2. Authors: NARASIMHARAO KONDAMUDI, JASON STRULL, MANO MISRA, SUSANTA K. MOHAPATRA Received January 14, 2009. Revised manuscript received June 12, 2009. Accepted June 17, 2009.
8. Cont… According to the U.S. Census Bureau, feather meal (hydrolyzed poultry feathers) is defined as “the product resulting from the treatment under pressure of clean, undecomposed feathers from slaughtered poultry”. Main problem the biodiesel industry frequently faces is the availability of cheap and abundant, high-quality feedstock. Thus, finding alternative, nonfood, feedstock such as waste vegetable oil, grease, and animal fats is necessary for the industry. 5
9. Preparation of feather meal Feather meal is prepared by rendering the feathers with other waste materials such as blood and offal from the poultry industry using high pressures. The rendering process involves the hydrolysis of polypeptide chains of feather proteins using supercritical water. The hydrolysis process converts high-molecular weight, non digestible proteins of the feather, such as keratins, into small and digestible proteins. 6
10. Cont.., The molecular weight and the nutritional values of the newly formed proteins or polypeptides depend on the time, temperature, and pressure of the supercritical hydrolysis process. These feather meal samples contain certain amounts of fat. The fat content of the feather meal varies from 2 to 12% depending upon the type of feathers used. 7
11. Cont.., Chicken feathers contain approximately 11%. Turkey and duck feathers contain approximately 6.7%fat content. 8
13. METHODS Step 1: Extraction and Purification of Fat from Feather Meal. Step 2: Transesterification of Fat from Feather Meal. Step 3: Purification and Characterization of Biodiesel. 10
15. Step 1: Extraction and Purification of Fat from Feather Meal. The feather meal sample (100 g) was stirred with 300 mL of water at 70 C for 20min. The adsorbed fat on the protein content of the feather meal was melted and floated on the surface of the water layer. The top layerwas decanted and centrifuged for 10 min to collect the fat content (7.5 g) of the feather meal. 12
16. Cont.., The collected fat was mixed with a basic solution of potassium hydroxide (KOH) to remove the free fatty acids (FFA) in the form of soap. The soap was separated from the fat content by centrifugation. The purified fat (6.9 g) was processed to the next step, transesterification. 13
17. Step 2: Transesterification of Fat from Feather Meal. Transesterification was conducted to convert the triglycerides to biodiesel. In this process, the recovered fat content was preheated to 100 C and cooled to room temperature to remove the traces of water present. A solution of methanol (1:9 molar ratios) and 1 wt % KOH (as a catalyst) were added to the fat. The reaction mixture was refluxed at 70 C for 1 h. The reaction time was monitored via high-performance liquid chromatography(HPLC). 14
18. Step 3: Purification and Characterization of Biodiesel. After the transesterification process, the reaction mixture was allowed to cool to room temperature overnight. The bottom layer, glycerin, was separatedfrom the biodiesel. The top layer was then washed twice with warm water (40- 45 C) and with acidified water (0.5 wt% tannic acid) to remove the excess methanol and the traces of catalyst. 15
19. Cont.., The purified biodiesel was characterized using a Shimadzu gas chromatograph coupled with a mass spectroscope (GC-MS) and with a Shimadzu LC solution HPLC system. 16
20. A total of 6.9%of the fat was extracted using water as a solvent with stirring for 20 min. Complete transesterification was further confirmed by American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) Complete transesterification was observed within the first 15 min. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 17
22. Cont.., The major composition of feather meal biodiesel consists of methyl esters of palmitic (C16:0), steric (C18:0), linoleic (C18:2), and oleic (C18:1) acids. 19
23. Cont.., Biodiesel containing compounds with carbon chain lengths of >=15 produces superior-quality fuel. The presence of saturated fatty acids (∼40 wt %) gave a good oxidative stability to biodiesel. To further evaluate the quality of the biodiesel, they have conducted ASTM analysis of the produced biodiesel. Fuel must pass the entire battery of tests to be marketed as a fuel for use in diesel engines and to comply with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) standards. 20
24. Cont.., The complete ASTM analysis showed that it has good cetane number and high oxidation stability, which are good qualities in a biofuel for commercialization. 21
25. Conclusion The removal of the fat content from feather meal produces a better food source for animals and Good fertilizer for agriculture. Considering the total U.S. and world production of poultry waste, U.S.-------139 million gallons. World-------593.2 billion gallons of biodiesel per year, respectively 22
28. Defn: A supercritical fluid possesses the characteristics of both fluid and gaseous substances: the fluid behavior of dissolving soluble materials, and the gaseous behavior of excellent diffusibility. transesterification is the process of exchanging the organic group R″ of an ester with the organic group R′ of analcohol. Cetane number or CN is actually a measure of a fuel's ignition delay; 25
