Assessment of Selected Sustainability Aspects of Biodiesel Production: Water and Waste Conservation

Assessment of Selected Sustainability Aspects of Biodiesel Production: Water and Waste Conservation

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Tu, Qingshi
Language:English
Published: University of Cincinnati / OhioLINK 2012
Subjects:
biodiesel
Sustainability
Water consumption
FFA
Waste coffee grounds
Purification
Online Access:http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1342730602
id ndltd-OhioLink-oai-etd.ohiolink.edu-ucin1342730602
record_format oai_dc
collection NDLTD
language English
sources NDLTD
topic biodiesel
Sustainability
Water consumption
FFA
Waste coffee grounds
Purification
spellingShingle biodiesel
Sustainability
Water consumption
FFA
Waste coffee grounds
Purification
Tu, Qingshi
Assessment of Selected Sustainability Aspects of Biodiesel Production: Water and Waste Conservation
author Tu, Qingshi
author_facet Tu, Qingshi
author_sort Tu, Qingshi
title Assessment of Selected Sustainability Aspects of Biodiesel Production: Water and Waste Conservation
title_short Assessment of Selected Sustainability Aspects of Biodiesel Production: Water and Waste Conservation
title_full Assessment of Selected Sustainability Aspects of Biodiesel Production: Water and Waste Conservation
title_fullStr Assessment of Selected Sustainability Aspects of Biodiesel Production: Water and Waste Conservation
title_full_unstemmed Assessment of Selected Sustainability Aspects of Biodiesel Production: Water and Waste Conservation
title_sort assessment of selected sustainability aspects of biodiesel production: water and waste conservation
publisher University of Cincinnati / OhioLINK
publishDate 2012
url http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1342730602
work_keys_str_mv AT tuqingshi assessmentofselectedsustainabilityaspectsofbiodieselproductionwaterandwasteconservation
_version_ 1719433669451448320
spelling ndltd-OhioLink-oai-etd.ohiolink.edu-ucin13427306022021-08-03T06:15:48Z Assessment of Selected Sustainability Aspects of Biodiesel Production: Water and Waste Conservation Tu, Qingshi biodiesel Sustainability Water consumption FFA Waste coffee grounds Purification <p>Biodiesel has been in commercial use for more than a decade with several known benefits: reducing the nation's reliance on petroleum import, significant reduction in the emission of air pollutants and green house gases (GHGs), and comparable fuel properties to the petroleum diesel. </p><p>However, expansion of the biodiesel industry has also resulted in some concerns. As an example, the ¿¿¿¿¿¿¿food vs. fuel¿¿¿¿¿¿¿ debate reflects the competition of biodiesel with food supply when edible seed-oils, such as soybean oil, are used for more profitable production. In order for the biodiesel industry to continue thriving in the future, various governments and organizations have imposed and suggested an array of sustainability factors for biodiesel supply chain, such as land use, water consumption, waste management, cost and availability of feedstocks, etc. </p><p>This study addressed two major sustainability aspects regarding biodiesel production: (1) water consumption, and (2) utilization of waste materials. In detail, the following topics were investigated: (1) characterization of water consumption by soybean-derived biodiesel in plant growth and fuel production; (2) parametric study of reducing FFA (free fatty acid) in waste cooking oil; and (3) a preliminary evaluation on the utilization of waste coffee ground as biodiesel feedstock and purification material. </p><p>Water consumption from biodiesel process was characterized as three stages: plant growth, soybean processing and biodiesel production. Result showed that the nationwide average irrigation accounted for 61.78 gallons of water per gallon of soybean biodiesel while soybean processing (0.17 gal/gal) and biodiesel production (0.36 gal/gal) stages consumed much less. A state-by-state analysis for irrigation water indicated that the water consumption was highly dependent on the location and climate. Overall, on a nationwide basis, the total water consumption for making biodiesel from soybean was approximately 808.7 million gallons water per year.</p><p>In general, feedstock can account for up to 80% of the total cost for biodiesel production. This offers potentials for low cost and even waste materials, such as animal fats, waste cooking oil (WCO), and trap grease (brown grease). However, the high FFA content (>1 wt%) in these waste materials requires pretreatment prior to transesterification . Therefore, a parametric study on FFA reduction in WCO was performed to study the optimum conditions for FFA pretreatment. WCO with FFA level of 5¿¿¿¿0.5 wt% was treated by acid catalytic esterificiation using sulfuric acid (H2SO4). The influence of temperature, methanol-to-FFA molar ratio, and catalyst concentration on the conversion rate was investigated. Results indicated that the optimal condition was 60¿¿¿¿5¿¿¿¿C, 40:1 methanol-to-FFA molar ratio, and 12.5 wt% H2SO4. </p><p>Thirdly, a preliminary study was performed to investigate the feasibility of using waste coffee grounds (WCG) as both an oil source and purification material for biodiesel production. Results showed that the oil content of WCG was around 10 wt%. In addition, the post-extraction WCGs were found to be effective in removing impurities from crude biodiesel, such as free glycerin, methanol and metal ions. Results suggested that WCG may be comparable in purification capability to commercial materials. The use of waste as feedstock and purification material can greatly promote the sustainability of biodiesel production by lowering overall production cost, reducing waste generation (less/no additional purification material needed) and minimizing life cycle environmental impact (recycling/reusing wastes in each stage of the production life cycle).</p> 2012-10-11 English text University of Cincinnati / OhioLINK http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1342730602 http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1342730602 unrestricted This thesis or dissertation is protected by copyright: all rights reserved. It may not be copied or redistributed beyond the terms of applicable copyright laws.

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