Converting waste crude glycerol into butanol economically using ionic liquid extraction

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

The biodiesel market has grown at a huge rate since 2000, thanks mainly to legislation, risingcosts of fossil fuels and a desire by consumers to become more green and sustainable.However, in recent years, the scrapping of duty incentives and a revision of the RenewableEnergy Directive has put the biodiesel industry under pressure. Producers need to find ways toincrease efficiency and improve margins. The problem is the transesterification process thatconverts oils and fats into biodiesel also yields a by-product of crude glycerol of 10% to 20%output volume. Crude glycerol is classified as a hazardous waste and has little value becauseof oversupply. Our solution is a bioreactor that converts glycerol into a high-value product(butanol) and uses ILs to enable economic recovery so that biodiesel producers can improvetheir margins.