Easing Pain at the Pump with Food Waste: New Method for Making Biodiesel Fuel

Denmark, Feedstocks, Massachusetts, Not Agriculture, Process, R & D Focus, Sustainability, University/College Programs

September 2, 2022

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by Jack Levy (Worcester Polytechnic Institute/ Phys.Org) … To make the fuel, the researchers employed a process called hydrothermal liquefaction, which uses heat and water to break down the food waste into a liquid. It’s a method that has been used widely in converting other materials into biofuel, including algae. However, using food waste removes the need to grow and cultivate algae—an expensive and time-consuming process—while also leading to similar results for the amount of fuel that is extracted. The team also used a catalyst made of a naturally occurring mineral found in bones to get as much as 30% more energy out of the food waste.

Assistant Professor Andrew Teixeira and Ph.D. student Heather LeClerc played key roles in the research as well. LeClerc has spent the past year conducting research in Denmark, as part of a Fulbright scholarship, and is in the middle of a three-year NSF graduate research fellowship.

For this latest work on food waste and biofuel, LeClerc also worked with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute on Cape Cod to gain a better understanding of the biocrudes the WPI team was producing, using equipment the Woods Hole researchers normally use to determine how an oil spill is affecting the ocean environment and changing it over time.

The researchers will continue their efforts to refine the fuel even further, and develop ways to use the process to make home heating oil and marine diesel to power ships. READ MORE

WPI researchers create food-to-biofuel method (Worcester Business Journal)

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