Liquid fuels from food waste: An alternative process to co-digestion

Yoke Leng Sim, Boon Juok Ch'Ng, Yau Cheng Mok, Sok Yee Goh, Dickens Saint Hilaire, Travis Pinnock, Shemlyn Adams, Islande Cassis, Zainab Ibrahim, Camille Johnson, Chantel Johnson, Fatima Khatim, Andrece McCormack, Mary Okotiuero, Charity Owens, Meoak Place, Cristine Remy, Joel Strothers, Shannon Waithe, Christopher Blaszczak-BoxeLawrence M. Pratt

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

Abstract

Waste from uneaten, spoiled, or otherwise unusable food is an untapped source of material for biofuels. A process is described to recover the oil from mixed food waste, together with a solid residue. This process includes grinding the food waste to an aqueous slurry, skimming off the oil, a combined steam treatment of the remaining solids concurrent with extrusion through a porous cylinder to release the remaining oil, a second oil skimming step, and centrifuging the solids to obtain a moist solid cake for fermentation. The water, together with any resulting oil from the centrifuging step, is recycled back to the grinding step, and the cycle is repeated. The efficiency of oil extraction increases with the oil content of the waste, and greater than 90% of the oil was collected from waste containing at least 3% oil based on the wet mass. Fermentation was performed on the solid cake to obtain ethanol, and the dried solid fermentation residue was a nearly odorless material with potential uses of biochar, gasification, or compost production. This technology has the potential to enable large producers of food waste to comply with new laws which require this material to be diverted from landfills.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationGreen and Sustainable Technology
Subtitle of host publication2nd International Symposium, ISGST 2017
EditorsMohammed J.K. Bashir, Sumathi Sethupathi, Ong Kok Seng
PublisherAmerican Institute of Physics Inc.
ISBN (Electronic)9780735414969
DOIs
StatePublished - Apr 6 2017
Event2nd International Symposium on Green and Sustainable Technology, ISGST 2017 - Perak, Malaysia
Duration: Jan 10 2017Jan 13 2017

Publication series

NameAIP Conference Proceedings
Volume1828
ISSN (Print)0094-243X
ISSN (Electronic)1551-7616

Conference

Conference2nd International Symposium on Green and Sustainable Technology, ISGST 2017
Country/TerritoryMalaysia
CityPerak
Period1/10/171/13/17

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • General Physics and Astronomy

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