Waste Animal Fats with High FFA as a Renewable Energy Source for Biodiesel Production - Concept, Experimental Production and Impact Evaluation on Air Quality

Abstract

This chapter presents one method to obtain the renewable “biodiesel” energy source thru animal fats transesterification with high free fatty acid content. The authors tested different methods to produce biodiesel from waste animal fats. The purpose of research was to use the byproduct from the meat industry, the wastes in form of fats with high free fatty acid contend (FFA), fats that cannot be used in other sectors, like supplement in animal food, due to high contamination and FFA content. The research underlines a correlation between social-economic development and air quality in an urban area. We also intend to improve the knowledge in the field of alternative fuels, field not well covered in Romania, especially if the waste management and potential are in sight. The relevance of this research theme in the knowledge development is related to the fact that studies regarding environment protection are not an objective but a dynamic process that requires adequate instruments and concrete actions in the frame of a coherent legislative frame. (Popescu, 2009) The chapter will follow three directions: first will describe the research conducted in order to obtain an “receipt” to produce the biodiesel from waste animal fats; second will describe the pilot installation constructed to improve the biodiesel production receipt and third will describe some research conducted in order to prove (or validate) the positive impact on the urban environment if the biodiesel in used in stead of regular diesel. In a broad sense, energy conversion is the capacity to promote changes and/or actions (heating, motion, etc.), and biomass includes all kinds of materials that were directly or indirectly derived not too long ago from contemporary photosynthesis reactions, such as vegetal matter and its derivatives: wood fuel, wood-derived fuels, fuel crops, agricultural and agro-industrial by-products, and animal by-products. Bioenergy is the word used for energy associated to biomass, and biofuel is the bioenergy carrier, transporting solar energy stored as chemical energy. (Ionel, 2008) Biofuels can be considered a renewable source of energy as long as they are based on sustainable biomass production. The style will adjust your fonts and line spacing. Improving the efficiency of the existing power-plants using fossil fuels, the use of renewable fuels and renewable energy sources and the increased use of nuclear power are all considered to be important means of reducing greenhouse-gas emissions. One possibility to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions is to substitute biomass for