Fundamental processes influencing environmentally benign aqueous microemulsion-based methods for bio-oil extraction

影响环境友好的水性微乳液生物油提取方法的基本过程

• 批准号: 1160053
• 负责人: David Sabatini
• 金额: $ 25.52万
• 依托单位: University of Oklahoma Norman Campus
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2012
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2012-10-01 至 2016-09-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1160053&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Fundamental; processes; influencing; environmentally; benign

CBET 1160053SabatiniThe vegetable oil extraction industry is the primary contributor of volatile organic compound emissions in the food industry. The annual hexane loss in the soybean oil extraction process alone in the US could be as high as 210 - 430 million liters. There are growing health concerns and increased environmental regulations regarding the use of hexane in vegetable oil extraction. Exposure to hexane at 15 ppm/day for three months has been shown to cause peripheral nerve damage, and hexane is also a potential hazardous explosive material. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) established regulations on hexane emission due to growing environmental concerns. There is a pressing need for more sustainable extraction method as an alternative to hexane. The overall goal of this research is to identify the fundamental processes that will allow us to develop a robust surfactant-based bio-oil extraction process, including a fundamentally-based model for design of microemulsion extraction processes for a range of bio-oils. The work proposed here would, for the first time, provide a quantitative understanding of fundamental processes influencing the bio-oil extraction by the aqueous surfactant-based method, and further would provide a new quantitative model which can be used for making a priori predictions of extraction performance under realistic conditions. The resulting model could be used to design surfactant-based extraction systems for a wide range of plants and oilseeds, which is not available at present. The results of this work have the potential to be transformative, in that they will significantly advance the way in which bio-oils are extracted, resulting in an industry-wide replacement of environmentally-hazardous solvent-based methods with more environmentally-benign aqueous surfactant-based methods. Aqueous processing of oilseed extraction is preferred over hexane because it is environmentally friendly, safe and produces oil with superior quality. While enzyme-based extraction of soybean oil can achieve greater than 90% oil extraction efficiency, the enzyme-assisted extraction process requires long incubation time, high temperature and produces stable emulsions, which are not desirable in industrial scale. To address these challenges, this project will utilize bio-compatible extended-surfactant systems to achieve high oil extraction efficiency while avoiding stable emulsion formation. The work will then be extended to test micro-algae oil extraction to validate the versatility of the surfactant-assisted aqueous extraction method and process model. This project will study the mixture of a branched surfactant with a novel extendedsurfactant (surfactants with an intermediate polarity groups inserted between the head and the tail of the surfactant molecule). Extended-surfactants consistently showed ultralow interfacial tension with a wide range of vegetable oils, but they require very high salt concentration to achieve optimum performance. By mixing extended-surfactants with a hydrophobic and branched surfactant, the requires salinity will be reduced while the branching will decrease the surfactant tail-tail interaction, allowing better oil penetration, thereby improving the extraction efficiency. The results of this innovative research potentially benefit to the society, as well as education initiatives designed to enhance the learning experience of undergraduate and graduate students at the University of Oklahoma. The new application of surfactant in oilseed extraction and understanding the fundamental science of this approach will be integrated into a colloids and surface science course at the University of Oklahoma, which has attracted a number of undergraduate and graduate students from multi engineering disciplines (i.e. chemical engineer, chemistry, environmental engineer and science). In addition, the developed aqueous surfactantbased oil extraction prediction model resulting from this research will be submitted to the K-Gray Engineering Pathway Digital Library, allowing course shareware among universities. The developed model will provide an interactive educational module where students can explore the fundamental mechanisms involved in oilseed extraction as well as applying the model in advanced chemical process design.

CBET 1160053Sabatini 植物油提取行业是食品行业挥发性有机化合物排放的主要贡献者。仅在美国，每年大豆油提取过程中的己烷损失就可能高达 210 - 4.3 亿升。关于在植物油提取中使用己烷的健康问题日益严重，环境法规也不断加强。已证明连续三个月接触 15 ppm/天的己烷会导致周围神经损伤，而且己烷也是一种潜在的危险爆炸物质。由于环境问题日益严重，美国环境保护署 (EPA) 制定了己烷排放法规。迫切需要更可持续的提取方法来替代己烷。这项研究的总体目标是确定基本过程，使我们能够开发出稳健的基于表面活性剂的生物油提取过程，包括用于设计一系列生物油的微乳液提取过程的基本模型。这里提出的工作将首次提供对影响基于水性表面活性剂的方法提取生物油的基本过程的定量理解，并进一步提供一种新的定量模型，可用于在现实条件下对提取性能进行先验预测。由此产生的模型可用于为多种植物和油籽设计基于表面活性剂的提取系统，但目前尚不可用。这项工作的结果具有变革性的潜力，因为它们将显着推进生物油的提取方式，从而在全行业范围内用更环保的水性表面活性剂方法取代对环境有害的溶剂方法。油籽提取的水法加工比己烷更受青睐，因为它环保、安全，并且生产的油品质优良。虽然酶法提取大豆油可以达到90%以上的出油率，但酶辅助提取过程需要较长的培养时间、较高的温度并产生稳定的乳液，这在工业规模上并不理想。为了应对这些挑战，该项目将利用生物相容性扩展表面活性剂系统来实现高采油效率，同时避免稳定乳液的形成。然后，该工作将扩展到测试微藻油提取，以验证表面活性剂辅助水提取方法和工艺模型的多功能性。该项目将研究支化表面活性剂与新型扩展表面活性剂（在表面活性剂分子的头部和尾部之间插入中间极性基团的表面活性剂）的混合物。扩展表面活性剂与各种植物油始终表现出超低界面张力，但它们需要非常高的盐浓度才能实现最佳性能。通过将扩展表面活性剂与疏水性支化表面活性剂混合，将降低所需的盐度，同时支化将减少表面活性​​剂尾部与尾部的相互作用，从而允许更好的油渗透，从而提高提取效率。这项创新研究的结果可能有益于社会，以及旨在增强俄克拉荷马大学本科生和研究生学习体验的教育举措。表面活性剂在油籽提取中的新应用以及对该方法的基础科学的理解将被纳入俄克拉荷马大学的胶体和表面科学课程中，该课程吸引了来自多个工程学科（即化学工程师、化学、环境工程和科学）的许多本科生和研究生。此外，本研究开发的基于水性表面活性剂的石油开采预测模型将提交给 K-Gray Engineering Pathway 数字图书馆，从而允许大学之间共享课程。开发的模型将提供一个交互式教育模块，学生可以探索油籽提取的基本机制，并将该模型应用于先进的化学工艺设计。