title: A novel process for low-sulfur biodiesel production from scum waste.
abstract: Scum is an oil-rich waste from the wastewater treatment plants with a high-sulfur level. In this work, a novel process was developed to convert scum to high quality and low sulfur content biodiesel. A combination of solvent extraction and acid washing as pretreatment was developed to lower the sulfur content in the scum feedstock and hence improve biodiesel conversion yield and quality. Glycerin esterification was then employed to convert free fatty acids to glycerides. Moreover, a new distillation process integrating the traditional reflux distillation and adsorptive desulfurization was developed to further remove sulfur from the crude biodiesel. As a result, 70% of the filtered and dried scum was converted to biodiesel with sulfur content lower than 15ppm. The fatty acid methyl ester profiles showed that the refined biodiesel from the new process exhibited a higher quality and better properties than that from traditional process reported in previous studies.
authors.affiliation: School of Life Sciences, Anhui Agricultural University, 130 Changjiang West Road, Hefei 230036, China; Center for Biorefining and Department of Bioproducts and Biosystems Engineering, University of Minnesota, 1390 Eckles Avenue, St. Paul, MN 55108, USA.
authors.forename: Huan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.affiliation: Center for Biorefining and Department of Bioproducts and Biosystems Engineering, University of Minnesota, 1390 Eckles Avenue, St. Paul, MN 55108, USA.
authors.forename: Min M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Addy
authors.affiliation: Center for Biorefining and Department of Bioproducts and Biosystems Engineering, University of Minnesota, 1390 Eckles Avenue, St. Paul, MN 55108, USA.
authors.forename: Erik
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Anderson
authors.affiliation: Center for Biorefining and Department of Bioproducts and Biosystems Engineering, University of Minnesota, 1390 Eckles Avenue, St. Paul, MN 55108, USA; School of Engineering, Anhui Agricultural University, 130 Changjiang West Road, Hefei 230036, China.
authors.forename: Weiwei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: MOE Biomass Engineering Research Center, Nanchang University, Jiangxi 330047, China.
authors.forename: Yuhuan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Separation Engineering Institute, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou 310014, China.
authors.forename: Yong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Nie
authors.affiliation: Center for Biorefining and Department of Bioproducts and Biosystems Engineering, University of Minnesota, 1390 Eckles Avenue, St. Paul, MN 55108, USA.
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: School of Life Sciences, Anhui Agricultural University, 130 Changjiang West Road, Hefei 230036, China.
authors.forename: Beijiu
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Systems Engineering, Washington State University, Tri-Cities Campus, Richland, WA 99354, USA.
authors.forename: Hanwu
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Lei
authors.affiliation: Center for Biorefining and Department of Bioproducts and Biosystems Engineering, University of Minnesota, 1390 Eckles Avenue, St. Paul, MN 55108, USA; MOE Biomass Engineering Research Center, Nanchang University, Jiangxi 330047, China. Electronic address: ruanx001@umn.edu.
authors.forename: Roger
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ruan
mesh_terms: D000143:Acids / Q000032:analysis; D056804:Biofuels / Q000032:analysis; D001709:Biotechnology / Q000379:methods*; D004951:Esterification; D004952:Esters / Q000032:analysis; D005227:Fatty Acids / Q000032:analysis; D012997:Solvents; D013455:Sulfur / Q000032:analysis* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D014783:Viscosity; D062065:Wastewater / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D000143:Acids; D056804:Biofuels; D004952:Esters; D005227:Fatty Acids; D012997:Solvents; D013455:Sulfur; D062065:Wastewater
keywords: Adsorptive desulfurization; Biodiesel; Glycerolysis; Scum; Solvent extraction