RECOIL RECovered waste cooking OIL for combined heat and power production. Final Report ACTION 6.1

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1 With the contribution of the LIFE financial instrument of the European Community LIFE+ 10 ENV/IT/ RECOIL RECOIL PROJECT RECOIL RECovered waste cooking OIL for combined heat and power production Final Report ACTION 6.1 ACTION 6: NETWORKING WITH PORTUGUESE LIFE+ PROJECT OILPRODIESEL; SUB -ACTION 6.1: ANALYSIS OF OILPRODIESEL STRUCTURE, CONTENT AND RESULTS Issued by: AzzeroCO2 March 2012

2 Sommario 1. Purpose of the report Introduction General description of the OILPRODIESEL project Collection performed in OILPRODIESEL project Fill-up monitoring system in OILPRODIESEL project Use of WCO in OILPRODIESEL project Results in OILPRODIESEL project Comparison between RECOIL and OILPRODIESEL projects Learning point from OILPRODIESEL project Conclusion /7

3 1. Purpose of the report Action 6.1 is the initial part of Action 6, Interaction with Portuguese LIFE+ project Oilprodiesel, for exchanging information about the project, organising a visit to Oeiras and analysing the project s contents and results. This report deals with the analysis of OILPRODIESEL structure, content and results, and it is intended for the partners of the RECOIL project, stakeholders and the European Commission, not as didactic material. 2. Introduction The RECOIL project aims at the energy revaluation of waste cooking oil (WCO) in order to solve the problem of its disposal, creating a network for its collection and reducing its spread into the environment and in order to exploit its energy great potential. After the collection and storage, the cycle ends with a mechanical treatment (without thermo-chemical process, such as the conversion into biodiesel) of the oil to remove impurities (food waste, water, etc...) and with the use, as fuel, for an internal combustion engine in a combined heat and power plant located in Castell Azzara (GR). The RECOIL project started in September OILPRODIESEL is a LIFE+ (LIFE05 ENV/P/000369) project developed in Portugal, in Oeiras Municipality, and deals on the transformation of WCO into biodiesel for transportation. Despite some differences, illustrated in this report, there are similar issues involved in the two projects and the structure and results of OILPRODIESEL have be studied in order to deepen knowledge on the WCO management and collection and to compare the baseline of the two projects. OILPRODIESEL partners and in particular ISQ, the Coordinating Partner, were contacted since the preparation of RECOIL application; they have collaborated with RECOIL project for information and expertise exchanging. Later on, Professor Marco Estrela of ISQ was contacted several times by and the first meeting was held in Rome in January 2012 in order to understand the logical scheme used to design, manage and develop the project. After the discussion we all agreed to visit the municipality of Oeiras and other nearby municipalities, where the collection of WCO was organised and still in place, in the next few months; We also have exchanged information on the main problems encountered during the collection of WCO, and how the project overcome them. The output from OILPRODIESEL project, such as Layman report, was read and attentively analysed to fully comprehend the mechanism that brought to their positive results and to understand how successfully design and implement the WCO collecting system for RECOIL. Action 6.1 was concluded at the end of January 2012; it was initially delayed because the coordinator clarified that with the end of the project, the municipality of Oeiras decided to dismiss the production of biodiesel, so the pilot plant for biodiesel production was returned to Sweden, and the WCO containers don t have the fill-up monitoring system anymore. The municipality retained the containers and collection of WCO is now performed by a waste management company. Due to those changes, we have been discussing about the pertinence of the trip to Portugal, and we have initially decided to postpone the visit in order to find a more suitable project, but, as said before, we all agreed that the visit the municipality of Oeiras and other nearby municipalities, where the collection of WCO is organised, would be still interesting. The visit will be organised for next March-April /7

4 3. General description of the OILPRODIESEL project OILPRODIESEL is a LIFE+ (LIFE05 ENV/P/000369) project developed in Portugal, in Oeiras Municipality. It was started in the end of October 2005 and concluded in the end of March (web site not active anymore) The project dealt with the integrated waste management system for collecting and reprocessing used frying oils to produce biodiesel for municipality fleet of Oeiras for waste transportation. The purpose of OILPRODIESEL was to develop an integrated system for the collection of waste cooking oil (WCO) produced in the domestic sector that was used to produce biodiesel to fuel the vehicle fleet of the municipality of Oeiras. The overall objective was to solve the uncontrolled problem of WCO disposal into the waste water collection system, through an adequate waste management system. Using WCO for producing biodiesel also played the simultaneous role of reducing the demand for primary energy by the Municipality vehicles and the consequent cutting off greenhouse emissions. In this manner, the project implementation was based, step by step, from an estimation of available WCO for collection, to a definition of the process logistics and a definition for the final use of biodiesel. A correct management of WCO as waste and the best final use of the product (biodiesel) completed the oil cycle in the implementation area (Oeiras), and demonstrated the feasibility and the transferability to other municipalities and/or regions across the countries involved. The collection of used frying oils (WCO) from the domestic sector has a positive impact in the environment as it avoids deposition of the WCO in landfills or its discharge in the sewer system, the most chosen option before the project. This last option causes many problems in the operation of the wastewater treatment plants causing loss of efficiency and increasing operational costs. By using the collected WCO to produce biodiesel also brings several benefits to the environment namely by allowing a reduction of CO2 equivalent emissions from the transport sector when it is used to fuel the vehicles. The effect of CO2 saving is significantly higher when using WCO as feedstock, because here the effects of the agricultural production of vegetable oils has not to be taken into consideration. The OILPRODIESEL project demonstrated that it is possible to collect the WCO from the domestic sector with success and therefore reduce the environmental impact caused by that waste. 4. Collection performed in OILPRODIESEL project Collection of the WCO originated in the domestic sector was made with 20 specially designed containers placed in selected places all over the municipal territory. The specifications for the container design included robustness and attractiveness; WCO were purred by citizens in domestic plastic bottles that were deposited into the containers. The container had two parts, an outer shell and an interior replaceable container where the bottles were actually left. When full, this container, provided with wheels, was moved to the transport truck and taken to the processing facility. A clean container was then put inside the outer shell. The containers were left in their places after the end of the project. 5. Fill-up monitoring system in OILPRODIESEL project In order to implement an efficient routine for the collection of recyclable waste, it was deemed necessary to implement a remote monitoring system, such that containers were only emptied when a significant level of waste was collected. The system consisted of two main components: remote monitoring units, installed within the WCO containers, and a Control Centre, installed at the waste collection operator s premises. The monitoring unit measured the level of waste inside a container, and transmitted readings to the Control Centre, where they were displayed together with the 4/7

5 location of the relevant container on a digital map. The monitoring unit was installed in a support inside the WCO container. In order to facilitate monitoring of containers by any interested party, a Web-based application was developed, allowing the access to the relevant data with a simple Internet connectio. The application was developed based on Google Earth, which provided an attractive map or aerial view of the containers locations; By clicking on the appropriate icon, data for a specific container (such as fill level, last reporting time and street location) were accessed. 6. Use of WCO in OILPRODIESEL project The WCO produced in the domestic sector was collected and transformed into biodiesel for municipal vehicles. The whole process has many environmental benefits namely by helping to reduce the CO2 emissions from transport, that is indicated as the major contributor to climate change. The average quantity of diesel consumed in the municipal fleet by year was estimated in litres. Using B20 (20% biodiesel incorporated) in the fleet would save litres of diesel, cutting down approximately 530 tonnes of CO2 emitted every year. Using biodiesel also helps reducing the dependency of oil imports; In addition to that, operating costs of a fleet can also be reduced as biodiesel is cheaper than diesel. In the case of Oeiras, with a collected amount of kg used cooking oil during a period of 8 months of the project, the savings were estimated about If all the WCO produced in the domestic sector in Oeiras estimated in 619 tons was collected, around Euros could be saved. 7. Results in OILPRODIESEL project In order to have a clear understanding of the general population s attitude towards recycling and general practices related to WCO handling and management, an initial survey was conducted. From the analysis of the answers, it was clear that the vast majority of the interviewed (89%) utilized vegetable oil to cook at home, most commonly, to fry potatoes and other types of food. It was realized that the public waste water system was the main target for WCO disposal (56%), though there was also an extensive amount of citizen that opted for garbage disposal (44%). The inquired people demonstrated a positive approach to the idea of WCO recycling. An expressive majority was willing to participate in the proposed collection system. A system to collect and produce biodiesel was designed and put in place. A 1000L biodiesel processor prototype was built and assembled in the selected site. The fill-up monitoring system was designed and installed in the collection containers. The containers were designed, built and placed in 20 different selected locations of Oeiras Municipality. Around Kg of WCO was collected until March 2009, with additional Kg collected until the end of June 2009, for a total of kg. Emissions testing on selected vehicles were carried out. These tests were made with vehicles filled with diesel and with B20 (20% biodiesel incorporated). Results showed a decrease in CO emissions and a slight increase in NOx emissions, which was in accordance with data from literature. The project results were transferred to other regions willing to implement the system to collect WCO from the domestic sector. The developed WCO collection system, including the WCO collection containers, the fill-up monitoring equipment and the prototype processor, had technical and commercial application after some improvements and adaptations in the design. The WCO collection containers have been technically improved and sold by a Portuguese company, RESOPRE. Several municipalities have already purchased the containers. In addition, TECMIC improved the technical specifications of the fill-up monitoring equipment and is now offering the 5/7

6 equipment to waste management companies. AGERATEC, the company that provided the biodiesel processor, has expanded and is now offering the most technically advanced version available in the market, thanks to the experience gained with OILPRODIESEL s prototype. After the end of the project, the plant for the biodiesel production was dismantled and sent back to Sweden, because the municipality was not able to guarantee the needed safety and expert technicians for the operations required for the transformation. The main learning points underlined by project reports and by Professor Estrela dealt on the collection system and the citizen s information and involvement. Originally the project planned to collect the domestic oil in external containers where citizen would have poured the oil from their own bottle, instead of having it deposited in plastic bottles. The attempt of collecting the oil poured directly into the containers produced some issues such as spilled oil on the ground around the container with safety and environmental implications. The system was then changed into the collection of closed domestic plastic bottles filled with WCO, which were emptied by technicians in the appropriate processing facility. Empty plastic bottles were sent to recycle, but no further details were given, since it was out of the project boundary. About involvement of citizen, it was reported that the most successful approach turned out to be local seminars where people were eager to participate and actively seek for information. 8. Comparison between RECOIL and OILPRODIESEL projects As RECOIL started in September 2011, most of the actions are planned and not already in place. As described in the general description for the application, RECOIL shows several different topic compared to OILPRODIESEL such as: 1. Container: In OILPRODIESEL specifically designed containers were located all over the municipal territory; no door to door was organised and people were not given any specifically designed bottle, so citizen used any kind of plastic bottle, mainly empty water plastic bottle, that were thrown in the collection container along with the oil. In RECOIL the collection will be carried out weekly and door to door using low emissions vehicles with tank, using vacuum intake; 1 litre and 5 litre containers will be distributed respectively to families and commercial activities; those bottle are specifically designed to filter off small pieces of food and to be emptied in the bigger collection container; The door to door network has been chosen to encourage the citizens to start a new type of waste separate collection and RECOIL doesn t foresee a specific container to ensure the possibility to replicate of the system. 2. Monitoring system: In OILPRODIESEL the monitoring unit within the containers transmitted data to the Control Centre, where they were displayed together with the location of the relevant containers on a digital map. In RECOIL the entire network is managed and monitored by a software. This way the system will not only indicate of the oil quantity in the container but also trace the quantity and quality of collected oil. The software develops a decision support system through analysis of data derived from the chain traceability. It provides an access to the web: after registration all citizens can send data on their consumption of oils and report system problems. Unlike OILPRODIESEL, RECOIL includes the differentiation of types of oil, placed in containers according to different composition clusters in order to obtain a good starting point for the purification. 6/7

7 3. Use of WCO: In OILPRODIESEL WCO was converted into biodiesel through a thermo-chemical process. In RECOIL the collected oil will be purified through a simple mechanical treatment; this leads to a simplified purification process and to a minor use of energy to obtain a reusable product (fuel). The innovation proposed in this project is to burn the WCO collected directly into the engine, to produce electricity and heat, after a mechanical treatment. This treatment is executed by a sedimentation, filtration and centrifugation process and it is necessary to remove water and pieces of food, to make the WCO ready to be used in CHP power plants. 4. Final use: In OILPRODIESEL the final product (biodiesel, 20 % WCO and 80% diesel) was used as a fuel for the vehicle fleet of the municipality of Oeiras. In RECOIL the final product (purified oil) will be used as fuel in a cogeneration plant to produce electricity and heat (1 MWe). 9. Learning point from OILPRODIESEL project The most important learning point form the study of the output of OILPRODIESEL project is about the containers and the collecting system. Due to information shared, we are expanding our research for small containers (the 1 to 5 litres specifically designed and commercialised for the WCO collection, as described above) and we are taking into consideration different devices, such as small funnels that can be applied on the top of any kind of plastic bottle, with a screw to secure it, and a cap, so that people can be free to use the most appropriate dimensioned container for their collection. The funnels, being smaller that containers, would also require less plastic to be built and less fuel to be transported, satisfying environmental needs. The funnel will be made by recycled plastic, as clearly required during negotiations with vendors. Therefore, because of the idea of the use of the funnel and the plastic bottle, instead the specific container, the discussion between Recoil partners is focussed on the option of pouring the oil out of the domestic bottle into the main container, or throwing away the full plastic bottle itself. The main drawback of the last option is a kind of encouraging a constant need of new plastic bottles, even if for a re-use application. 10. Conclusion The main difference between the two projects is the final use of the collected WCO. The most important learning point form the study of the output of OILPRODIESEL project is about the containers and the collecting system. The information gained opened a discussion between the partners of the project to foresee and prevent problems in RECOIL. The discussion will be expanded and deepened in the next months in order to find the best solution to fit all the environmental and technical requirement. 7/7