Partial wet oxidation of dairy manure as a pretreatment process to produce acetic acid 'a Source Growth of Methanogens'.

Wet oxidation can be an effective process for the pretreatment of complex biomass such as lignocellulose. However, studies on the use of wet oxidation for treating solid waste such as dairy manure are limited. The use of partial wet oxidation to convert dairy manure into low molecular weight carboxylic acids as final products were investigated. This work focuses on the performance of the sub-critical wet oxidation treatment of dairy cattle manure as a conversion/pretreatment process to release matter from the lignocellulosic fraction rather than a destructive process. The operating conditions were controlled at the short residence time and optimal temperature in the presence of oxygen under a pressure of 120 psi. The thermal hydrolysis under wet oxidation significantly affected conversion manure slurry into organic acids. The concentration of acetic acid reached 1778 mg L-1, achieved at 190°C (60 minutes reaction time) as the reaction temperature increased within the range of 150°C-200°C, total organic carbon was reduced and monomers in the process liquids decreased. On the other hand, soluble COD in process liquids increased with an increment in reaction temperature. The results provide insights into technical options to pretreat dairy manure to improve biochemical conversion yield.

Base catalytic transesterification of vegetable oil.

Sustainable economic and industrial growth requires safe, sustainable resources of energy. Biofuel is becoming increasingly important as an alternative fuel for the diesel engine. The use of non-edible vegetable oils for biofuel production is significant because of the increasing demand for edible oils as food. With the recent debate of food versus fuel, some non-edible oils like soapnut and Jatropha (Jatropha curcus. L) are being investigated as possible sources of biofuel. Recent research has focused on the application of heterogeneous catalysis. This review considers catalytic transesterification and the possibility of heterogeneous base catalysts. The process of transesterification, and the effect of parameters, mechanism and kinetics are reviewed. Although chromatography (GC and HPLC) are the analytical methods most often used for biofuel characterization, other techniques and some improvements to analytical methods are discussed.