Biodiesel by-product valorization

生物柴油是一种可再生生物燃料，在加拿大的各个工厂进行工业生产（每年生产300万吨生物柴油）。生物柴油生产的副产品是甘油，通常被催化剂、肥皂、甲醇、游离脂肪酸、甘油酯和甲酯污染。因此，它不能直接在现有的甘油市场上销售，除非采用昂贵的纯化。这一流程为生物丁醇生产提供了一个独特的机会，作为一种新的碳源，需要最小的升级。将生物丁醇生产与生物柴油工厂放在一起，可以利用现有的基础设施，并为现有的生物柴油产业增加显著的价值和生产力。该项目的工业合作伙伴BIOX公司是一家可再生能源公司，该公司在加拿大安大略省汉密尔顿设计、建造、拥有并运营一个年产能为6700万公升的生物柴油生产设施。BIOX的工厂每年生产约700万升的粗甘油（80 w/w%）。本研究项目评估了从现有甘油流中连续发酵生产生物燃料丁醇的可能性。

Biodiesel is a renewable biofuel, industrially produced at various facilities in Canada (300 MIO L of biodiesel per year). A by-product of biodiesel production is glycerol, typically contaminated with catalyst, soap, methanol, free fatty acids, glycerides and methyl esters. Hence it cannot be sold directly in the existing glycerol markets unless costly purification is employed. This stream represents a unique opportunity as a new carbon source for biobutanol production, requiring minimal upgrading. Co-locating biobutanl production with biodiesel plants, would allow the utilization of established infrastructure and add significant value and productivity to the existing biodiesel industry. BIOX Corporation, the industrial partner in this project is a renewable energy company that designed, built, owns and operates a 67 MIO L per annum nameplate capacity biodiesel production facility in Hamilton, Ontario Canada. BIOX's plant produces approximately 7 MIO L crude glycerol (80 w/w%) per year. This research project evaluates the possibility of a continuous fermentation to produce the biofuel butanol from the existing glycerol stream.