Biodiesels: Under The Supervision Of: Prof. S.K. Shukla Department of Mechanical Engineering IIT (BHU), Varanasi-221005
Biodiesels: Under The Supervision Of: Prof. S.K. Shukla Department of Mechanical Engineering IIT (BHU), Varanasi-221005
Biodiesels: Under The Supervision Of: Prof. S.K. Shukla Department of Mechanical Engineering IIT (BHU), Varanasi-221005
➢Some of the main reasons for shifting to biofuels are the rising prices of oil,
emission of the greenhouse gases from fossil fuels and the interest for obtaining
fuel from agricultural crops for the benefit of farmers, excessive use of fossil
fuels leads to rapid increase in environmental pollution, and depletion of ozone
layer.
➢ In the last few decades swiftly increasing prices and uncertainties in the
availability of petroleum, therefore above problems have leads to great interest
on biodiesel produced from vegetable oil as a substitute for conventional diesel.
➢The certain properties of biofuels like renewability, biodegradability and low
global warming potential, which make more attractive to replace petroleum fuels.
➢The main biofuels are biodiesel and bioethanol. Bioethanol, known as alcohol
produced from carbohydrates (found in sugar or starch crops like sugarcane or
corn) prepared by fermentation and distillation.
RUDOLF DIESEL
Designed Diesel Engine in 1894 to Run on Peanut Oil
• Second generation biofuels: These are produced from non-food crops or portions of
food crops that are not edible and considered as wastes, e.g. stems, husks, wood chips,
and fruit skins and peeling.
• Thermochemical reactions or biochemical conversion process is used for producing
such fuels.
• Examples include cellulose ethanol, biodiesel.
• Though these fuels do not affect food economy, their production is quite complicated.
• Also, it is reported that these biofuels emit less greenhouse gases when compared to
first generation biofuels.
• Third generation biofuels: These are produced from micro-organisms like
algae.
• Example- Butanol
• Micro-organisms like algae can be grown using land and water unsuitable for
food production, therefore reducing the strain on already depleted water
sources.
• One disadvantage is that fertilizers used in the production of such crops lead to
environment pollution.
• Fourth Generation Biofuels: In the production of these fuels, crops that are
genetically engineered to take in high amounts of carbon are grown and
harvested as biomass.
• The crops are then converted into fuel using second generation techniques.
• The fuel is pre-combusted and the carbon is captured. Then the carbon is geo-
sequestered, meaning that the carbon is stored in depleted oil or gas fields or in
unmineable coal seams.
• Some of these fuels are considered as carbon negative as their production pulls
out carbon from environment.
Major types of biofuels
Conti…
Plant oil is the largest source
• Rapeseed (Germany)
• Sunflower oil
• Soybean oil (USA & Brazil)
• Palm oil (Malaysia)
• Linseed, olive oils (Spain)
• Jatropha (Nicaragua & South America, India)
• Cottonseed oil (Greece)
• Beef tallow (Ireland),
• frying oil (Austria),
• Guang-Pi (China)
• Karanja flowers seeds
Production of Biodiesel
➢Blending
➢Micro-emulsification
➢Pyrolysis
➢Trans-estrification
Trans-estrification
Process
Flow diagram
Micro-emulsification
• Emulsification is the process by which a system comprising of two
immiscible liquids (usually oil and water), one of which is dispersed as
small droplets within the other, is produced
• Emulsification is the process of dispersing two or more immiscible
liquids together to form a semi-stable mixture. In food applications,
these two liquids generally consist of an organic (oil) phase and an
aqueous (water) phase that is stabilized by the addition of a food-
grade emulsifier (surfactant).
• Microemulsions are clear, thermodynamically stable, isotropic liquid
mixtures of oil, water and surfactant, frequently in combination with a
cosurfactant. The aqueous phase may contain salt and/or other
ingredients, and the "oil" may actually be a complex mixture of
different hydrocarbons and olefins.
• The droplet size of the dispersed phase in a microemulsion is less than
100nm.
Tran-estrification Process
• The transesterification of vegetable oils, animal fats or waste cooking oils is
the process behind conventional biodiesel. In the transesterification process a glyceride
reacts with an alcohol (typically methanol or ethanol) in the presence of a catalyst forming
fatty acid alkyl esters and an alcohol.
• The feedstock for transesterification can be any fatty acids from vegetable or animal origin,
or used cooking oils (UCO). Typically used vegetable oils originate from rapeseed,
sunflower, soy and oil palms.
• Depending on the origin of the oils and fats some pretreatment is necessary before
processing.
• The transesterification process is a reversible reaction and carried out by mixing the reactants
– fatty acids, alcohol and catalyst. A strong base or a strong acid can be used as a catalyst. At
the industrial scale, mostly sodium or potassium methanolate is used. The end products of the
transesterification process are raw biodiesel and raw glycerol. In a further process these raw
products undergo a cleaning step. In case of using methanol as alcohol FAME (fatty acid
methyl ester) biodiesel is produced. The purified glycerol can be used in the food and
cosmetic industries, as well as in the oleochemical industry. The glycerol can also be used as
a substrate for anaerobic digestion.
Biodiesel Samples
Trans-esterification Reaction
Advantages of Biofuels
• Availability: biofuels are produced from biomass and thus are renewable.
• Source material: Whereas oil is a limited resource that comes from specific
materials, biofuels can be manufactured from a wide range of materials
including crop waste, manure, and other byproducts.
• Environment Pollution: Biofuels do not release as much carbon as fossil
fuels do but fertilizers that are used in the growing bio fuels lead to
greenhouse emissions. Also, biofuels can help in managing the municipal
solid wastes i.e. the waste can be converted into fuel.
• Security: Biofuels can be produced locally, which decreases the nation's
dependence upon foreign energy. By reducing dependence on foreign fuel
sources, countries can protect the integrity of their energy resources and
make them safe from outside influences.
• Economic stimulation: Because biofuels are produced locally, biofuel
manufacturing plants can employ hundreds or thousands of workers,
creating new jobs in rural areas. Biofuel production will also increase the
demand for suitable biofuel crops, providing economic stimulation to the
agriculture industry.
Conti…
➢Environmentally friendly
➢Can help reduce dependence on oil
➢Helps lubricate the engine, reducing wear
➢Can be used in virtually any diesel operating vehicle
➢Safer than conventional diesel
➢Fewer emissions, biodegradable, renewable
➢Is the only biofuel that has successively completed emissions testing in
accordance with the Clean Air Act
➢Non-toxic
Reduced Emissions
Vegetable plants Plants/ha Maturity Time (Years) Oil contents (%) Biodiesel conversion CV of biodiesel
(%) (MJ/kg)
• To compare the vegetable oil plants for production of biodiesel the Pugh matrix is
used with the use of some selection criteria. The jatropha oil plant is selected as
“base line” and it scored S against all of the selected criteria. The mahua, neem,
palm, coconut, karanja, jojoba and tung vegetable oil plants are compared for
each of the criteria. If the selection criteria are:
• Better than the baseline a “+” is entered in the appropriate cell
• Worse than the baseline a “–“ is entered in the appropriate cell
• The same than the baseline a “S” is entered in the appropriate cell
• Table 3 indicates that the total score (“9”) is maximum for Mahua and Neem as
compared to other vegetable oil plants, which concluded that both are highly
preferred for making the biodiesel. Palm, coconut and tung are shows the lower
total score and lowest for jojoba oil plants.
Table. 3 Pugh matrix
Conclusion
• The total energy inputs calculated during cultivation of Jatropha, mahua, neem,
palm, coconut, karanja, jojoba and tung are 32376.02, 24877.32, 11951.48,
117122.32, 122832.84, 11455.89, 40393.23 and 10710.62 MJ/ha respectively.
Palm and coconut oil plants have the higher energy input as compare to other
plants and lowest for neem and tung. Highest average energy input (for 20 years)
for palm oil than other biodiesel plants.
• The total energy output calculated after plants maturations are 32970.53, 57109.5,
39690.64, 123206.4, 59309.81, 91180.485, 21749.70 and 37696.2 MJ/ha
respectively. Maximum energy output for palm biodiesel and minimum for jojoba
oil plants after its maturity.
• Higher net energy ratio for Mahua and jojoba than that of remaining biodiesel
plants. With addition of glycerin significant increment in net energy ratio for
all plants.
• There is significant reduction of energy input with recovery and reused of
methanol during esterification and transesterification process. Maximum
reduction for coconut and Mahua oil.
Way Forward