Supercritical Ethanol Liquefaction of Swine Manure to Produce Bio-oils
03 July 2010
Researchers from North Carolina A and T State University have converted swine manure to bio-oils by using ethanol as a solvent in an autoclave in the reaction temperature range of 240-360 °C without any catalyst. Bio-oils can be upgraded to transportation fuels.
Animal waste has tremendous energy potential. It can be viewed as an underutilized renewable energy resource. Within the US approximately 250 million tons of dry fecal materials are produced yearly, with an energy value comparable to wood (on a dry matter basis). If this energy could be harvested, it would be equivalent to 21 billion gallons of gasoline (ThePigSite, 2004).
In the case of swine manure, an estimated 5.3 Million Tons (MT) is produced annually in the US, which could supply biomass for the production of biofuels equivalent to 6.0 Million Barrels (MB) of petroleum-based fuels (USDA, 2005). The energy content of these biofuels is equivalent to 2.1% annual consumption of petroleum oil in the US.
—Xiu et al.
Their study showed that the yield of the liquefaction products was significantly influenced by the reaction temperature. The maximum oil yield of 26.7% (of dry matter) with low content of oxygen (11.48%) and heating value of 33.98 MJ kg-1 was obtained at reaction temperature of 300 °C.
A low content of carbonyl and aliphatic groups and a high aromaticity in the bio-oil were found in the bio-oils from high temperature as determined by FTIR (Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy). Although the elemental composition of the bio-oil samples changes with reaction temperature,the team found no particular trends in the elemental composition within the range of reaction temperature used.
In a paper published in the American Journal of Engineering and Applied Sciences, the authors conclude that supercritical ethanol liquefaction was an effective way to remove oxygen and utilize carbon and hydrogen in swine manure to produce energy-condensed bio-fuel. Further work is needed to optimize the bio-oil production process in terms of oil yield and oil quality.
Resources
Shuangning Xiu, Abolghasem Shahbazi, Lijun Wang and Carlington W. Wallace (2010) Supercritical Ethanol Liquefaction of Swine Manure for Bio-Oils Production. American J. of Engineering and Applied Sciences 3 (2): 494-500
Human and animal manures are still being used as fertilizers on many farms and they pollute nearby streams and rivers as much if not more that chemical fertilizers. Will using manure to produce liquid fuel by a better, more efficient, cleaner and less smelly solution?
Posted by: HarveyD | 03 July 2010 at 10:21 AM
It sure sounds like it HD.
Posted by: ejj | 03 July 2010 at 12:44 PM
Corporate farms would be of the scale to utilize 'Supercritical Ethanol Liquefaction of Swine Manure to Produce Bio-oils' and could give our food supply the economy and stability of petroleum.
Posted by: kelly | 03 July 2010 at 04:47 PM
How sweet the smell. Urine and fecal solids will be traded on the commodities exchange in the not too distant future.
This development may even clean up the huge urine ponds which are now part of every pig farm operation in the South.
Posted by: Mannstein | 03 July 2010 at 07:30 PM
I have to wonder what the properties of the bio-oil are, and what happens to the phosphorus and ash in the manure. If these components can be captured separately they would contain much of the nutrient value in perhaps a much more concentrated (and sterile) form. Unfortunately the report does not list any mineral components of the char, and does not have specify the composition of the ash content of the bio-oil.
BTW, the figure claimed for the replacement of US petroleum use is grossly wrong. The USA uses approximately 7 billion barrels of petroleum per year; 6 million barrels is less than 0.1% of the total.
Posted by: Engineer-Poet | 03 July 2010 at 08:02 PM
This may never supply an important percentage of the liquid fuel but if it can reduce the smell and downstream pollution I'm all for it.
Posted by: HarveyD | 04 July 2010 at 10:03 AM
Just gasify it or plasma torch it like landfill and synthesize any fuel you want. A cyclone and ceramic filters will take out all the nasties and you can return them to the soil.
Posted by: SJC | 04 July 2010 at 12:24 PM