Biodiesel production from residual cooking oils and its purification through adsorption processes using activated carbon prepared from cork waste
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abstract
Biodiesel is a renewable fuel that can be produced from waste cooking
oil mainly through transesterification. However, from its production
results a contaminant called glycerol, which must be removed. Wet
washing is the most common method for biodiesel purification, but it
has several drawbacks, including high costs and the generation of large
amounts of aqueous effluent. This study proposes using activated
carbon obtained from industrial cork waste in adsorption as an
alternative method for glycerol removal. This approach could
potentially reduce the environmental impact and cost of producing
biodiesel, while also providing an alternative for the valorization of
industrial cork waste. The highest value of removal of 89% of glycerol
occurred with a cork chemically activated carbon with KOH at a load
of 2%wt at 25°C for 6 hours of contact. After the biodiesel washing
using adsorption process, the remaining glycerol content was
0.016%wt, below the maximum value of 0.02%wt specified by the
EN14214:2012 standard.
