PFI-TT: Evaluation of a Pilot Process to Convert Waste Oil and Grease from Waste Water Treatment Plants into Yellow Grease, Water and Solids for Reuse

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The commercial potential of this Partnerships for Innovation - Technology Translation (PFI-TT) project resides in the innovative, low cost and environmentally friendly approach developed to reuse fats, oils and greases (FOG) obtained from wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). The broader impacts include benefits to the society, academic-industry collaboration, and entrepreneurship training to students. FOGs are the number one cause of sewer pipe blockage worldwide and are usually landfilled as a nonhazardous waste. The cleanup is costly and the cost of landfill is also increasing. An estimated 1 million tons of FOG from WWTPs is currently being landfilled at a cost of $50-100 million per year. Therefore, FOG reuse is critical to municipalities worldwide, which can also recover useful resources and lower carbon footprints of municipalities. This project will promote the adaptation of this environmentally friendly technology to reduce landfill waste disposal and sustainable energy generation. Landfill diversion is a need in most communities, and repurposed energy/materials will promote resource conservation. This project will develop the knowledge and experience of the graduate student leader and four undergraduate students in the area of technology commercialization. This project will encourage participation of underrepresented groups. The proposed project will scale up the FOG separation process by demonstrating performance of a pilot system, which is a significantly stride to commercialization. The resulting performance data will be then used to design and construct a commercial size system. The objectives of this demonstration are to (1) establish the variability in composition of WWTP grease over time, (2) to produce sufficient separated yellow grease to test for usability in the production of biofuel, and (3) determine if byproduct solids and water can be reused as solid fuel/digester gas and industrial water. The intellectual merit of this technology is that the solvent-free extraction approach can overcome the challenges of FOG emulsion, impurities and high moisture content of the sewer grease, and can result in a low sulfur product that can be sold to downstream biofuel producers for biodiesel production. Other by-products derived from the process, such as water and solids, can also be marketable and offset the process cost. This process is low cost and environmentally friendly. This applied research can reduce start-up risk and facilitate subsequent commercialization.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.