The Industrial Application and Life Cycle Analysis for Biodiesel Producted by SRCA Process from Waste Oils and Fats

摘要

Waste oils and fats (hereinafter referred to WOFs) are kinds of non-edible oils which generated more than 30 million t/a form the production and consumption of cooking oil over the world, including residues generated from refining edible oil, used frying oil, used cooking oil et al. These WOFs will pollute the environment if they are disposed improperly. It is very difficult that WOFs are transformed to biodiesel by base catalyzed transesterification process because of its poor quality , especially extra more content of free fatty acids. Therefor, a new technology, super /sub-critical alcoholysis process (hereinafter referred to SRCA process) was developed successfully by Sinopec Research Institute of Petroleum Processing for producing biodiesel from WOFs. In order to research and develop SRCA process, many problems were solved in succession, such as how to dissolve methanol in WOFs, how to operate simultaneously the reaction of esterification and transesterification , how to reach high conversion rates at catalyst free conditions, how to avoid producing harmful environmental materials, and how to product certified biodiesel, et al. More than 20 patents about SRCA process were authorized. The first industrial SRCA process equipment of scale of 60kt/a for biodiesel was set up in 2009, and operated continuously to produce biodiesel from WOFs, whose quality fulfil requirements prescribed by the national Standard (GB / T 20828). On the basis of the datas from laboratory and industrial operation, life cycle analysis (LCA)of biodiesel from WOFs by SRCA process was assessed, and the results indicated it had a good environmental impact.