Thermo-chemical extraction of fuel oil from waste lubricating grease.

This study investigated the recovery of oil from waste grease through the process of thermal degradation in an aqueous solution of potassium hydroxide (KOH) followed by solvent extraction. Waste high temperature metal bearing grease was dissolved in a 15 w/w% KOH solution at 80°C while being agitated at 2000 rpm using a shear action agitator for a period of 15 min. Two distinct layers were observed after 8 min of settling time. The top layer being of dark brown oil and the bottom layer was a heterogeneous mixture. The two layers were separated by decantation. The bottom layer was cooled down to 45°C followed by slow addition of toluene (C7H8) while agitating at 1200 rpm for 15 min to prevent solids settling and minimise rapid volatilisation of the organic compounds in the mixture. Two distinct layers were also formed, the top homogeneous mixture of light brown oil-toluene mixture and the bottom sludge layer. The solvent was recovered from the oil for re-use by fractional distillation of the homogenous mixture. It was observed that 15 w/w% potassium hydroxide solution can chemically degrade the soap matrix in the grease and extract up to 49 w/w% of the fuel oil when subjected to high shear stress at a temperature of 80°C. The 26 w/w% extraction of oil in the remaining sludge was obtained by solvent extraction process with mass ratios of sludge to solvent of 2:1. Solvent recovery of 88% by mass was obtained via fractional distillation method. The combined extraction processes brought an overall oil yield of 75 w/w% from the waste grease. The fuel oil obtained from this process has similar properties to paraffin oil and can be blended with other oils as an alternative energy source.

Designing of sampling programmes for industrial effluent monitoring.

INTRODUCTION: Monitoring of effluent discharges from industrial establishments discharging directly into municipality sewers is one of the major water pollution control activities conducted by municipalities. For largely industrialised municipalities, the task can be quite expensive and not effective if sampling programmes are not properly designed. In most cases, samples are randomly collected without proper knowledge of the discharge patterns of various industries. As a result, the information obtained does not give a good reflection of the quality of effluent being discharged. METHODS: These problems can be resolved by adapting a statistical approach to the design of sampling programmes. This approach is useful in determining the frequency of sampling, the number of samples needed to estimate the average concentration of target pollution indicator parameters and the magnitude of the uncertainty involved. RESULTS: The benefits and applications of this approach are demonstrated by a case study presented in this paper. It was found that the number of samples and cost of sample analysis can be greatly reduced by the use of systematic instead of random sampling. CONCLUSION: The statistical approach greatly improves the estimate of monthly means of pollution indicator parameters and is an effective approach for pollution control when coupled with the "polluter pays principle".