of the reactor system
• Developed a list of potential competitors (through intensive search), and their technologies, which is very valuable for commercialization.
• Life cycle analysis: Qingshi Tu is taking a “Quantitative Sustainability” course on life cycle analysis tools, and plans to use LCA to analyze the trap grease to biodiesel process. The goal of this study is to compare the sustainability of making biodiesel from trap grease vs. that of soybean in the following aspects: 1) GHG reduction, 2) resource consumption, 3) energy return on investment (EROI), and 4) environmental impacts”.
• Two female undergraduate students were recruited for one semester in support of the NSF AY (academic year) REU program.
• For commercialization: Team Effuelent consists of three students: Ronald Gillespie, CoB; Ethan Jacobs, CoB; and Qingshi Tu, CEAS. Since 2012, the team has been actively involved in various business case contests to promote the patented trap grease to biodiesel technology.

Commercialization effort and success:

• The 2013 Ohio Clean Energy Challenge is a “clean energy student business plan competition designed to provide student entrepreneurs with the opportunity to showcase their energy technology and business plans and receive feedback”. The competition period was Oct. 2012 to Jan 2013. Team Effuelent was one of the 12 semifinalists from across the state.
• The interdisciplinary group has won $1,000 at the March 2013 Innovation Quest Elevator Pitch (IQ E-Pitch) Pitch.
• The PI received the “Shinning Example of Entrepreneurship 2013” award by HCBC (Hamilton County Business Center) on Sept. 13, 2013.
• The interdisciplinary group has won the NCIIA Stage One E-team grant, and plans to apply for the stage II completion in Jan. 2014.

Future Activities:

The project is being ongoing smoothly, and has met the objectives of the P3 program (exceeded in commercialization).

The technology development part: a doctorial dissertation will be expected focusing on trap grease to biodiesel technology. We plan to recruit more students, especially undergraduates with in other disciplines to participate in this research. We plan to set up a website dedicated to the trap grease to biodiesel project during the second year. There have been bits and pieces so far.

Journal Articles:

No journal articles submitted with this report: View all 17 publications for this project

Supplemental Keywords:

Trap grease, biodiesel, team Effuelent, oil extraction, commercialization

Progress and Final Reports:

Original Abstract

2014 Progress Report

2015 Progress Report

Final Report

P3 Phase I:

Community Based Biodiesel Production from Trap Grease: The Evaluation of Technical and Economic Feasibilities  | Final Report