Project Category: ACREC

The Animal Co-Products Research & Education Center (ACREC) is a joint project with Clemson University and FPRF with the mission to:

Ensure microbial safety of rendered products for animal feeds and consumer protection.
Promote environmentally sound practices.
Develop new market opportunities for the worldwide rendering industry.
Provide educational opportunities in animal co-product utilization.

Projects funded through ACREC represent wide diversity in different fields and areas of novel and innovative research.

Contact ACREC

Animal Co-Products Research and Education Center (ACREC)
247 Poole Agricultural Center
Clemson University
Clemson, SC 29634-0328

acrec-l@clemson.edu

Annel K. Greene, Ph.D., Center Director, agreene@clemson.edu

(864) 656-3123 Office
(864) 656-3131 FAX

The objective of the project is to further develop rendered co-products as electron donors for major environmental contaminants.

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This project sought to develop and evaluate the applicability of microbial fuel cells (MFCs) for the secondary treatment of rendering wastewater.

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This project continues our prolonged efforts toward the development of new functional materials for technologies to reduce odor emissions from the rendering industry.

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Whitehead (Clemson University) and Alexis (Yachay Tech) have been pursuing a multi-year project with FPRF and ACREC to develop a series of functional nanomaterials – materials on the scale of one billionth of a meter – to capture odors and other environmental contaminants associated with rendering operations.

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The current industry standard for wastewater treatment in the rendering industry employs dissolved air flotation (DAF) to remove oils, protein, and other suspended particulate matter from wastewater before disposal or further treatment.

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The project aims to enhance the overall service life of animal protein (AP)-based polymeric systems by imparting self-repairing capabilities via incorporation of microcapsules containing healing agents.

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Every rendering plant has a water treatment system for purification of a wide range of wastewater from rendering, poultry, meat, and food processing, to recover proteins and fats to produce high-quality fats and protein meals, and meet eluent standards.

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The goal of this research is to investigate the conversion of lipids present in animal waste streams into fatty-acid methyl esters using supercritical methanol. If successful, this research could redirect waste streams into valuable products that include bio-based fuels, lubricants, release agents, and other nonrenewable petroleum products.

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The primary objective of this proposal is to engineer the yeast, Yarrowia lipolytica, to grow on rendered animal fats, and serve as a platform for the production of value-added products, including omega-3 fatty acids.

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This project continued our prolonged efforts toward the development of new functional materials for technologies to reduce odor emissions from the rendering industry. In the beginning of our work with FPRF, the main target of this work was to develop engineered, biodegradable poly(lactic acid) (i.e. PLA) nanomaterials whose surface could be decorated with appropriate reactive sites (i.e. functional groups) that would, in turn, capture or destroy malodorous volatile organic byproducts of rendering processes.

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Autooxidation of unsaturated fats is one of the primary mechanisms of quality deterioration in animal feeds and pet food. These alterations in quality are manifested through adverse changes in flavor, color, texture, and nutritive value and there is some concern that toxic compounds are produced during the deterioration process.

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This project set out to find value-added uses for low-value rendering products, which are often high in free fatty acids (FFAs).

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This project was an effort to decrease costs for wastewater treatment at rendering plants. One of the most widely used processes in the rendering wastewater treatment train is dissolved air floatation (DAF). DAF requires a large dose of various chemicals and significant operator time to make it work well. We are investigating whether membrane filtration may be a cheaper alternative.

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We built a field-deployable system for testing membrane separations in rendering plant wastewater treatment processes.

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We propose a biological approach to transform meat and bone meal (MBM) into a high-value natural antioxidant, astaxanthin (price=$2500-7000/kg) which is commercially produced by a microalga, Haematococcus pluvialis, and a yeast, Phaffia rhodozyma.

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The primary objective of this proposal is to engineer the yeast, Yarrowia lipolytica, to grow on rendered animal fats, and serve as a platform for the production of value-added products, including omega-3 fatty acids and fatty alcohols.

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This proposed project sought to build upon our very successful ACREC supported program toward the development of functional nanomaterials for rendering operations.

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