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DOE researchers investigate economic and environmental impacts of converting wet waste to renewable diesel

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Meanwhile, wet waste feedstocks, such as animal manure and fats, oils, and greases (FOG), represent another important category of resources that could be utilized to produce MCCI bioblendstocks due to its abundant availability. An open-access paper on their results is published in the journal ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering.

Waste 434
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Pitt engineers using membrane distillation to recycle water used in fracking and drilling

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However, the low energy efficiency of this technology makes the operating cost of MD systems relatively high, especially in the absence of waste heat. The proposed solution uses waste heat to meet the technology’s thermal energy requirements, further decreasing the operation costs. Desalination. doi: 10.1016/j.desal.2021.115513.

Water 303
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Electra raises $85M to advance Low-Temperature Iron process; electrochemical refining at 60?C

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By comparison, 69% of steel today is made at approximately 1,600 degrees Celsius (2,912 degrees Fahrenheit) using coal, emitting about two tons of carbon dioxide for every ton of steel produced. Electra’s iron is the fulcrum to decarbonize steelmaking and to de-risk the iron ore challenge. —Electra CEO Sandeep Nijhawan.

Coal 360
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A*STAR team combines fungal culture and acid hydrolyses for cost-effective production of fermentable sugars from palm oil waste

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Researchers from A*STAR in Singapore have developed a fungal culture for use in a cheap and efficient method to transform waste oil palm material into biofuels and environmentally friendly plastics. The palm oil waste contains cellulose and hemicellulose that can be broken down into sugars for use in fuel and plastic production.

Waste 150
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Study finds relying on “local food” a distant dream for most of the world

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In comparison, the global average is about 3,800 kilometers. The researchers modeled globally the distances between production and the consumer for both normal production conditions and scenarios where production chains become more efficient due to reduced food waste and improved farming methods. —Pekka Kinnunen, lead author.

Universal 307
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Study finds renewable fuels from hydrotreated vegetable oils outperform transesterified lipids and BTL from woody material in environmental lifecycle impacts and costs

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GHG emission comparison between fossil diesel, transesterified lipids, HVO and woody BTL. If HVO is produced from waste feedstocks with low upstream impacts, the high conversion efficiency of the HVO production process will make HVO the preferred fuel to BTL from any woody feedstock, even woody waste. Sunde et al.

Oil 239
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Novozymes introduces its latest enzyme technology for cellulosic biofuels; performs 1.5x better than predecessor

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The enzyme enables more cost-efficient conversion of biomass to ethanol and performs 1.5 Cellic CTec3 allows the cost of producing ethanol from biomass to approach the level of corn ethanol and gasoline, according to the company. Both plants will convert municipal solid waste into biofuel. Earlier post.).

Waste 210