A novel process for biodiesel production from sludge palm oil

Papasanee Muanruksa; James Winterburn; Pakawadee Kaewkannetra

doi:10.1016/j.mex.2019.09.039

A novel process for biodiesel production from sludge palm oil

MethodsX. 2019 Oct 18:6:2838-2844. doi: 10.1016/j.mex.2019.09.039. eCollection 2019.

Authors

Papasanee Muanruksa^{1

2}, James Winterburn³, Pakawadee Kaewkannetra^{2

4}

Affiliations

¹ Graduate School of Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen, 40002, Thailand.
² Centre for Alternative Energy Research and Development (AERD), Faculty of Engineering, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen, 40002, Thailand.
³ Department of Chemical Engineering and Analytical Sciences (CEAS), The University of Manchester, Manchester, M13 9PL, United Kingdom.
⁴ Department of Biotechnology, Faculty of Technology, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen, 40002, Thailand.

Abstract

Typically, sludge palm oil (SPO) which discharged from the palm oil refining process, is a low cost material of potential value, due to its high free fatty acid content. Accordingly, there is potential for upgrading low grade oil into valuable biofuel. In this work, we present a novel method for biodiesel production from SPO. The process consists of two steps (i) free fatty acid (FFA) extraction (ii) enzymatic esterification. Firstly, SPO was saponified by hydroalcoholic solution into soap and glycerol. Secondly, the FFAs obtained were further converted into biodiesel via enzymatic esterification catalyzed by immobilised alginate-PVA lipase beads. •Biodiesel production from sludge palm oil could be completed.•A modified fatty acid extraction was used for SPO fatty acid preparation.•Immobilised alginate-PVA lipase beads were used as biocatalyst for esterification reaction.

Keywords: Biodiesel; Esterification; Fatty acid extraction and enzymatic esterification; Fatty acids extraction; Immobilised alginate-PVA lipase bead; Sludge palm oil (SPO).