Waste to biodiesel: A preliminary assessment for Saudi Arabia

Rehan M 1 , Gardy J 2 , Demirbas A 3 , Rashid U 4 , Budzianowski WM 5 , Pant D 6 Show all authors , Nizami AS 7

Affiliations 

  • 1 Centre of Excellence in Environmental Studies (CEES), King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
  • 2 School of Chemical and Process Engineering, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK
  • 3 Department of Industrial Engineering, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
  • 4 Institute of Advanced Technology, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia
  • 5 Wojciech Budzianowski Consulting Services, Wrocław, Poland; Renewable Energy and Sustainable Development (RESD) Group, Wrocław, Poland
  • 6 Separation & Conversion Technology, Flemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO), Boeretang 200, 2400 Mol, Belgium
  • 7 Centre of Excellence in Environmental Studies (CEES), King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Electronic address: anizami@kau.edu.sa
Bioresour Technol, 2018 Feb;250:17-25.
PMID: 29153646 DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2017.11.024

Abstract

This study presents a preliminary assessment of biodiesel production from waste sources available in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) for energy generation and solution for waste disposal issues. A case study was developed under three different scenarios: (S1) KSA population only in 2017, (S2) KSA population and pilgrims in 2017, and (S3) KSA population and pilgrims by 2030 using the fat fraction of the municipal solid waste. It was estimated that S1, S2, and S3 scenarios could produce around 1.08, 1.10 and 1.41 million tons of biodiesel with the energy potential of 43423, 43949 and 56493 TJ respectively. Furthermore, annual savings of US $55.89, 56.56 and 72.71 million can be generated from landfill diversion of food waste and added to the country's economy. However, there are challenges in commercialization of waste to biodiesel facilities in KSA, including waste collection and separation, impurities, reactor design and biodiesel quality.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

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