The Department of Energy has a mission to ensure America's prosperity and security by addressing energy and environmental challenges. This Phase I project aims to produce domestic, economic and environmentally responsible biodiesel fuel from brown grease, a waste that is currently disposed in landfills or incinerated. The conversion of "brown grease" from wastewater treatment plants fats oils and greases (WWTP FOG) has the potential to generate over 500 million gallons of biodiesel per year. The proposed project will test both pretreatment by supercritical fluids of the brown grease as well as development of robust catalysts using supercritical process and a final cleaning of the product using supercritical fluids to produce a high quality industrial biodiesel. CF Tech is teaming with Idaho National Laboratory, a pioneer in supercritical and catalyst reactions including their patented SSC process, and Mr. Richard Madrak, President of Waste Resources Recovery, Inc., a consultant within the industry. In prior work, CF Tech and INL have successfully used supercritical fluids in similar developments. Commercial application and benefits of this successful technology will be to manufacture and install conversion plants at wastewater treatment plants around the country to reduce landfill and incineration disposal, while producing high value crude bio-oil. To be economically viable, biofuels need low cost feedstocks, WWTP brown grease meets that requirement as a no cost or negative value feedstock.
Keywords: Wastewater treatment plants, brown grease, FOG, Free fatty acids, fats oils and greases, Supercritical, Carbon dioxide, Critical Fluids, Liquid fuel, Bio-fuel, Bio-oil, Catalysts, supercritical solid catalysts, SSC Process Members of Congress: CF Technologies, Inc. of Hyde Park, MA has proposed developing technologies to convert rancid no-value, environmentally adverse brown grease from waste water treatment plants into high quality, valued biodiesel fuel.
