Experimental investigation of biodiesel production from leather fleshing biomass and waste cooking oil

Abstract

Renewable energy is recently growing faster in many countries and it will play a major role in the forthcoming years. All countries are working in this field to reduce the dependence on petroleum-based fossil fuels. In India, the price for petroleum-based fuel has been increasing rapidly. Biofuels from waste materials are the potential alternates to reduce the dependence on fossil fuels. Enormous amount of waste material is generated every year and it will be increasing continuously. Utilizing biomass waste material as an alternative for biofuel generation is a solution for waste management and biofuel generation. Additionally, biofuel is less polluting compared to the conventional fossil fuel. Also, emissions of biofuels are biodegradable. Leather fleshing waste is one of the waste materials rich in fat and is generated from leather processing industries, which could be a potential alternative non-edible source for biodiesel production. Production of biofuel from tannery waste has dual benefits of solid waste management as well as renewable energy generation. Tannery fleshing waste from leather making process is hydrolysed and fat oil is extracted. The extracted fat oil has free fatty acid value of about 44%. It could be highly promising if utilised as a raw material for biodiesel production. Also, waste cooking oil is a readily available raw material for biodiesel production after some pretreatment process. The lipid content in leather fleshing waste is remarkable and is necessary to propose an innovative method for the complete extraction of lipid for biofuel generation. Acid/base assisted fat extraction method was developed in industrial prospects without the use of inorganic solvents newline