A new material combines two substances that can convert used cooking oil into biodiesel. The material can also be applied to other substances. This can make the production of biodiesel easier and more efficient.
The Australian university RMIT says that this is the first time such a material has been made. It consists of two catalysts in a structure resembling a sponge, with large and small pores. The remarkable thing is that the catalysts are embedded in the same material but do not touch each other. That is just as well, because if they come into contact, neither of them will stop working.
The fact that the substances remain separate in the material is due to the special shape. One catalyst is in large pores, the other in small ones. This way they cannot flow towards each other. Meanwhile, the used oil first reacts with the catalyst in the large pores before flowing through to the smaller holes, where the intermediate product is converted into usable biodiesel.
Read also: Biodiesel made from frying oil from fast food chains
Contamination in the oil
The researchers believe that their technique provides a better way to make biodiesel from cooking oil and other contaminated fossil substances. Now, to make diesel from frying fat or other oil waste, you need fairly clean waste streams; it may contain a maximum of a few percent contamination. Cleaning oil is a complicated process. However, the 'sponge' still works when the oil has 50 percent contaminants and is therefore much easier to use.
The system is also simpler in design: according to the researchers, all you have to do is place the sponge in a container with oil and heat and stir the oil a little. The result is usable biodiesel, at least in the laboratory. The researchers are now looking at whether and how they can apply the technology on a large scale, in the hope of using it commercially as soon as possible.
Algae or biomass
Although biodiesel from cooking oil is not CO2-free, it does provide a useful application of a waste material. In a circular economy, these kinds of useful second lives for waste are important. Moreover, according to the researchers, the process can also work for other energy sources such as (renewable) biomass or algae. If so, truly green biodiesel could be made with this sponge. For example, cars or trucks that cannot switch to electricity or hydrogen can still drive green.
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