1166346 - Characterization of Fats, Oils, and Greases from Various Wastewater Treatment Plants and Its Potential as Biodiesel Feedstock

Fats, Oils, and Greases (FOG’s) have served no purpose other than wreaking havoc on plumbing and take up space in landfills in most urban areas. Recently, Wastewater Treatment Plants (WWTP’s) have sought out multiple technologies that will reduce their FOG’s; also referred to as Trap Grease (TG) or Sewer Grease (SG). Solvent Free Extractions (SFE) proposes using Used Cooking Oil (UCO) to extract lipids from SG to produce yellow grease, a feedstock used in biodiesel production. In order to make SFE more predictable and repeatable, characterization of seasonal variation of FOG’s has continued to be studied in order to determine the concentrations of water, oil, solids and percent free fatty acids (%FFA) of each sample site. Characterization been done extensively on FOGs from Southwest Ohio and Northern Kentucky. Now, FOG management at two WWTPs have been studied in South and Central Connecticut. FOG samples from each Connecticut WWTP were collected and have undergone characterization. SFE and blending were used to produce yellow grease from the Connecticut FOG samples. The resulting yellow grease was converted into biodiesel using standard esterification and transignification methods. The biodiesel was quality tested at American Green Fuels to ensure that it meet specifications, such as acid number, moisture content, sulfur content, etc.