Search Results (11)

Biobased greases are derived from renewable resources, are considered more environmentally friendly, and offer comparable performance to petroleum-based greases. In this study, lubricating greases from frying cooking oils were prepared, thus valorizing waste in order to obtain sustainable and environmentally friendly products. Twelve batches (500 g each) were produced from sunflower and palm frying oils, with 20% by weight calcium/lithium stearate soaps prepared in situ and filled with 15 wt.% cellulose or lignin sulfate. The greases were rheologically characterized. Their consistency was assessed by the penetration test performed before and after working the greases. Dropping point determinations offered information about the stability at higher temperatures, and oil bleeding tests were performed. The average values of the friction coefficient (COF), the contact resistance, and the wear scar diameter were measured through mechanical tests. The greases prove to be comparable to those obtained from mineral oils, with good rheological properties, soft consistency, and good antiwearing behavior, e.g., in open or total-loss lubricating systems, like in open gears and certain food processing machinery; they are thermally stable andprone touse in low-loading working mechanisms. Full article

The demand for biodiesel worldwide is skyrocketing as the need to replace fossil diesel with renewable energy sources becomes increasingly pressing. In this context, biocatalysis is emerging as an environmentally friendly and highly efficient alternative to chemical catalysis. When combined with the utilization of waste materials, it has the potential to make the process of biodiesel production sustainable. In the study, the potential of an extract rich in lipase produced by an Amazonian endophytic fungus as a biocatalyst in the transesterification of waste cooking oil for biodiesel production has been systematically investigated. The fungus Endomelanconiopsis endophytica exhibited an enzyme production of 11,262 U/mL after 120 h of cultivation. The lipolytic extract demonstrated its highest catalytic activity at 40 °C and a pH of 5.5. Using soybean oil and frying residue as raw materials, biodiesel was produced through biocatalytic transesterification, and yields of 91% and 89% (wt.), respectively, were achieved. By evaluating the process parameters, a maximum biodiesel yield of 90% was achieved using ethanol at a ratio of 3:1 ratio within 120 min. The experimental results demonstrate the feasibility and sustainability of applying a fungal enzymatic extract as a biocatalyst in the production of ethyl esters using waste cooking oil as a raw material. Full article

Biodiesel has gained wide acceptance as an alternative to petroleum-derived fuel due to its environmentally friendly characteristics such as low aromatic and sulfur content, biodegradability and low exhaust gas emission. Although many types of feedstock could be used to produce biodiesel, waste cooking or frying oil (WCO) is a promising multiple-advantage solution. However, the use of WCO biodiesel has some drawbacks: the high viscosity and the low volatility create difficulties in atomization and in fuel–air mixing. Experiments were performed to investigate the potential employment of aviation fuels in blends with biodiesel obtained from WCO, renewable diesel and petrol diesel. The objective of the research was to evaluate Jet A’s potential to improve the blend properties, thus helping to overcome the difficulties in biodiesel usage, enabling the percentage of renewable fuel in the blend to be increased and therefore allowing a reduction in the engine’s environmental impact. The experimental activity was carried out on a small-displacement, common rail diesel engine; during the tests, the engine control unit settings were unchanged, with the aim of reproducing the engine behavior when it operated with different fuels. Full article

Energy is primarily obtained from fossil fuels and with the use of fossil fuels, we are increasing the emissions and greenhouse gases. It takes constant effort to meet the energy need from environmentally acceptable and renewable fuels. In order to find a replacement for depleting fossil fuel energy, a range of oxygenated fuels was investigated based on their accessibility and geographic areas. This work assessed the transesterification process’s feasibility of turning used fry oil into biodiesel fuel and its physiochemical characteristics. The performances of a diesel engine operating on biodiesel and diesel fuel were assessed and compared. Four different types of fry oils were utilized for the research on a diesel agricultural engine with indirect injection. The first fry, second fry, third fry, and restaurant fry were the various sorts of fry oil. Five different types of biodiesels and their blends were investigated for their engine efficiency and emission metrics. B40 (biodiesel 40% and diesel 60%) and B80 (biodiesel 80% and diesel 20%) biodiesel blends were tested in different engine speed conditions under 50% and 100% engine loads. While the brake thermal efficiency (BTE) decreased as the engine rpm increased, it was found that the brake-specific fuel consumption (BSFC) increased. Due to the poor air–fuel ratio at higher engine speeds, the BTE decreased. NO_x (nitrogen oxides) emissions were higher for all the biodiesel blends because of the higher oxygen content in the biodiesel blends. The smoke opacity in both blends decreased with rising rpm under both load situations and was lower than in pure diesel. Because of the larger cetane number and lower heating value, the exhaust gas temperature (EGT) dropped. It was determined that prolonging the fry time altered the engine performance and emission metrics. The use of sustainable fuel is essential; waste fry cooking oil as a substitute for fossil diesel could be a prospective replacement in the agricultural engine and transportation sector. Full article

Used cooking oil after the thermal processing of food constitutes a difficult-to-degrade waste product, the quantities of which are increasing yearly due to the increasing pace of life and the establishment of new food service outlets. Frying allows for the preparation of a large amount of food for consumption in a short time but alters the physical and chemical properties of the oil used, which then becomes harmful to human health. Despite several possibilities for using waste cooking oil, environmentally safe ways to manage it are still being sought. In an effort to reduce the amount of waste, using cooking oil as a binder for the benefit of the construction industry seems plausible. This paper presents a literature review on the use of waste cooking oil to produce composite materials for construction purposes, addressing the process parameters of tipping solid materials comprising vegetable oil as a binder and examining their strength and absorbability. Methods of obtaining oil binders, either comprising vegetable oil alone or various mixtures, are described. In addition, the advantages of producing and using “green” materials are presented. Full article

Meeting the growing energy demand for sustainability and environmental friendly fuels is a continuous process. Several oxygenated fuels were tried and tested according to the availability depending upon the geographical locations to find a solution against rapidly depleting fossil fuels (gasoline and diesel). In the present investigation, the viability of waste fry cooking oil converted into biodiesel fuel and its various physiocochemical properties was evaluated. In this regard, the performance and emission of a CI engine was compared using biodiesel fuel and mineral diesel fuel. Experimental research was performed on a single-cylinder agricultural CI engine with indirect injection, and biodiesel fuel was used with three different types of fry oils. The fry oil was classified as one-time fry, two-time fry, and three-time fry. Engine efficiency and tail pipe emission attributes were evaluated for the three different fuels. The different fuel blends used for the experiment were B60 and B80 and were tested at full load, at different engine speed (rpm). It was found that brake specific fuel consumption (BSFC) increased with increasing speed, whereas brake thermal efficiency reduced with increasing engine speed. Brake thermal efficiency (BTE) reduces with increase in the engine speed because of a poor air–fuel ratio at high speed. CO₂ emission is higher because of the higher density and heating value of the biodiesel fuel, which depends on the blending ratio and the frying time of the fuel. It was also encountered that NO_x emission was higher for maximum test fuels except one-time fry waste cooking oil biodiesel at 60% blend, which showed lower NO_x than diesel fuel. Smoke opacity in both the blends have a decreasing trend with increasing speed and are lower than pure diesel. The 1FWCOB (fry waste cooking oil biodiesel), 2FWCOB, and 3FWCOB fuel exhaust gas temperature (EGT) is reduced because of higher cetane number and lower heating value. Based on the result obtained, it was concluded that by increasing the frying time of the soya bean waste cooking biodiesel, the emission characteristics and engine performance were affected. The need for sustainable fuel is important, thus the use of waste fry cooking oil is a potential replacement for diesel. Full article

(1) Background: New clean technologies are needed to reduce the high frying oil waste in the food industry of fried breaded products, together with the obtention of healthier (less fat content) and safer (less microbial growth and acrylamide formation) breaded products; (2) Methods: This study proposes the new technology consisting of incorporation of encapsulated extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) (α-cyclodextrin: EVOO ratio, 1:2.6) in the breadcrumbs (corn breadcrumbs:encapsulated oil ratio, 2:1) for breading chicken nuggets combined with oil-free pre-cooking (baking 150 °C/5 min) and cooking (baking 180 °C/13 min). As controls, a conventional deep-fat frying (180 °C/30 s) and new technology but without encapsulated EVOO were used; (3) Results: Fat content of baked chicken nuggets with the new technology was reduced by 88%, while no sensory differences were scored compared with conventional deep-fat frying. Furthermore, acrylamide formation was reduced by >55% with the new technology. During storage (4 °C) of pre-cooked chicken nuggets of new technology, microbial growth was reduced by 1.4 log units lower compared with deep-fat frying method; (4) Conclusions: the proposed new technology, based on encapsulated EVOO+oil-free pre-cooking/cooking, allows to obtain chicken nuggets that are healthier, safer, and have a longer shelf-life, while frying oil waste is avoided. Full article

Renewable energies are cleaner forms of energy, and their use, has intensified in recent decades. Thus, this work presents a proposal for reducing the emissions, fuel cost, and respiratory disease hospitalizations using environmental cost accounting principles to produce biodiesel production from waste frying oil. In our methodology, we conducted surveys, and collected waste cooking oil samples from local households and restaurants in São Paulo city, Brazil. Then, we produced biodiesel using these samples. Data on air pollutants were collected and correlated with the number of hospitalizations for respiratory diseases and their costs. Our results indicate that 330,000 respiratory disease hospitalizations were recorded in São Paulo city between 2009 and 2018, and the total cost for the Brazilian government reached US $117 million. Improving the city air quality by switching from fossil fuels to biodiesel could reduce the annual number of hospitalizations to 9880 and cost US $3.518 million, because the amount of pollutants emitted from burning fossil fuels was positively correlated with the number of respiratory disease hospitalizations and their costs. Moreover, the emission rates of particulate matter with particles less than 10 and 2.5 µm in diameter exceeded the World Health Organization limits throughout the study period. Using the survey data, we estimated that the average monthly quantity of waste cooking oil was 9794.6 m³, which could generate 9191.2 m³ of biodiesel and produce 239,713 t CO₂ of carbon credits. Environmental cost accounting revealed that it would be possible to achieve an annual profit of approximately US $300 million from the sale of excess biodiesel, carbon credits, and glycerine, and fuel acquisition savings which could improve the image of São Paulo city and quality of life of its residents. Thus, we present this as a way to reduce cost and hospitalizations, and increase the number of available hospital beds for other diseases, such as COVID-19. Full article

The main aim of the present study was to improve the oxidation stability and cold flow properties of biodiesel produced from waste frying/cooking oil and palm oil. In this work, waste frying/cooking methyl ester (WFME) and palm methyl ester (PME) were prepared using an alkali-catalyzed transesterification process, and the physicochemical properties of the pure biodiesel as well as of binary blends among them were investigated. The results indicated that palm biodiesel and WFME18, produced from a mixture of frying, cooking, sunflower, and corn oils, can be used as antioxidant additives, enhancing biodiesel stability. Additionally, it was found that WFME1 and WFME12 derived from waste residential canola oil can be used as cold flow improvers for enhancing the cold flow properties of palm biodiesel. Moreover, ultra-low sulfur diesel fuel winter (ULSDFW), ultra-low sulfur diesel fuel summer (ULSDFS), kerosene (KF), and benzene (BF) were utilized to enhance the cold flow properties of the samples and meet the requirements of diesel fuel standards. The investigation of the experimental results indicated that blending WFME-PM with a low proportion of petroleum-based fuel (KF and BF) could significantly improve the cold flow properties (CP and PP) as well as oxidation stability of WFME. Full article

Waste cooking oil (WCO) from palm oil is one of the most prospective biodiesel feedstock when compared to other oil seeds. Thus, WCO has great potential as a green source of diesel fuel for engines in motor vehicles and machinery. This project aimed to study the potential of three randomly selected types of WCO, namely; sample A (used 1× once to fry an egg), sample B (used 3–5× to fry salted fish), and sample C (used repeatedly to fry banana fritter) for the production of green diesel fuel over Ni-Mo/AC (nickel and molybdenum oxides incorporated with activated carbon) catalyst through the deoxygenation (DO) process. The prepared catalyst was characterized through X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM). The DO process was performed at 350 °C to remove oxygen from the WCO samples. The liquid products were analysed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometer (GC-MS) and gas chromatography-flame ionization detector (GC-FID), to measure the yields of straight-chain hydrocarbons and fractions in the range C₈‒C₂₀. Results showed that the highest n-(C₈‒C₂₀) hydrocarbon fractions were produced in the order of sample B (89.93%) > C (88.84%) > A (82.81%). Full article

Waste frying, corn and canola cooking oil biodiesels were produced through the transesterification ‎process and their properties were measured. Three different mixtures of biodiesel with the same blending ratio, namely, WCME1 (frying-corn biodiesel), WCME2 (frying-canola-corn biodiesel) and WCME3 (canola-corn biodiesel), were prepared. The effect ‎of ‎blending ‎biodiesel with various ages ‎‎(zero months (WCME3), eight months (WCME1), and 30 months (WCME2)) on kinematic ‎viscosity and‎ density was investigated under varying temperature and volume fraction. It was found that the kinematic viscosity of WCME2 remained within the ranges listed in ASTM D445 (‎1.9–6.0‎ mm²/s) and EN-14214‎ (‎3.5–5.0‎ mm²/s) at 30 months. It was also observed that both viscosity and density decreased as the temperature increased for each fuel sample. In order to improve the cold flow properties of the samples, the Computer-Aided ‎Cooling Curve Analysis (CACCA) technique was used to explore the crystallization/melting ‎profiles of ‎pure ‎methyl biodiesel as ‎well their blends. The results show that pure WCME2 has the lowest cold flow properties compared to other samples. Furthermore, 10 ‎correlations ‎were developed, tested and compared with generalized ‎correlations for the ‎estimation of the ‎viscosity and densities of pure biodiesels and their ‎blends. These equations depend on the temperature and volume fraction of pure components as well as the properties of the fuel. Full article