Effects of biodiesel made from swine and chicken fat residues on carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, and nitrogen oxide emissions

The effects of two alternative sources of animal fat-derived biodiesel feedstock on CO₂, CO, NO_x tailpipe emissions as well as fuel consumption were investigated. Biodiesel blends were produced from chicken and swine fat waste (FW-1) or floating fat (FW-2) collected from slaughterhouse wastewater treatment processes. Tests were conducted in an unmodified stationary diesel engine operating under idling conditions in attempt to simulate slow traffic in urban areas. Significant reductions in CO (up to 47% for B100; FW-2) and NO_x (up to 20% for B5; FW-2 or B100; FW-1) were attained when using biodiesel fuels at the expense of 5% increase in fuel consumption. Principal component analysis (PCA) was performed to elucidate possible associations among gas (CO₂, CO, and NO_x) emissions, cetane number and iodine index with different sources of feedstock typically employed in the biodiesel industry. NO_x, cetane number and iodine index were inversely proportional to CO₂ and biodiesel concentration. High NO_x emissions were reported from high iodine index biodiesel derived especially from forestry, fishery and some agriculture feedstocks, while the biodiesel derived from animal sources consistently presented lower iodine index mitigating NO_x emissions. The obtained results point out the applicability of biodiesel fuels derived from fat-rich residues originated from animal production on mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions. The information may encourage practitioners from biodiesel industry whilst contributing towards development of sustainable animal production.

Implications: Emissions from motor vehicles can contribute considerably to the levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. The use of biodiesel to replace or augment diesel can not only decrease our dependency on fossil fuels but also help decrease air pollution. Thus, different sources of feedstocks are constantly being explored for affordable biodiesel production. However, the amount of carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO₂), and/or nitrogen oxide (NO_x) emissions can vary largely depending on type of feedstock used to produce biodiesel. In this work, the authors demonstrated animal fat feasibility in replacing petrodiesel with less impact regarding greenhouse gas emissions than other sources.