oil and starch recovery

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Due to the frying operation in potato processing, the effluents normally contain a large amount of oil and grease and therefore a high BOD5 and COD value (Catarino et al., 2005). Oil and grease can be particularly problematic even for conventional centralized treatment system (Chipasa and Medrzycka, 2006). Moreover, consequences such as hydrophobicity in receiving soils and subsequent poor distribution of irrigation water may occur, if inadequately treated wastewater is disposed to the soil or reused for irrigation (Wallach et al., 2005; Tarchitzky et al., 2007; Travis et al., 2010). Also, blockage of the sewer and drainage system often caused by fat, oil and grease (Water UK, 2013).

Special enzymes can be used to break down these oil and greases in the wastewater. This can be an effective solution where properly used (Water UK, 2013). However extra cost can be avoided if oil and greases are collected in the first place. Additionally, by recycling them as a by-product, extra profit can be made.

There are some good options in reusing oil and greases. To begin with, Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij N.V. (Royal Dutch Airlines), known by its initials KLM, collects and uses cooking oil to fuel flight since September 2011 (KLM, 2012). Twenty-five percent of the fuel on board 777 aircraft is made from old cooking oil (Daniel, 2013). Although it maybe more expensive –costing around three times the price of regular aviation fuel at $10 per gallon, the fuel is more greener, reducing carbon emissions by up to 80 percent (KLM, 2012). Additionally, KLM is aim at using 1% biofuels for all its flights by 2015. It has announced it will purchase 2,000 tons of gutter oil from Shanghai and refine it into aviation fuel for the aircraft. The...

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...D as high as 20,000 mg/L, which will cause serious problems if discharge directly (Grommers and van der Krogt, 2009). Though biological treatment (Gelinas and Barrette, 2007), heat treatment (Bartova and Barta, 2008) and flocculence (Bartova and Barta, 2009; Khorshid et al., 2007) can be used to treat these wastewaterm they are not able to separate the organic substances and consume a lot of energy. Moreover, potato starch is of great value since it is rich in amino acids and has also been widely used in the industries of food and chemistry (Refstie and Tiekstra, 2003; Kraak, 1992; Jobling, 2003). Therefore, the discharge of the wastewater is an abundant loss of these valuable substances.

The industrial applications of starch are various. Papermaking is the largest non-food application globally. Millions of metric tons of starch are consumed annually (NCFF, 2011).

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