| Title |
Urban sewage sludge valorization to biodiesel production: Solvent-free lipid recovery through adsorption on used 3 Ply Safety Face Masks |
| ID_Doc |
29262 |
| Authors |
Scelsi, E; Pastore, C |
| Title |
Urban sewage sludge valorization to biodiesel production: Solvent-free lipid recovery through adsorption on used 3 Ply Safety Face Masks |
| Year |
2023 |
| Published |
|
| DOI |
10.1016/j.eti.2023.103072 |
| Abstract |
The use of urban sewage sludge as the feedstock of lipids to produce biodiesel is a topic of great interest and potential. However, the extractive step, conventionally operated with organic solvents, makes this use unfeasible and with a high environmental impact. In this work, for the first time, the solvent-free recovery of lipids from sewage sludge was studied through adsorption onto non-polar polymeric materials (Spunbonded nonwoven Polypropylene (s-nwPP)). After being immersed in sedimented sewage sludge (TS: 6.9 wt%), s-nwPP sheets were easily separated, dried and analyzed: sewage sludge's lipids were preferentially adsorbed onto the polymeric surface. Free fatty acids (FFAs) were the dominant species and were recovered from s-nwPP sheets through acidic methanol in a separated reactive washing step as fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs) A crude product was obtained through this sequence of adsorption and reactive desorption operations, with a FAMEs content of over 55 wt%. After preliminary investigations on commercial s-nwPP sheets, 3 Ply Safety Face Masks were also positively tested.pH, weight ratio polymer/wet sludge (R) and temperature were the parameters optimized: operating at 343 K under acidic conditions (pH of sludge<2), with an R equal to 6%, a total FFAs recovery yield of 70% as FAMEs was already achieved after two adsorption cycles. A preliminary evaluation of the economic feasibility demonstrated that used PP surgical facial masks allow the recovery and generation of crude biodiesel from sewage sludge at a very reasonable price with minimal environmental impacts.(c) 2023 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). |
| Author Keywords |
Surgical mask; Spunbonded nonwoven Polypropylene; Urban Sewage Sludge; FAMEs; Biodiesel; Sewage sludge valorization; Solvent -free lipid recovery; Circular economy |
| Index Keywords |
Index Keywords |
| Document Type |
Other |
| Open Access |
Open Access |
| Source |
Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED) |
| EID |
WOS:000991688500001 |
| WoS Category |
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology; Engineering, Environmental; Environmental Sciences |
| Research Area |
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology; Engineering; Environmental Sciences & Ecology |
| PDF |
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eti.2023.103072
|