Renewable Energy:

Biodiesel

The use of biological substances as an auto fuel pre-dates the use of mineral diesel, when the earliest functional bio diesel engine built by Rudolf Diesel, became operational in the year 1912. August 10th is to this day being remembered even today as “bio diesel day,” in memory of the event. This engine was powered by peanut oil. The first ever biofuel formed by transesterification of vegetable oil was described even earlier than this event in 1853. With the advent of fossil fuels the bio-fuel option was abandoned mostly because of price pressures and also because bio oil fuels were more viscous making them inconvenient and making the engines expensive to maintain. Nevertheless, interest in the use of bio diesel as fuel continued with technology being refined and patents being granted for process of converting oils of animal and vegetable origin into bio-diesel through a process called, “trans-esterification.”

• The first patent in August 31 1937 titled, "Procedures for the transformation of vegetable oils for their use as fuel" Belgian Patent 422,877.
• Another patent was for a belgian inventor in the 1977, who improved the method to provide standards for quality in bio diesel manufacture. This has been ratified and accepted by the industry.
• Research to convert sunflower oil into bio diesel was mooted in S. Africa in 1979.
  In 1983, complete specifications for fuel –quality bio diesel that was engine tested was formulated.
• The technological information was disseminated Australia, many countries in EU and finally the USA began instituting dedicated plants for their manufacture.

Overall, the properties of Bio Diesel as a fuel are slightly inferior to petrodiesel as it has a considerably higher flash point (temperature at which it ignites) and lower vapor pressure pressure (requiring high-compression engines) than the latter. Its calorific value is 37.27MJ/L, which is also lower than petro diesel. However, Bio Diesel is a better lubricant although it is less viscous than petrodiesel. In addition, Bio Diesel reduces wearing out of engine parts (related to the lubricating property), improving engine life. The burning of Bio Diesel is more complete, and this property partially makes up for the lower energy density compared to petro diesel. Different countries have mandated different standards for bio diesel quality.

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Rapeseed and soybean oils are the most commonly used feed stocks for production. Other types of feed stock include mustard oil , flax oil , sunflower oil, palm oil, hemp oil, pennycress and Jatropha. Fats of animal origin include tallow, lard, yellowgrease, chicken fat and the by-products of the production of Omega-3 fatty acids from fish oil. This results in the formation of mixture of the mono-alkyl esters of long chain fatty acids, which is commercially known as Bio Diesel. Waste vegetable oil considered an excellent feedstock for producing Bio Diesel.

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The production process of Bio Diesel consists of adding organic alcohols (usually methanol and less frequently ethanol, Propanol/ Butanol), to the oil feedstock in the presence of an acid catalyst. If any free fatty acids remain, they are either used for soap production or recycled for esterification. Glycerol is an important by product of this reaction and this glycerol needs to be further purified for meaningful industrial use. World –wide production of Bio Diesel in 2006 was 5-6 million tones.

Bio Diesel has sparked controversies like all other bio fuels in that it requires large land allocations for producing the plants/oil seeds, which would otherwise be used for food production. Bio Diesel can at no time replace mineral diesel simply by the sheer quantities of diesel being consumed for at homes and for transport. 160 million tones of mineral diesel are utilized while the total product of vegetable oils is 11 Million tones and the estimated production of animal oils is 5.3 Million tones. The other option being suggested to mitigate the criticism is to use algae as feedstock for producing Bio Diesel. This would mean that arable land is not diverted and the process of cultivation would be far more financially viable. Bacterial bio diesel is also advocated as another option.

Investments are being made into research that would come up with a solution to produce this sustainable and eco-friendly form of energy in such a way that land, water and other resources are not robbed away from their traditional role, the process is made more economical, newer non-edible types of crops could be used and lastly to create engines that could use Bio diesel efficiently.

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