Grantee Research Project Results
2015 Progress Report: Community Based Biodiesel Production from Trap Grease: The Evaluation of Technical and Economic Feasibilities
EPA Grant Number: SU835291Title: Community Based Biodiesel Production from Trap Grease: The Evaluation of Technical and Economic Feasibilities
Investigators: Lu, Mingming , Tu, Qingshi , Liu, Jason , Waterman, Logan
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, 2014 through August 14,2015
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:
The objective remains unchanged.
The goal of the Phase II project is to continue (the Phase I effort) to evaluate potential technologies to convertboth trap and sewer greaseto 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 been actively involved in various commercialization, student education and outreach activities.
Progress Summary:
- In-situ process: This process is also called direct trans-esterification. This will eliminate the solvent extraction process and directly make trap grease into biodiesel. This method has been used on other feedstocks, such as oil seeds, but not trap/sewer grease. The sewer/trap grease is dried, coated with sulfuric acid, and placed in a soxhlet reactor with methanol as solvent. Reactions at 5, 7 and 17 hours have been performed, with sulfuric acid at 20% and 40%. The mixture is then put into a Roto-evaporator to recover methanol, and then washed by hot water to remove the glycerin and H2SO4. After washing, the samples were centrifuged at 5000 rpm for 30 min, after which the biodiesel layer was carefully separated from the bottom layer (water and fine solids). Finally, the obtained biodiesel was heating at 105C for 24 hr to remove the trace of moisture. The methyl esters (may have some glycerides) obtained is about 20% of trap grease weight, which indicated that the majority of the lipid fraction has been extracted. Further analysis will be performed to determine the chemical composition, and further evaluate the effectiveness of the in situ process.
- Preparing for NSF I Corps application: The PI has established connection with a business mentor for the I-team and also a new student, AdamMcNeeley, a Chemical Engineering student from the accelerated BS-MS program. He has been involved in the biodiesel project a year ago, has a greater than 3.4 GPA, and will graduate in 2017 with a BS in Chemical Engineering, and 2018 with a MS in Environmental Engineering. He has co-oped with Dow Chemicals for two semesters.The Mentor: Mr. Art Helmstetter, PEis an owner of ECOSIL Technologies LLC, Fairfield OH, a company that develops environmentally friendly coatings, which is in business for 10 years and supported by NSF funding for more than six years. He directed the commercialization of SILSBOND pretreatment for ECOSIL in an NSF Phase II/IIB SBIR program. Mr. Helmstetter is a business development professional with 30+ years of entrepreneurial experience. He has grown three start-ups into multi-million dollar businesses. He is a registered Professional Engineer in the state of Ohio, has an MBA from the University of Dayton, and a Master’s degree in engineering from Princeton University. The team has met a few times, submitted the one page executive summary. The best time identified for the team is Summer 2016, when the student will be on co-op. So the team will contact NSF again in January 2016.
- The project received a no-cost extension to Aug. 14, 2016. We (the team) are building a large scale oil extraction unit (equipment) that can process 500g to 1Kg of materials (e.g. the trap grease). In comparison, the laboratory scale unit can only process 50 g at most. This equipment contains parts that are commercially available, and also parts that has to be custom made. E.g. we will build a frame, a cart for the unit, and modify the unit for sampling purposes. This will provide students a great opportunity to work hands on, and work in teams.
Future Activities:
The project has met the objectives of the P3 program and is poised to have a fruitful completion. The next steps:
- Technology development for trap/sewer grease: three technologies have been tested: the WCO extraction, the glycerolysis and the in-situ process. Most tests have been completed, so we will have summary of the advantages and disadvantages of these processes in the near future.
- We will continue to work with JTM, a commercial food processor to have grease capture and a small scale processing operation on their site.
- We will continue to build the large scale extraction system.
- We will pursue the NSF I-corps program.
Journal Articles on this Report : 1 Displayed | Download in RIS Format
Other project views: | All 17 publications | 2 publications in selected types | All 2 journal articles |
---|
Type | Citation | ||
---|---|---|---|
|
Tu Q, Wang J, Lu M, Brougham A, Lu T. A solvent-free approach to extract the lipid fraction from sewer grease for biodiesel production. Waste Management 2016;54:126-130. |
SU835291 (2015) |
Exit Exit |
Progress and Final Reports:
Original AbstractP3 Phase I:
Community Based Biodiesel Production from Trap Grease: The Evaluation of Technical and Economic Feasibilities | Final ReportThe perspectives, information and conclusions conveyed in research project abstracts, progress reports, final reports, journal abstracts and journal publications convey the viewpoints of the principal investigator and may not represent the views and policies of ORD and EPA. Conclusions drawn by the principal investigators have not been reviewed by the Agency.