Journal article
Isolation of free fatty acids from brown grease lipids using wiped film evaporation
Journal of the American Oil Chemists' Society, v 102(7), pp 1121-1129
29 Apr 2025
Featured in Collection : UN Sustainable Development Goals @ Drexel
Abstract
A wiped-film evaporation (WFE) distillation study conducted from 120 degrees C to 200 degrees C determined that the isolation of free fatty acids (FFA) from pre-treated brown grease lipids (BGL) produced a product with a consistent fatty acid profile, sulfur (S) concentration between 20 and 60 ppm, total acid number (TAN) ranging from 207.4 to 219, and a heavy metal concentration of 4.2 ppm at 180 degrees C. The S/A method produced a quantitative yield of FFA (TAN = 230.3), but the heavy metal and S concentrations increased to 200.8 and 206.7 ppm. HPLC analysis revealed that both procedures could generate an FFA with high purity. The percent weight of the WFE fractions and a combination of HPLC and TAN values determined approximately 90.2% FFA recovery from BGL from the distillation procedure. Subjecting the S/A product to WFE reduced the concentration of the heavy metals to 11.8 ppm, S concentration to 24.3 ppm, and yield to 93.7%. The WFE procedure reduces the need for S/A chemicals, solvents, extractions, drying agents, and rotary evaporation, possibly providing a more efficient pathway to pure FFA. The optimization and adoption of this work will benefit biofuel producers, brown grease processors, waste management companies, and the cosmetics industry.
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Details
- Title
- Isolation of free fatty acids from brown grease lipids using wiped film evaporation
- Creators
- Victor T. Wyatt - Eastern Regional Research CenterKerby C. Jones - Eastern Regional Research CenterRichard A. Cairncross - Drexel University, Chemical and Biological Engineering
- Publication Details
- Journal of the American Oil Chemists' Society, v 102(7), pp 1121-1129
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Number of pages
- 9
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Chemical and Biological Engineering
- Web of Science ID
- WOS:001478470900001
- Scopus ID
- 2-s2.0-105003884404
- Other Identifier
- 991022052310404721
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- Collaboration types
- Domestic collaboration
- Web of Science research areas
- Chemistry, Applied
- Food Science & Technology