OVERALL AIM
The overall aim of this project is to apply an improved process, sustainable and ecological to obtain an eco-efficient biodiesel in accordance with current directives and regulations, from raw material from animal waste, thus applying the principles of circular economy.
To achieve the foreseen aim, the project will determine the process to separate the fats from the proteins, will ensure the raw material quality standards for their application in the process and will design, construct and optimise a pilot plant to process 5 tons per year. The resultant products will be characterised and validated, the replicability and transferability of the process corroborated, and the outputs exploited and commercialised.
SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES
According to the estimations made, the results of this project would be able to:
Produce high-added value biodiesel from animal fat
Implement a simplified production process that avoid costly pre-treatment and post-treatments steps
Reduce at least 96% of water consumption, using the developed enzymatic process with respect to conventional process for recovery free amino acids from the discard protein fraction of the animal waste and validate them as bioestimulants
Increase the biofuel yield up to 10% when the most severe conditions are used and glycerol is incorporated to the unique homogeneous phase
Improve the viscosity of the produced biofuel, the cold flow and combustion properties
Validation of the new biofuel fulfilling the request of the EC Annex IX (B) of RED II, the Directive (EU) 2018/2001 of the European Parliament of the Council of 11 December 2018
Growth the available volume for processing in biodiesel production plants. Potential drop-in prices of feedstock, bigger profitability of production plants & increase of their business
A potential 80% reduction of the carbon footprint of conventional diesels and 35% reduction regarding 1st generation biodiesels, according to an initial estimation.
SUPERCRITICAL CONDITIONS
The supercritical method takes advantage of the homogeneous phase, which improves the phase solubility, increasing the reaction rate of triglycerides and esterification of free fatty acids (FFA).
Consequently, this method can process practically any kind of raw material, such as animal fats and waste vegetable oil, which are difficult to process through a conventional transesterification reaction.
PROCESS STEPS
