(2019) Journal of Cleaner Production_Upgrading bio-heavy oil via esterification of fatty acids and glycerol

Kim J.-H., Jung J.-M., Cho S.-H., Tsang Y.F., Wang C.-H., Lee J., Kwon E.E.

(Elsevier Ltd) Journal of Cleaner Production ISSN: 9596526 Vol.217 Issue. Article No. DOI: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.01.289

Bio-heavy oil (BHO), a crude mixture of fatty acids (FAs) and mono-, di-, and triglycerides unavoidably generated as waste during biodiesel production processes, is an alternative replacement of petro-heavy oil as a fuel for power generation. It is reported for the first time that upgrading the quality of raw BHO (lowering the acid value (AV) of BHO) can be achieved via a low-pressure non-catalytic esterification process. Esterification of the FAs contained in raw BHO on solid acid catalysts (tungsten trioxide and niobium pentoxide) were investigated by comparison with the non-catalytic method. The AV of raw BHO can be successfully reduced from 116 to ∼38 in 2 h under a low pressure (0.1 bar) via the non-catalytic esterification process. Catalytic esterification with Nb 2 O 5 or WO 3 showed similar performance to the non-catalytic esterification. It can be suggested a possibility to make a high-quality renewable fuel (e.g., BHO with a low acid value) for power generation from inexpensive feedstock. © 2019 Elsevier Ltd

This work was supported by the New & Renewable Energy Core Technology Program of the Korea Institute of Energy Technology Evaluation and Planning , which was granted financial resources from the Ministry of Trade, Industry & Energy, Republic of Korea (No. 20163010092290 ).