Production of Biofuel from used palm oil

Introduction

A fuel is any material that can be made to react with other substances so that it releases energy as heat energy or to be used for work. The concept was originally applied solely to those materials capable of releasing chemical energy but has since also been applied to other sources of heat energy such as nuclear energy (via nuclear fission and nuclear fusion).

The heat energy released by reactions of fuels is converted into mechanical energy via a heat engine. Other times the heat itself is valued for warmth, cooking, or industrial processes, as well as the illumination that comes with combustion. Fuels are also used in the cells of organisms in a process known as cellular respiration, where organic molecules are oxidized to release usable energy. hydrocarbons and related oxygen-containing molecules are by far the most common source of fuel used by humans, but other substances, including radioactive metals, are also utilized.

Fuels are contrasted with other substances or devices storing potential energy, such as those that directly release electrical energy (such as batteries and capacitors) or mechanical energy (such as flywheels, springs compressed air or water in a reservoir).

Several billions of gallons of waste vegetable oil are produced every year around the world, mainly from industrial deep fat fryers found in potato processing plants, factories manufacturing foods, and restaurants. Some of this wastage is already being re-used by other industries, such as in animal feed and cosmetics, but the amount that is still being wasted and ending up in land-fill sites is alarming. Therefore, it makes commercial and environmental sense to re-use this oil for making biofuel. Making biofuel from waste vegetable oil (WVO) is much the same as when using straight vegetable oil, except that the oil will need filtering first to remove debris, and because it has been used and most likely reheated several times, more fatty acids will be present.

Vegetable Oil is commonly available everywhere and they're at every home and most households dump the waste oil rather than utilizing that. Making biofuel from waste vegetable oil is one of the most productive ways to utilize waste vegetable oil. Biofuel is a petrol fuel that is made by reacting vegetable oil (cooking oil) with other common chemicals that are easily available in the market. Biofuel may be used in any petrol automotive engine in its pure form or blended with petroleum-based petrol, so need not worry about anything.

Biofuel is a product of great interest in its environmental characteristics. It is biodegradable and it’s renewable. It has the advantages of dramatically reduced sulphate and hydrocarbon emissions and reduces particulate matter. It is non-toxic and does not damage water quality. Biofuel is a fuel that can be made from pure or waste vegetable oils such as soya and rapeseed (canola) oil, palm oil, jatropha seed mixed with methane and a small amount of lye. It runs a petrol engine just as petroleum-based petrol would and can run in Chulha, kerosene lamps.

Additionally, to its environmental characteristics, it is evident that there is a latent demand of this product because of the recent rises in the price of oil, and the realization that fossil fuels will eventually run out, not to mention the damage burning them does to our planet, this resulted in a renewed interest in fuel made from plant oils or biofuel. That is why it is necessary to study the potential of biofuel, as well as to study its feasibility if it will be used as a viable alternative fuel in the future.

ABSTRACT

The world runs on machines which are in turn powered by fuels burning inside to produce useful work. With the inception of fossil fuels in the early part of the 19^th century, it is considered as the best source of energy. The unfortunate turn of event is that the fossil fuel capacity around the world is in a depleting state due to over-usage. Further, continuous usage of fossil fuel has failed to replenish the voids created from the mineral mines from which the crude has been pumped for the better part of the last century. Cooking oil is edible but overuse of oil without replacement leads to the unusable waste which is not potable. palm oil is commonly found in all Chinese restaurants for preparation of food which has a long shelf life and reusable by mixing with fresh oil till it attains the maximum sustainable limit. Such used palm oil is disposed of in drain or sea which causes environmental hazards. Such oil is considered as feedstock for this experiment. Biofuel is synthesized from waste palm oil by a combination of a different chemical process. The synthesized biofuel will then be mixed with basic alcohol which acts as the flame inducer at various mixing ratios. The mixtures will then be experimentally analysed and compared with standard fuel for properties like calorific value, viscosity, flash point and carbon residue. It is proposed to synthesize a biofuel mimicking the values of a standard fuel which can be a sustainable replacement to non-renewable fossil fuels. The synthesized biofuel with a mixture ratio of 30% methanol has conformed to all the norms of biofuel with a viscosity of 1.2 cP, and an average flash and fire points of 34 C and 40 C. The above analyses evolved the conclusion that the synthesized biofuel may be an effective alternate for gasoline in SI engines with higher spark power. Also, the hydrogenation process involved may aid in the burning the fuel in diesel engines.

Synthesis Procedure

After experimental analysis Result and Discussion

Characteristics of Biofuel with various methanol blends-

Viscosity characteristics-

From the biofuel which was produced from used cooking oil(palm oil), it could be noted that the quality of the fuel is not most likely used as commercial consumer fuel for the global market. By 2030, India’s urban population will grow to more than 600 million people. Urgent policies must be implemented now to increase the efficiency of energy in transport, mitigate environmental impact at a local and global scale, and control migration to large cities with a sensible farming strategy.

Advantage-

High conversion with relatively low cost, mild reaction conditions, product properties are closer to the petrol-diesel and applicable for industrial-scale production. Unlike petrol, biofuel is non-volatile fuel, does not quickly evaporate. When methanol is mixed with biofuel, it completely mixed and does not leave a residue.

Disadvantage-

Required low free fatty acids (FFAs) and water content in the raw material, extensive separation and purification steps, possibilities of side reaction to occur, and generation of a large amount of wastewater. The first-generation biofuels have limitation is that they cannot be produced beyond a threshold level without threatening food security.

They are also not cost-competitive with the existing fossil fuels. The combating of these problems led to the search for second-generation biofuels which are more sustainable, affordable and environment-friendly.

For complete combustion of Biofuel, it must be preheated to 60°C. This is the major drawback if the fuel contains moisture in it.

Biofuel is the new requirement of a global society. A number of researches have been carried out in different part of the world on an alternative source of energy. The renewable sources have a major concern of lack of continuous supply of energy to the users, as the resources are discrete in nature. Secondly, in most of the sources are overestimated. For instance, Jatropha is considered as one of the most promising technology but later found unsuitable in terms of high investment to seed productivity ratio. It has gradually been discontinued in India. In the US, the year’s mandate for 2011, was supposed to be 100 million gallons of cellulosic biofuel, but that was reduced to 6.5 million. Thirdly, there is debate on the use of edible oil and feed for biofuel production.

Biofuel analysis:

Methanol Blend Vs Temperature

Methanol Blend Vs Temperature

Methanol Blend Vs Temperature

For the fuel analysis, flash point and fire point were found and the graphs were plotted. It can be noticed that from the flash point and fire point experiment, it can be found that 30% of methanol and 70% of biofuel is the most optimum blend ratio for using effectively in the SI engines.

The below are the results of Viscosity of biofuel which is tested using a redwood viscometer

Mass density of given oil is _________1.0813________Kg/m³

 Kinematic viscosity of given biofuel is ____12.93_×10^-6_______ m /S

Dynamic viscosity of given oil is ______1.2_________ cP

The viscosity of biofuel is 1.2cP and gasoline viscosity is 0.06 cP. It can be noticed that the flow of fuel is nearly the same as petrol and it can be used as an alternative fuel.

During, the process of testing biofuel in the SI engine it is found that in kick-start engines combustion did not take place due to low spark generation of the engine. Whereas for electric start engines the combustion of the biofuel took place more effectively than a kick- start engines and it can conclude that biofuel is used only for electric start engines for good performance. Also, biofuel has successfully run in diesel engines with less smoke as compared to standard diesel fuel.

Biofuel has also been tested for use as an alternative fuel in kerosene stoves, chulha. There is spontaneous ignition and the flame length is increasing with increasing temperature with good flame length apt for use as cooking fuel. There is complete combustion of biofuel as there is no yellow flame. Below Fig. shows the flame color and length and can be used as cooking fuel.

Conclusion-

Biofuels as the perfect renewable energy source that can be manufactured by anyone and with it be able to decrease the dependence on foreign energy import. But benefits in import are still not enough compared to hazards related to biofuels for further development of humanity. It is pretty difficult to find some suitable biofuels definition but still, this article will try to determine the basic characteristics and properties of biofuels, positive and negative sides of biofuels, and hazards that biofuels can bring to the total world economy.

Many people see biofuels in a positive note like fossil fuel replacements because that are more ecologically friendly than fossil fuels, and as something that will significantly reduce the negative impact that fossil fuels have created on our environment. From the opinions of different energy experts and many types of research, it is quite easy to conclude how despite all the advantages of biofuels they still cannot be taken for granted because we first need to look the other side and do some other things like for instance make the biofuel production far more efficient and do everything in our power to remove the negative side effects.

The production of biofuel from waste vegetable oil offers a triple-facet solution: economic, environmental, and waste management. The new process technologies developed during the last years made it possible to produce biodiesel from recycled frying oils comparable in quality to that of virgin vegetable oil biodiesel with an added attractive advantage of being lower in price. Thus, biofuel produced from recycled frying oils has the same possibilities to be utilized. It also has triple facet applications: Can be used in 4-stroke SI engines, kerosene stoves, Chulha.

It is more suitable as an alternative fuel for SI engines and kerosene stoves. When biofuel is burned it produces smokeless gases and can burn for more time.