Author:
Bartoli Mattia,Zhu Chengyong,Chae Michael,Bressler David
Abstract
Although thermal hydrolysis of digested biosolids is an extremely promising strategy for wastewater management, the process economics are prohibitive. Here, a biosolids-based material generated through thermal hydrolysis was used as a catalyst for urea glycerolysis performed under several conditions. The catalytic system showed remarkable activity, reaching conversion values of up to 70.8 ± 0.9% after six hours, at 140 °C using a catalyst/glycerol weight ratio of 9% and an air stream to remove NH3 formed during the process. Temperature played the most substantial role among reaction parameters; increasing temperature from 100 °C to 140 °C improved conversion by 35% and glycidol selectivity by 22%. Furthermore, the catalyst retained good activity even after the fourth catalytic run (conversion rate of 56.4 ± 1.3%) with only a slight decrease in glycidol selectivity. Thus, the use of a biosolids-based catalyst may facilitate conversion of various glycerol sources (i.e., byproduct streams from biodiesel production) into value-added products such as glycidol, and may also improve the economic feasibility of using thermal hydrolysis for treatment of biosolids.
Funder
Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada
Mitacs
BioFuelNet Canada
Subject
Physical and Theoretical Chemistry,Catalysis
Cited by
10 articles.
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