Plasticizer and Surfactant Formation from Food-Waste- and Algal Biomass-Derived Lipids

The potential of lipids derived from food-waste and algal biomass (produced from food-waste hydrolysate) for the formation of plasticizers and surfactants is investigated herein. Plasticizers were formed by epoxidation of double bonds of methylated unsaturated fatty acids with in situ generated peroxoformic acid. Assuming that all unsaturated fatty acids are convertible, 0.35 and 0.40 g of plasticizer can be obtained from 1 g of crude algae- or food-waste-derived lipids, respectively. Surfactants were formed by transesterification of saturated and epoxidized fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs) with polyglycerol. The addition of polyglycerol would result in a complete conversion of saturated and epoxidized FAMEs to fatty acid polyglycerol esters. This study successfully demonstrates the conversion of food-waste into value-added chemicals using simple and conventional chemical reactions.