UNS: RUI: Reactions, Mechanisms, and Intermediates in Hydrocarbon Fuel Oil Produced from Brown Grease: Important Information for Scale Up to Commercial Production.

UNS：RUI：棕色油脂生产的碳氢燃料油中的反应、机制和中间体：扩大商业生产规模的重要信息。

• 批准号: 1507069
• 负责人: Lawrence Pratt
• 金额: $ 23.94万
• 依托单位: CUNY Medgar Evers College
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2015-09-01 至 2018-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1507069&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: UNS; RUI; Reactions; Mechanisms; Intermediates

PI: Lawrence M. PrattProposal Number: 1507069Brown grease is a semi-solid mixture of fats, oils, and greases that collect in the sewage system and sewage treatment plants, and which must be collected and removed to prevent blockages, overflows, and damage to equipment. The volume of this waste, somewhere between one and two billion gallons per year, is sufficient to consider its recycling into liquid transportation fuel as opposed to incinerating it, which produces greenhouse gases. This goal of this project is develop a process to convert brown grease into a fuel similar to kerosene using a process called low-temperature pyrolysis, where the brown grease is heated up in absence of air. The research suggests that trace metals such as iron that are present in brown grease may promote the reaction process, and so the research plan will focus on determining which reaction steps in the overall process are catalyzed by these metals. The proposed research will be carried out by a team of undergraduate students at the Medgar Evers College of the City University of New York (CUNY), which is a minority serving institution. Benefits of this research include increasing the supply of non-fossil fuels, reduced greenhouse gas emissions, elimination of brown grease disposal problems, and training of underrepresented minority students in chemistry, energy, and environmental science. This project also has international collaborators from Malaysia and Vietnam that are interested in using the new technology to solve similar waste steam problems in their respective countries.Unlike triglycerides extracted from vegetable oils, brown grease is predominantly free fatty acids, and so cannot undergo the homogeneous transesterification to biodiesel. The overall goal of the proposed research is to develop a fundamental understanding of the reaction mechanisms for the low-temperature pyrolysis of brown grease to linear hydrocarbons. It is hypothesized that the reaction scheme proceeds by a two-step process were fatty acids in the waste stream are decarboxylated to ketone intermediates and then deoxygenated to hydrocarbons. Furthermore, it is hypothesized that soluble iron or copper present in the waste matrix catalyzes some of these reactions. The research plan has three objectives. The first objective is to elucidate the major reaction pathways from brown grease and model mixtures of the waste matrix to hydrocarbon products. The second objective is to determine how the principal metals found in brown grease catalyze these reactions. The third objective is to develop a continuous reaction process and assess the energy return on energy invested for sustainable energy concepts based on recovery and conversion of brown grease to fuel. The experimental approach will employ gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and thermogravimetric analysis to characterize the reaction system. Computational quantum chemistry will also be used to elucidate the reaction mechanisms and to help determine whether some compounds observed in the reaction mixture are byproducts or intermediates. Although the research focuses on brown grease, the research outcomes have potential to develop new routes and fundamental understanding for the chemical conversion of free fatty acids to fuel. The proposed research will be carried out by a team of undergraduate students at the Medgar Evers College of the City University of New York (CUNY), which is a minority serving institution.

PI：Lawrence M. Pratt提案编号：1507069棕色油脂是脂肪、油和油脂的半固体混合物，收集在污水系统和污水处理厂中，必须收集和清除，以防止堵塞、溢出和损坏设备。 这种废物的数量每年在 1 到 20 亿加仑之间，足以考虑将其回收为液体运输燃料，而不是焚烧，后者会产生温室气体。 该项目的目标是开发一种工艺，使用低温热解工艺将棕色油脂转化为类似于煤油的燃料，其中棕色油脂在没有空气的情况下被加热。研究表明，棕色油脂中存在的铁等微量金属可能会促进反应过程，因此研究计划将重点确定整个过程中的哪些反应步骤是由这些金属催化的。拟议的研究将由纽约市立大学 (CUNY) 梅德加埃弗斯学院的本科生团队进行，该学院是一所少数族裔服务机构。 这项研究的好处包括增加非化石燃料的供应、减少温室气体排放、消除棕色油脂处理问题以及对化学、能源和环境科学领域代表性不足的少数族裔学生进行培训。 该项目还有来自马来西亚和越南的国际合作者，他们有兴趣利用新技术解决各自国家的类似废蒸汽问题。与从植物油中提取的甘油三酯不同，棕色油脂主要是游离脂肪酸，因此无法进行均质化处理。酯交换反应生成生物柴油。 该研究的总体目标是对棕色油脂低温热解成直链烃的反应机制有一个基本的了解。 据推测，该反应方案通过两步过程进行，即废物流中的脂肪酸脱羧为酮中间体，然后脱氧为烃。 此外，假设废物基质中存在的可溶性铁或铜催化其中一些反应。 该研究计划有三个目标。 第一个目标是阐明从棕色油脂和废物基质的模型混合物到碳氢化合物产品的主要反应途径。 第二个目标是确定棕色油脂中的主要金属如何催化这些反应。第三个目标是开发连续反应过程，并评估基于棕色油脂回收和转化为燃料的可持续能源概念所投资的能源回报。 实验方法将采用气相色谱-质谱法（GC-MS）、差示扫描量热法（DSC）和热重分析来表征反应体系。 计算量子化学还将用于阐明反应机制，并帮助确定反应混合物中观察到的某些化合物是否是副产物或中间体。 尽管该研究的重点是棕色油脂，但研究成果有可能为游离脂肪酸化学转化为燃料开发新途径和基本了解。 拟议的研究将由纽约市立大学 (CUNY) 梅德加埃弗斯学院的本科生团队进行，该学院是一所少数族裔服务机构。