Method for fractionating grease trap waste and uses of fractions therefrom
AssigneeProlab Technologies Inc.
InventorsJuan Garro, Alain Lemieux, Paul Jollez, Nicole Cadoret
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A process for producing unsaturated and saturated free fatty acid from trap oils, trap greases, brown greases and grease trap waste as starting material. The process consist in subjecting the starting material to a pretreatment, a first purification step, a fractional step, a second purification step and eventually a hydrogenation step. Methyl esters of unsaturated and saturated free fatty acids, oleic acid and stearin is obtained from this process.
Claims14
Process for producing unsaturated and saturated free fatty acids, the process being characterized in that it comprises the steps of:
- f) selecting a starting material from the group consisting of trap oils, trap greases, brown greases, and grease trap waste;
- g) pretreating the oils and/or greases selected in step a) in order to separate the oils and/or greases from water and obtain a mixture of saturated, unsaturated free fatty acids and impurities;
- h) subjecting the mixture obtained in step b) to a first purification step by fractionating the mixture obtained in step b) in three fractions:
- a light fraction principally constituted of volatile compounds and water, an intermediate fraction mainly constituted of free fatty acids, and a residual heavy fraction mainly constituted of poly-glycerides and polymers;
- i) fractionating the free fatty acids fraction in two fractions:
- saturated fatty acids (SFA) and unsaturated fatty acids (UFA);
- and
- j) subjecting the saturated fatty acids and unsaturated fatty acids to a second purification step in order to obtain oleic acid and stearin and their respective unsaturated and saturated fatty acid residues.
The process according to claim B, characterized in that the distillation techniques comprise fractional distillation consisting in a preliminary steam stripping followed by a distillation at a temperature varying from 150° to 200° C. and at a pressure varying from 2 to 3 mbar.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.