Perm Tech students developed the new technology devoted to the recycling the fat-containing wastes into the fatty acid esters, which are used as a biodiesel.
Today there is a global problem connected with the waste disposal and its recovery.
The new project is based on the processing of fat-containing waste from the food industry into a useful commercial product - fatty acid esters, which are used in some countries as biodiesel. Recycled wastes are mainly oils after deep fat.
The more frying cycles, the more harmful substances are formed in oils. Among them are aldehydes, low molecular weight alcohols, which are dangerous because they can be accumulated in the body and have an irritating and neurotoxic effect.
At the moment, the technology developed allows to utilize various fat-containing wastes with the production of fatty acid esters with a purity of up to 98%. Their composition corresponding to biodiesel was determined, their biodegradability in the environment was confirmed. The finished product is a liquid that resembles sunflower oil in consistency, which can be used as an additive to diesel fuel or as components for other industries.
Mastering the technology of processing fat-containing wastes helps to prevent the ingress of toxic substances into food products, which is important for maintaining people's health, and allows keep the balance of greenhouse gases, at least due to this type of waste.
The Metafrax company has already showed its interest to the project (methanol is the main product of the company for the esters production), as well as an individual entrepreneur who is ready to implement the project for the production of esters as an alternative fuel in the gas station network belonging to him.