waste cooking oil – Livestock and Poultry Environmental Learning Community

What Factors Should We Consider with Biodiesel?*

In recent years, the increasing depletion of petroleum resources from environment and the worsening pollution problems have led to concerns regarding alternatives to petroleum fuels. It is by now well known that the EU has set a target of replacing 10% of conventional fuels with biofuels by 2020. As renewable, biodegradable, and nontoxic fuel research has continued to the present, biodiesel has attracted considerable attention over the past decade.To the best of our knowledge, relatively little is known about CBCs produced by burning butanol and waste cooking oil (WCO) biodiesel blends in diesel engines. In this study, we use butanol and waste cooking oil biodiesel blended with diesel to evaluate the fuel potential to decrease CBC emissions from diesel engines. Emission factors are compared and discussed. Additionally, the feasibility of biodiesel blends and optimum percentage of biodiesel in fuel blends are assessed.

What did we do?

In this study, six fuels are tested during the experiments. The base fuel is a premium diesel fuel (D100, 98%fossil diesel and 2% biodiesel) produced by Chinese Petroleum Corporation (CPC). In addition, the biodiesel (made by waste cooking oil) used for testing is produced by Greatec Green Energy Corporation in Taiwan. n-butanol is obtained from J. T. Baker (>99.5% purity). The diesel blend fuels used in this study are: B10 (10 vol% butanol), B10W10 (10 vol% butanol and 10 vol% biodiesel), B10W20 (10 vol% butanol and 20 vol% biodiesel), and B10W30 (10 vol% butanol and 30 vol% biodiesel), and B10W40 (10 vol% butanol and 40 vol% biodiesel), respectively.

The pollutant emissions from a diesel-fueled engine generator are examined. This diesel engine, made by Subaru (DY23-2D), is a four-cycle, air-cooled, overhead valve, single-cylinder. Moreover, the combustion system is direct injection and no further modification is needed. The bore and stroke are 70 mm and 60 mm, respectively. The displacement volume is 230 cc and the maximum output power is 2.8 kW at 3000 rpm. The torque is 10.5 Nm at 2200 rpm. Tests are performed at steady state condition with the engine running at 2200 rpm with torque and power outputs of 10.4 Nm (75% of the max load) and 2.1 kW, respectively, for the six test fuels.

What have we learned?

Biodiesel, a renewable and degradable fuel, is widely used due to its low emissions and toxicity. Biodiesel can be produced from animal fats or vegetable oils with methanol or ethanol as the catalyst via transesteriﬁcation. Although blends of biodiesel/diesel/alcohols are well known in emission reduction, butanol has been recently found to have economic and sustainable potential as a substitute for ethanol in diesel blends. This study investigates the emissions of carbonyl compounds (CBCs) and regulated traditional pollutants that are produced from diesel engine combustion in steady-state conditions. Experimental results indicate that formaldehyde and acetaldehyde are the major and secondary carbonyls in the exhaust, which account for 84.6–69.7% of total CBC concentrations for all test fuels. It is also found out that using B10W40 instead of D100 is able to reduce PM and NOx by 46.5% and 31.8%, respectively. There is a decrease of form aldehyde concentrations in proportion to butanol-biodiesel content among the blends.

Future Plans

The outcome of using biodiesel-butanol-diesel blends as alternative fuels is encouraging. In general, the variation of carbonyl emissions of biodiesel in engines can be affected by several factors, such as engine load, biodiesel components, and driving cycle. Further research is necessary for a better understanding of formation of carbonyl from esters. More careful attention must be paid to non-regulated emissions from biodiesel blends.

Authors

Yuan-Chung Lin, Prof. at Inst. Environ. Eng., National Sun Yat-Sen University. Taiwan Deputy Executive Officer at Environ. Protec. & Safety Center yuanchung.lin@gmail.com

Kang-Shin Chen, Po-Ming Yang, Yuan-Chung Lin*, Kuang C. Lin, Syu-Ruei Jhang, I-Wei Wang

Additional information

Yuan-Chung (Oliver) Lin Ph.D.

Prof. at Inst. Environ. Eng., National Sun Yat-Sen University. Taiwan

Deputy Executive Officer at Environ. Protec. & Safety Center

TEL: +886-7-5252000 ext 4412

+886-7-5254412

FAX: +886-7-5254412

Cell: +886-935795228

yclin@faculty.nsysu.edu.tw

yuanchung.lin@gmail.com

The authors are solely responsible for the content of these proceedings. The technical information does not necessarily reflect the official position of the sponsoring agencies or institutions represented by planning committee members, and inclusion and distribution herein does not constitute an endorsement of views expressed by the same. Printed materials included herein are not refereed publications. Citations should appear as follows. EXAMPLE: Authors. 2015. Title of presentation. Waste to Worth: Spreading Science and Solutions. Seattle, WA. March 31-April 3, 2015. URL of this page. Accessed on: today’s date.

Purpose *

This high efficient and low-cost eggshell catalyst could make the process of biodiesel production economic and fully ecologically friendly. The ecologically friendly and economic process could effectively reduce the processing cost of biodiesel, making it competitive with petroleum diesel.

What did we do?

The acid value of Jatropha oil was more than 2 mg of KOH g-1. The methanol, sodium hydroxide (NaOH), and sodium methoxide (CH3-ONa) were high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) grade. The experimental setup is shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 1. Experimental setup

A microwave synthesis reactor (NN-S235, Panasonic Co., Ltd., Taiwan), equipped with a mechanical stirrer and a condenser (LC-10, Hi-point Co., Ltd, Taiwan) was used for microwave reactions. The stirrer was operated at 600 rpm with a magnetic nucleus. Various catalysts (CH3ONa and NaOH), reaction times (1–6 min), methanol to oil molar ratios (3–15), and reaction powers (200–750 W) were tested. The analytic method of methyl ester content in this study followed Taiwan CNS15051 (Chinese National Standards). A GC (gas chromatography; GC-6890, Agilent, USA) system equipped with a FID (flame ionization detector) was used to determine methyl ester content.

What have we learned?

Experiments were carried out using different catalysts in order to investigate their influence on the methyl ester yield. The microwave system was operated with a reaction time of 165 min, microwave power of 750 W, and methanol to oil molar ratio of 9. eggshell and oystershell were used as the catalysts. The fractions of the catalysts were 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 wt%.

Fig. 2. Effects of the amount of eggshell catalyst on the yield of Jatropha methyl ester with the microwave system

As shown in Fig. 2, the yields of methyl ester were 85.5%, 89.1%, 91.7%, 87.4%, and 86.8% for 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 wt% eggshell catalysts, respectively. The best performances were with 5 wt% eggshell catalysts. Comparing the eggshell as catalyst, operational condition addition of 6 wt% oystershell catalysts as shown in Fig. 3, the reaction time was 180 min, reaction temperature was 65 ℃, and the methanol-to-oil ratio was 9:1.

Fig. 3. Effects of the amount of oystershell catalyst on the yield of Jatropha methyl ester with the microwave system.

The results indicated that the catalysts derived from eggshells showed yield better than oystershell for biodiesel production.These results indicate that although excess catalyst might increase the biodiesel yield, the amount of glycerin also increased due to saponification, causing a reduction in biodiesel yields.

Future Plans

High active, reusable solid catalyst was obtained by just calcining eggshell and oytershell. Calcined eggshell and oytershell exhibited high activity towards the transesterification of jatropha oil with methanol to produce biodiesel. The method of reusing eggshell waste and oystershell to prepare catalyst could recycle the waste, minimizing contaminants, reducing the cost of catalyst, and making the catalyst environmentally friendly. This high efficient and low-cost eggshell catalyst could make the process of biodiesel production economic and fully ecologically friendly. Future, the ecologically friendly and economic process could effectively reduce the processing cost of biodiesel, making it competitive with petroleum diesel.

Authors

Yuan-Chung Lin, Prof. at Inst. Environ. Eng., National Sun Yat-Sen University. Taiwan Deputy Executive Officer at Environ. Protec. & Safety Center yuanchung.lin@gmail.com

Syu-Ruei Jhang1, Yuan-Chung Lin*, Chin-En Chen, Po-Ming Yang, Shang-Cyuan Chen, I-Wei Wang