Work

Isolation of free fatty acids from brown grease lipids using wiped film evaporation

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: A wiped‐film evaporation (WFE) distillation study conducted from 120°C to 200°C determined that the isolation of free fatty acids (FFA) from pre‐treated brown grease lipids (BGL) produced a product with a consistent fatty acid profile, sulfur (S) concentration between 20 and 60 ppm, total acid number (TAN) ranging from 207.4 to 219, and a heavy metal concentration of 4.2 ppm at 180°C. The S/A method produced a quantitative yield of FFA (TAN = 230.3), but the heavy metal and S concentrations increased to 200.8 and 206.7 ppm. HPLC analysis revealed that both procedures could generate an FFA with high purity. The percent weight of the WFE fractions and a combination of HPLC and TAN values determined approximately 90.2% FFA recovery from BGL from the distillation procedure. Subjecting the S/A product to WFE reduced the concentration of the heavy metals to 11.8 ppm, S concentration to 24.3 ppm, and yield to 93.7%. The WFE procedure reduces the need for S/A chemicals, solvents, extractions, drying agents, and rotary evaporation, possibly providing a more efficient pathway to pure FFA. The optimization and adoption of this work will benefit biofuel producers, brown grease processors, waste management companies, and the cosmetics industry.

Source: Journal of the American Oil Chemists Society

DOI: 10.1002/aocs.12953

Authors: Victor T. Wyatt, Kerby C. Jones, Richard A. Cairncross

Institutions: Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture, Eastern Regional Research Center, Drexel University

Language: English

Topic: Biodiesel Production and Applications

Subfield: Biomedical Engineering

Field: Engineering

Domain: Physical Sciences

SDG: Responsible consumption and production

Open Access status: bronze

Funder: U.S. Department of Agriculture