Beef fat used as fuel in internal combustion engines or as biogas precursor.

What is it about?

Herein, we analyse two approaches to the use of animal waste from tanneries: as fuel for diesel engines and for biogas generation for heat production. Diesel fueling and fueling by animal wastes are compared in terms of the engine performance and pollutant emissions. The effects of animal waste usage on the pollutant emissions level, exhaust gas temperature, indicated mean effective pressure, maximum pressure, and engine efficiency are analysed.

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Why is it important?

Secondary products from food and leather industries are regarded as animal wastes. Conversion of these animal wastes into fuels represents an energy recovery solution not only because of their good combustion properties, but also from the viewpoint of supply stability. A tannery factory usually processes 60–70 t/month of crude leathers, resulting in 12–15 t/month of waste. Fats, which can be used as the input fuel for diesel engines (in crude state or as biodiesel), represent 10% of this animal waste, while the rest are proteins that can be used to generate biogas through anaerobic digestion.

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