To increase compliance among food-service establishments, we provided the City of Hartford with programming for a city-wide awareness campaign that seeks to minimize the improper disposal of fats, oils, and grease (FOG).
Developed to address the actual source of the FOG-related challenges faced by wastewater treatment plants, the programming can be easily adopted by municipalities.
While not a requirement, municipalities serious about educating the food-service industry and residents alike, can partner with a local university, for example, to activate grass-roots initiatives throughout their communities.
Programming was co-developed with faculty and staff from the University of Connecticut.
We offer this programming free of charge to municipalities as part of our Total FOG Solutions® package. Programming does not include activation.
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Biodiesel, which is a renewable and environmentally friendly fuel, has been studied widely to help remedy increasing environmental problems. One of the key processes of biodiesel production is oil extraction from oilseed materials. Switchable solvents can reversibly change from molecular to ionic solvents under atmospheric CO2, and can be used for oil extraction. N, N-dimethylcyclohexylamine (DMCHA), a switchable solvent, was used to extract oil from Jatropha curcas L. oil seeds to produce biodiesel. The appropriate extraction conditions were: 1:2 ratio of seed mass to DMCHA volume, 0.3-1mm particle size, 200 rpm agitation speed, 60min extraction time, and 30 °C extraction temperature. The extraction ratio was about 83%. This solvent extracted the oil more efficiently than hexane, and is much less volatile. By bubbling CO2 under 1atm and 25 °C for 5h, the oil was separated, and DMCHA was recovered after releasing CO2 by bubbling N2 under 1atm and 60 °C for 2h. The residual solvent content in oil was about 1.7%. Selectivity of DMCHA was evaluated by detecting the protein and sugar content in oil. Using the oil with residual solvent to conduct transesterification process, the oil conversion ratio was approximately 99.5%.
