I set up Aquafuel to make better use of industrial by-products as renewable fuels, so I was inevitably struck by a recent paper from a team of Belgian scientists.
The team reviewed the by-products produced in refining vegetable oils and considered how they could best be used in developing a low carbon economy. They estimate the annual worldwide total of acid oils from food oil refining at 10 million tones per anum.
These materials are not part of the food supply chain, and the authors point out that:
"Too many times in the past, the biological material was used for a very low value application or discarded as waste after the valorization of one component."
The Belgian team recommend that they are used to make biodiesel, as conventional wisdom says they cannot be used in engines.
Aquafuel technology means acid oils can be used as fuel for combined heat and power (CHP) plants, which are dramatically more efficient. As the authors say, bioenergy is the best use; but Aquafuel CHP is even better - up to four times more carbon efficient than biodiesel.
The article was published by the Royal Society of Chemistry, in Energy and Environmental Science.
Paul Day, Founder and CEO, Aquafuel.
The team reviewed the by-products produced in refining vegetable oils and considered how they could best be used in developing a low carbon economy. They estimate the annual worldwide total of acid oils from food oil refining at 10 million tones per anum.
These materials are not part of the food supply chain, and the authors point out that:
"Too many times in the past, the biological material was used for a very low value application or discarded as waste after the valorization of one component."
The Belgian team recommend that they are used to make biodiesel, as conventional wisdom says they cannot be used in engines.
Aquafuel technology means acid oils can be used as fuel for combined heat and power (CHP) plants, which are dramatically more efficient. As the authors say, bioenergy is the best use; but Aquafuel CHP is even better - up to four times more carbon efficient than biodiesel.
The article was published by the Royal Society of Chemistry, in Energy and Environmental Science.
Paul Day, Founder and CEO, Aquafuel.