Biodiesel wash-water reuse using microfiltration: toward zero-discharge strategy for cleaner and economized biodiesel production

Document Type: Short Communications

Authors

1 Laboratory of Materials, Catalysis, Environment and Analytical Methods, Faculty of Sciences, Lebanese University, Campus Rafic Hariri, Beirut, Lebanon.

2 Biofuel Research Team (BRTeam), Karaj, Iran.

3 Young Researchers and Elites Club, Omidieh Branch, Islamic Azad University, Omidieh P.O. Box 164, Iran.

4 School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99164, USA.

5 Tim-Kian Co., Tehran, Iran.

6 Microbial Biotechnology and Biosafety Department, Agricultural Biotechnology Research Institute of Iran (ABRII), Karaj, Iran.

7 Iranian Research Organization for Science and Technology (IROST), Tehran, Iran.

8 Advanced Membrane Technology Research Centre (AMTEC), Universiti Technologi Malaysia (UTM), 81310 Skudai, Johor, Malaysia.

Abstract

A simple but economically feasible refining method to treat and re-use biodiesel wash-water was developed. In detail, microfiltration (MF) through depth-filtration configuration was used in different hybrid modules. Then, the treated wash-water was mixed with clean water at different ratios, re-used for biodiesel purification and water-washing efficiency was evaluated based on methyl ester purity analysis. The findings of the present study revealed that depth-filtration-based MF combined with sand filtration/activated carbon separation and 70% dilution rate with fresh water not only achieved standard-quality biodiesel product but also led to up to 15% less water consumption after two rounds of production operations. This would be translated into a considerable reduction in the total volume of fresh water used during the operation process and would also strengthen the environmental-friendly aspects of the biodiesel production process for wastewater generation was obviously cut by the same rate as well.

Graphical Abstract

Biodiesel wash-water reuse using microfiltration: toward zero-discharge strategy for cleaner and economized biodiesel production

Keywords

References

American Public Health Association, 1995. Standard Methods for the Examination of Water and Wastewater, 19th ed., Washington, D.C.

Atadashi, I.M., Aroua, M.K., Abdul Aziz, A., 2011a. Biodiesel separation and purification: A review. Renew. Energ. 36(2), 437-443.

Atadashi, I.M., Aroua, M.K., Abdul Aziz, A.R., Sulaiman, N.M.N., 2011b. Refining technologies for the purification of crude biodiesel. Appl. Energ. 88(12), 4239-4251.

Hasheminejad, M., Tabatabaei, M., Mansourpanah, M., Javani, A., 2011. Upstream and downstream strategies to economize biodiesel production. Bioresour. Technol. 102(2), 461-468.

Leung, D.Y.C., Wu, X., Leung, M.K.H., 2010. A review on biodiesel production using catalyzed transestrification. Appl. Energ. 87(4), 1083-1095.

Ma, F., Hanna, M.A., 1999. Biodiesel production: a review. Bioresour. Technol. 70(1), 1-15.

Mohammadi, P., Nikbakht, A.M., Tabatabaei, M., Farhadi, K., Mohebbi, A., Khatami far, M., 2012. Experimental investigation of performance and emission characteristics of DI engine fueled with polymer waste dissolved in biodiesel-blended diesel fuel. Energy. 46(1), 596-605.

Oh, P.P., Lau, H.L.N., Chen, J., Chong, M.F., Choo, Y.M., 2012. A review on conventional technologies and emerging process intensification (PI) methods for biodiesel production. Renew. Sustain. Energ. Rev. 16(7), 5131-5145.

Shirazi, M.M.A., Kargari, A., Bastani, D., Fatehi, L., 2013a. Production of drinking water from seawater using membrane distillation (MD) alternative: direct contact MD and sweeping gas MD approaches. Desal. Water Treat. 52, 2372-2381.

Shirazi, M.M.A., Kargari, A., Tabatabaei, M., Mostafaei, B., Akia, M., Barkhi, M., Shirazi, M.J.A., 2013b.  Acceleration of biodiesel-glycerol decantation through NaCl-assisted gravitational settling: A strategy to economize biodiesel production. Bioresour. Technol. 134, 401-406.

Shirazi, M.J.A., S. Bazgir, M.M.A. Shirazi, S. Ramakrishna, 2013c. Coalescing filtration of oily wastewaters: characterization and application of thermal treated electrospun polystyrene filters. Desal. Water Treat. 51, 5974-5986.

Shuit, S.H., Ong, Y.T., Lee, K.T., Subhash, B., Tan, S.H., 2012. Membrane technology as a promising alternative in biodiesel production: A review. Biotechnol. Adv. 30(6), 1364-1380.

Talebian-Kiakalaieh, A., Saidina Amin, N.A., Mazaheri, H., 2013. A review on novel processes of biodiesel production from waste cooking oil. Appl. Energ. 104, 683-710.

Van Gerpen, J., 2005. Biodiesel processing and production. Fuel Proc. Technol. 86(10), 1097-1107.

Biofuel Research Journal

Volume 2, Issue 1
Winter 2015
Pages 148-151

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics