Producing fuel and specialty chemicals from the slow pyrolysis of poultry DAF skimmings

The production of bio-oil via the slow pyrolysis of dissolved air flotation (DAF) skimmings from poultry processing is described. The raw DAF skimmings were characterized for physicochemical properties and for thermal behavior (TGA). The bio-oil was produced in a batch pyrolysis system at varying temperatures between 400 and 700 °C to study the effect of temperature on product yield. The fatty acids in the bio-oil produced displayed a high degree of saturation that caused the bio-oil to have poor cold flow properties (high cloud point and viscosity) so a solvent extraction scheme was devised to extract a bio-oil fraction rich in unsaturated fatty acids that could be further esterified into a bio-diesel and fatty nitriles that could be further processed into surfactants. This ethyl acetate-soluble fraction demonstrated much improved cold flow properties as well as lower water content and a higher HHV. The esterification of this soluble fraction was performed using methanol and sulfuric acid as an acid catalyst and the formation of fatty acid methyl esters was verified using GC/MS and FT-IR.