Scale-up and economic analysis of biodiesel production from municipal primary sewage sludge. (August 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Olkiewicz, Magdalena; Torres, Carmen M.; Jiménez, Laureano; Font, Josep; Bengoa, Christophe
• Is Part Of: Bioresource technology. Volume 214(2016)
• Page Start: 122
• Page End: 131
• Publication Date: 2016-08
• Subjects: Sewage sludge -- Lipids -- Biodiesel -- Process modelling -- Economic evaluation; Biomass -- Periodicals; Biomass energy -- Periodicals; Bioremediation -- Periodicals; Agricultural wastes -- Periodicals; Factory and trade waste -- Periodicals; Organic wastes -- Periodicals; Bioénergie -- Périodiques; Déchets agricoles -- Périodiques; Déchets industriels -- Périodiques; Déchets organiques -- Périodiques; Déchets (Combustible) -- Périodiques; 662.88
• DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2016.04.098
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0960-8524

Abstract

Highlights: Biodiesel production from wet sludge is more cost-effective than from dry sludge. The required biodiesel selling price was estimated at 1232 $/t. The price is lower than current cost of fossil diesel and biodiesel from microalgae. Municipal primary sludge is a plentiful and cost-competitive biodiesel feedstock. Improvement in lipid extraction and biodiesel purification can even lower the price. Abstract: Municipal wastewater sludge is a promising lipid feedstock for biodiesel production, but the need to eliminate the high water content before lipid extraction is the main limitation for scaling up. This study evaluates the economic feasibility of biodiesel production directly from liquid primary sludge based on experimental data at laboratory scale. Computational tools were used for the modelling of the process scale-up and the different configurations of lipid extraction to optimise this step, as it is the most expensive. The operational variables with a major influence in the cost were the extraction time and the amount of solvent. The optimised extraction process had a break-even price of biodiesel of 1232 $/t, being economically competitive with the current cost of fossil diesel. The proposed biodiesel production process from waste sludge eliminates the expensive step of sludge drying, lowering the biodiesel price.