HIGHLIGHTS Standard-quality biodiesel was obtained using the proposed strategy.Up to 15% less water consumption after two rounds of biodiesel production operations. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT Strengthening the environmental-friendly aspects of biodiesel production process. Jaber et al. / Biofuel Research Journal 5 (2015) 148-151 Please cite this article as: Jaber R., Shirazi M.M.A., Toufaily J., Hamieh A.T., Noureddin A., Ghanavati H., Ghaffari A., Zenouzi A., Karout A., Ismail A.F., Tabatabaei M. Biodiesel washwater reuse using microfiltration: toward zero-discharge strategy for cleaner and economized biodiesel production. A simple but economically feasible refining method to treat and re-use biodiesel wash-water was developed. In detail, microfiltration (MF) through depth-filtration configuration was used in different hybrid modules. Then, the treated wash-water was mixed with clean water at different ratios, re-used for biodiesel purification and water-washing efficiency was evaluated based on methyl ester purity analysis. The findings of the present study revealed that depth-filtration-based MF combined with sand filtration/activated carbon separation and 70% dilution rate with fresh water not only achieved standard-quality biodiesel product but also led to up to 15% less water consumption after two rounds of production operations. This would be translated into a considerable reduction in the total volume of fresh water used during the operation process and would also strengthen the environmental-friendly aspects of the biodiesel production process for wastewater generation was obviously cut by the same rate as well. 

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