A Feasibility Study of Biodesel Production from Residual Oil in the Spent Bleaching Earth

• Main Authors: Yi-Ping Huang, 黃怡萍
• Other Authors: I-Chang James
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2008
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/yycpdh

碩士 === 國立高雄第一科技大學 === 環境與安全衛生工程所 === 96 === 140~180 million tones of spent bleaching earth (SBE) containing 300~500 thousand tons of residual oils are generated worldwide each year based on the worldwide production of 110 million tones of vegetable oils. The residual oils adsorbed in spent bleaching earth containing high concentrations of free fatty acids are not edible and mostly are not recovered. This work was to study if residuals oils extracted from spent bleaching earth generated in the soybean oil refining industry could be successfully converted into useable biodiesel via a two-step esterification process. A preliminary financial analysis was also conducted to demonstrate its economic viability. Experimental results showed that SBE contained 20.86% of residual oils. The fatty acids in the SBE residual oil were hexadecenoic acid (58.19%)、stearic acid (21.49%) and oleic acid (20.32%), which were similar to those of vegetable oils. The methyl esters conversion via a trans-esterification process gave a yield between 85 and 90%. The preliminary financial analysis showed that the production cost of biodiesel from SBE oils was about NTD 17 per liter, which was significantly lower than the pre-tax price (NTD 25.06) of fossil diesel or those (NTD 35~50) made of vegetable oils. This study provided the soybean oil refinery industry an economically feasible method for the treatment of spent bleaching earth and the production of biodiesel.