ARTICLE INFO

ABSTRACT

Received date: 25/01/2016

Accepted date: 08/07/2016

Commercial production of biodiesel mainly uses refined edible oil as the feedstock which constitutes about 70% to 85% of the overall cost of biodiesel. Finding cheap and abundant new feedstock for producing biodiesel is necessary. The use of non-edible oil such as waste cooking oil and algae oil may help in reducing the production cost of biodiesel. In this study, 5 wet sludge samples were collected from a wide spectrum of industries in Taiwan and which were treated by subcritical water to enhance the amount of their extractable lipids. Reaction temperature was found to be the most important factor in increasing the extractable neutral lipids (2 to 3.5 times) which can be esterified with methanol to produce biodiesel. The economic potential of using activated sludge as feedstock for biodiesel production in Taiwan was discussed.

KEYWORDS

Activated sludge, biodiesel, economic feasibility, hydrolysis, subcritical water

Cited as: Tran-Nguyen, P.L., Wang, M.J., Liu, J.C. and Ju, Y.H., 2016. Potential of using activated sludge as feedstock for biodiesel production in Taiwan. Can Tho University Journal of Science. Special issue: Renewable Energy: 11-17.