UGA%20RENEWABLE%20ENERGY%20PROGRAM

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• Biodiesel Research at The University of Georgia
• Daniel Geller UGA Engineering Outreach
• http//www.engr.uga.edu/service/outreach

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UGA Biodiesel Highlights

• 1980 - Biodiesel program begins
• 1981 UGA buses run on peanut oil
• 1984 Development of small diesel engine testing
  laboratory
• 1996 UGA B20 bus demonstration for the Olympics
• 2003 UGA boilers run on poultry fat
• 2006 Southeastern Biodiesel Workshops
• 2007 All UGA buses run on B20

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Biodiesel Production
Simple to make
Difficult to make right - Biodiesel is made by
the transesterification of vegetable oils
O
O
C
OH
Me
C
R1
O
C
R1
O
C
FATS and OILS ALCOHOL
BIODIESEL GLYCEROL
catalyst
O
O
KOH


C
OH
Me
3MeOH
C
R2
O
C
R2
O
C
O
O
Me
R3
C
R3
C
C
OH
C
O
O
Methyl Ester (Biodiesel)?
Triglyceride(fats and oils)?
Methanol(alcohol)?
Glycerol
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Poultry Fat

• Georgia is Nations largest producer of poultry
• Historically, value of poultry fat was quite low
  .12/lb
• 2003 UGA researchers examine fuel properties of
  poultry fat
• Poultry fat developed as boiler fuel at UGA
• US Biofuels in Rome, GA successfully utilizes
  poultry fat as Biodiesel feedstock

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Poultry Fat - Issues

• Limited supply of high quality material for
  Biodiesel production
• Value of material increases due to increased
  demand from fuel markets
• Waste treatment at poultry processing facilities
  not optimized for oil recovery
• RESEARCH OPPORTUNITY

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Poultry Fat - Research

• Development of simple screening methods for the
  identification of potential fuel feedstock
  streams
• Development of advanced mechanical methods for
  the recovery of fats from waste streams
• Use of recovered waste streams as boiler fuel and
  Biodiesel feedstocks

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Poultry Fat - Research

• Development of multi-phase processing techniques
  to treat high FFA materials (in conjunction with
  GA Tech)?
• Development of solid state acidic and basic
  catalyst systems to develop semi-continuous
  conversion system

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Expansion to Food Processing Industry

• Methods developed for poultry industry can be
  applied to any producer of waste fats and greases
• Current screening of multiple food processing
  facility waste streams in Georgia
• Development of the Georgia Biofuel feedstock
  database

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Expansion to Food Processing Industry

• Food processing streams reveal relatively high
  quality oil streams going to by-products (pet
  food, etc.)?
• Capture of waste streams proving to be relatively
  easy as in house aggregation common

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Algae - Potential

• High oil yield potential
• Over 50 oil by mass
• Predicted oil yields of 1000-20000 gal/acre
• Soy only 50-100 gal/acre
• Photosynthetic Only needs light and CO2 for oil
  production

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Algae Obstacles Growth

• Must stress algae for max oil output
• Limitations in space/light/doubling time
• 1000s of species Optimum oil producers are not
  always optimal for growth

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Algae Obstacles Harvesting

• Open pond algae systems result in 1 part algae
  per 1000 parts water
• Traditional filtering systems do not work
• Must remove algae from the water

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Algae Obstacles Extraction

• Unique Cell Wall must be disrupted
• Immersion in water, complicates oil extraction
• Traditional extraction methods do not work

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Algae Obstacles Conversion

• Secondary metabolites from stressed growth
  inhibit transesterification
• Oil soluble proteins precipitate with addition of
  MeOH

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Algae UGA Research

• Newly funded DOE project Improving cost
  effectiveness of algae-lipid production through
  advances in nutrient delivery and processing
  systems

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Algae UGA Research

• Use poultry litter and carpet industry
  wastewaters as nutrient source
• Evaluate Carbon capture of algae systems
• Algae harvesting using fiber flocculation

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Algae UGA Research

• Cell disruption using explosive decompression
• Evaluate feed value of algal meal
• Develop non-chemical lipid extraction techniques

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Algae UGA Research Approach
Electromagnetic biostimulation
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Oilseed Radish (Raphinus sativus)?

• Cool season cover crop
• Traditionally used to protect and enhance soil
• Low-input crop drought/disease resistant
• Normally plowed under at the end of cool season

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Oilseed Radish Biodiesel feedstock potential

• Non-food crop
• Seed contains up to 48 oil
• Very low input high oil yield/dollar ratio
• Agronomic Benefits
• Secondary income source not primary cash crop
• Possibility to get two crops/year in GA plus
  primary cash crop

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Oilseed Radish State of Research

• Seed has been obtained and crushed using
  inexpensive extruder
• Cold crush yielded 30 oil without solvent
• Oil fuel properties analyzed
• Oil converted to Biodiesel
• Meal evaluated as animal feed

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Oilseed Radish Economics

• Currently growing oilseed radish in Dawson, GA.
• Current stands thriving with only
  fertilizerseedlabor inputs
• Added economic benefits nematode control,
  erosion control, nitrogen scavenging
• Non-edible oil (high erucic acid) may keep oil
  out of commodity markets

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• Daniel Geller
• dgeller_at_engr.uga.edu
• 706-248-1513
• http//www.engr.uga.edu/service/outreach