Recovery of Glycerol from bio-diesel and its purification for value add product

Glycerol is produced during biodiesel production and generally discarded as a waste slurry. This waste slurry contains water (used for washing of biodiesel) and important fraction of glycerol contents. This glycerol fraction could be further treated to recover the glycerin. Which have frequent appli

Project Title

Recovery of Glycerol from bio-diesel and its purification for value add product

Project Area of Specialization

Mechanical Engineering

Project Summary

Glycerol is produced during biodiesel production and generally discarded as a waste slurry. This waste slurry contains water (used for washing of biodiesel) and important fraction of glycerol contents. This glycerol fraction could be further treated to recover the glycerin. Which have frequent applications as a feedstock in pharma and processing industry (sweeting, thickening and preservative agent). This work aims to design and develop well controlled, cost effective and efficient process equipment for glycerol recovery from biodiesel produced from waste cooking oil. Waste cooking oil will be collected from cafeteria subjected to pretreatment for cleaning to remove debris. Feedstock will be tested for free fatty acid contents prior to conversion to select suitable solvent. A well-controlled conversion reactor unit will be developed for conversion of oil into esters and glycerol. Glycerol layer produced at the bottom will be separated by settling process. This slurry will be subjected to decantation for water removal. Glycerol recovered from the process at top layer will be collected for further purification into glycerin and its quality assessment. The conversion reactor will be operated at 50°C-80 °C based on the selected solvent boiling point range and at atmospheric pressure. The contents, yield and performance will be optimized by Box Behnken Design approach. Several experiments will be performed at optimized condition to validate the process parameters and the quality of glycerin obtained at this condition will be evaluated. This project will benefit in terms of waste cooking oil handling at small/large scale and its conversion into useful product by suitable conversion pathway. Moreover, it will provide an opportunity for the biodiesel industry to manage the wasted slurry in a very effective way towards zero waste approach and will support to sustain the economy of process as well.   

Project Objectives

-To separate glycerol from biodiesel for value add product like glycerin

-To optimize the glycerol recovery process for enhanced yield

Project Implementation Method

This work aims to design and develop well controlled, cost effective and efficient process equipment for glycerol recovery from biodiesel produced from waste cooking oil. Waste cooking oil will be collected from cafeteria subjected to pretreatment for cleaning to remove debris. Feedstock will be tested for free fatty acid contents prior to conversion to select suitable solvent. A well-controlled conversion reactor unit will be developed for conversion of oil into esters and glycerol. Glycerol layer produced at the bottom will be separated by settling process. This slurry will be subjected to decantation for water removal. Glycerol recovered from the process at top layer will be collected for further purification into glycerin and its quality assessment. The conversion reactor will be operated at 50°C-80 °C based on the selected solvent boiling point range and at atmospheric pressure. The contents, yield and performance will be optimized by Box Behnken Design approach. Several experiments will be performed at optimized condition to validate the process parameters and the quality of glycerin obtained at this condition will be evaluated.

Benefits of the Project

This project will benefit in terms of waste cooking oil handling at small/large scale and its conversion into useful product by suitable conversion pathway. Moreover, it will provide an opportunity for the biodiesel industry to manage the wasted slurry in a very effective way towards zero waste approach and will support to sustain the economy of process as well.   

Technical Details of Final Deliverable

1. fabrication of Well controlled conversion reactor: Stainless steel made conversion reactor including heating/cooling element with well controlled operating mechanism.

2. vacuum pump: To be used for filteration at reduced pressure

3. Chemical: Ethanol and Hexane 

4. silica bed Column: Glass made vertical colum equipped with controlled flow rate and silica bed for glycerol purification. 

5. Glassware: Beakers 500 ml, Separating funnel: 500 and 1000 ml

Final Deliverable of the Project

Hardware System

Core Industry

Energy

Other Industries

Core Technology

Clean Tech

Other Technologies

Sustainable Development Goals

Responsible Consumption and Production

Required Resources

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