Life-Cycle Assessment of Biodiesel Produced from Grease Trap Waste.

Environ Sci Technol

Chemical and Biological Engineering Department and ‡Civil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineering Department, Drexel University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, United States.

Published: March 2016

Grease trap waste (GTW) is a low-quality waste material with variable lipid content that is an untapped resource for producing biodiesel. Compared to conventional biodiesel feedstocks, GTW requires different and additional processing steps for biodiesel production due to its heterogeneous composition, high acidity, and high sulfur content. Life-cycle assessment (LCA) is used to quantify greenhouse gas emissions, fossil energy demand, and criteria air pollutant emissions for the GTW-biodiesel process, in which the sensitivity to lipid concentration in GTW is analyzed using Monte Carlo simulation. The life-cycle environmental performance of GTW-biodiesel is compared to that of current GTW disposal, the soybean-biodiesel process, and low-sulfur diesel (LSD). The disposal of the water and solid wastes produced from separating lipids from GTW has a high contribution to the environmental impacts; however, the impacts of these processed wastes are part of the current disposal practice for GTW and could be excluded with consequential LCA system boundaries. At lipid concentrations greater than 10%, most of the environmental metrics studied are lower than those of LSD and comparable to soybean biodiesel.

Download full-text PDF

Source
http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.5b02667DOI Listing

Publication Analysis

Top Keywords

life-cycle assessment
8
grease trap
8
trap waste
8
gtw
6
biodiesel
5
assessment biodiesel
4
biodiesel produced
4
produced grease
4
waste grease
4
waste gtw
4

Similar Publications

Effects of double data extraction on errors in evidence synthesis: a crossover, multicenter, investigator-blinded, randomized controlled trial.

Postgrad Med J

January 2025

Proof of Concept Center, Eastern Hepatobiliary Surgery Hospital, Third Affiliated Hospital, Second Military Medical University, Naval Medical University, No. 255, Yangpu District, Shanghai, 200433, China.

Objectives: The objective was to investigate the role of double extraction in reducing data errors in evidence synthesis for pharmaceutical and non-pharmaceutical interventions.

Design: Crossover randomized controlled trial (RCT).

Setting: University and hospital with teaching programs in evidence-based medicine.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

On 25-26 April 2024, the 5th PPRI (Pharmaceutical Pricing and Reimbursement Information) Conference on ensuring equitable access to affordable medicines took place in Vienna (Austria). Twenty-four accepted contributions were presented either as oral presentations or posters, adding to invited keynote lectures, stakeholder debates and workshops. The global multi-stakeholder audience discussed a range of approaches in pharmaceutical policies, which have the potential to successfully and sustainably address current and future challenges in ensuring patient access to affordable medicines globally.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Numbers of European glass eels (Anguilla anguilla) monitored along the Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts of Europe currently serve as the main stock indicator in assessment of this critically endangered species. Spawning, however, takes place exclusively in the Sargasso Sea, several thousand kilometers away. The beginning of its complex lifecycle is characterized by a distant and lengthy larval drift, before the young-of-the-year reach the monitoring stations at the European coasts.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Life cycle assessment of lead recycling processes in perovskite solar cells.

Chem Commun (Camb)

January 2025

School of Advanced Materials Science and Engineering, Sungkyunkwan University, 2066, Seobu-ro, Jangan-gu, Suwon-si, Gyeonggi-do 16419, Republic of Korea.

Life cycle assessment (LCA) was employed to evaluate the environmental impacts of various lead (Pb) recycling processes in perovskite solar cells (PSCs). The analysis identifies solvent recovery and reuse as critical factors in reducing environmental harm, highlighting the need for optimized recycling methods to enhance the sustainability of PSCs.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Biopolymer based electrolytes can overcome current performance limitations of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). Biopolymers enable electrolytes with high ionic conductivities and wide electrochemical stability windows. While the biobased character of natural materials is claimed as an inherent advantage in meeting current environmental sustainability challenges, further research is required to quantify and compare their environmental impacts as electrolytes.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Want AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?

Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!