Production of low-cost calcium magnesium acetate (CMA) as an environmentally friendly deicer from cheese whey

Conference · Fri Dec 31 00:00:00 EST 1993

OSTI ID:140238

Yang, S T; Zhu, H; Li, Y; Tang, I C ^[1]

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1. Ohio State Univ., Columbus, OH (United States)

About 28 billion lbs of cheese whey are being wasted in the US because of the high biological oxygen demand (BOD) of whey, disposing of surplus whey is a pollution problem. An innovative, wide-scale solution to the whey disposal problem is to use whey as a zero- or low-cost feedstock for the production of an environmentally safe, noncorrosive, road deicer-calcium magnesium acetate (CMA). CMA can be used to replace some of the 10 to 14 million tons road salt used in the North America for deicing. A novel anaerobic fermentation process is developed to produce calcium magnesium acetate (CMA) from whey permeate. A co-culture consisting of homolactic (S. lactis) and homoacetic (C. formicoaceticum) bacteria was used to convert whey lactose to lactate and then to acetate in continuous, immobilized cell bioreactors. The acetate yield from lactose was {approximately}95% (wt/wt), and the final concentration of acetic acid was 4%. The acetic acid present in the fermentation broth can be recovered by solvent-extraction with a tertiary amine and reacted with dolomitic lime (Ca/MgO) to form a concentrated (>25%) CMA solution. About 25 tons CMA can be produced from a plant processing 1 million lbs whey permeate (4.5% lactose) per day. The production costs are estimated at {approximately}$220/ton CMA, which is only about one third of the present market price for CMA deicer. Therefore, about 0.8 million tons/yr CMA deicer can be produced from the currently unused whey. This will partially fulfill market demand for economically and environmentally sound chemicals for roadway deicing. This also will provide a viable solution to the whey disposal problem currently facing many dairies in the North America.

• Research Organization: National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
• OSTI ID: 140238
• Report Number(s): NREL/CP-200-5768-Vol.2; CONF-9308106-Vol.2; ON: DE94000435; TRN: 93:003832-0042
• Resource Relation: Conference: 1. biomass conference of the Americas: energy, environment, agriculture, and industry, Burlington, VT (United States), 30 Aug - 2 Sep 1993; Other Information: PBD: [1993]; Related Information: Is Part Of First Biomass Conference of the Americas: Energy, environment, agriculture, and industry; Proceedings, Volume 2; PB: 711 p.
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION
WHEY
FERMENTATION
WASTE PRODUCT UTILIZATION
ACETATES
PRODUCTION
ROADS
DEFROSTING
CHEESE
BIOMASS
BACTERIA
LACTOSE
SOLVENT EXTRACTION
WASTE PROCESSING
MARKET
WASTE MANAGEMENT
DOLOMITE
ACETIC ACID
LAND POLLUTION ABATEMENT
CALCIUM
MAGNESIUM
BIOREACTORS
COST BENEFIT ANALYSIS
SALTS