1

To study the production of

biodiesel future fuel.

Index: -
S. No. Content: - Pg. No.
I Objective 1
II Introduction to green chemistry 2
III BIODIESEL: Using renewable resource 2-3
IV ACTIVITY 1: Making biodiesel 4-6
V ACTIVITY 2: Testing biodiesel 7-9
VI ACTIVITY 3: Potential for biofuels 9-11

The Objective of this project is “To study

the production of biodiesel future fuel”.
 2

I. Introduction To Green Chemistry

Green chemistry is the branch of chemistry concerned with
developing processes and production to reduce or
eliminate hazardous substance. One of the goals of green
chemistry is to prevent after it has occurred.

II. Biodiesel: using renewable

resources
Introduction
Bio- diesel is an eco-friendly, alternative diesel fuel
prepared from domestic renewable resources i.e.,
Vegetable oils (edible or non- edible oil) and animal fats.
These naturals oils and fats are made up mainly of
triglycerides. These triglycerides when rea w striking
similarity to petroleum derived diesel and are called “Bio-
diesel”. As India is deficient in edible oils, non-edible oil
may be material of choice for producing bio diesel. For this
purpose, Jatropha curcas considered as most potential
source for it. Bio-diesel is produced by transesterification of
oil obtain from plant.
Jatropha Curcas has been identified for India as the most
suitable tree Borne Oilseed (TBO) for production of bio-
diesel both in view of the non-edible oil available from it
and its presence throughout the country. The capacity of
Jatropha Curcas to rehabilitate degraded or dry lands, from
which the poor mostly derive their sustenance, by
 3

improving land’s water retention capacity, makes it

additionally suitable for up gradation of land resources.
Presently, in some Indian village, farmers are extracting oil
from Jatropha and after setting and decanting it they are
mixing the filtered oil with diesel fuel. Although, so far, the
farmers have not observed any damage to their machinery,
yet this remains to be tested and PCRA is working in it, the
fact remains that this oil need to be converted to bio-diesel
Through a chemical reaction – trans-esterification, this
reaction is relatively simple and does not require any exotic
material. IOC (R&D) has been using a laboratory scale plant
of 100% kg/day capacity for trans – esterification; designing
of larger capacity plants is in the offing. These large plants
are useful for centralized production of bio-diesel.
Production of bio-diesel in smaller plant of capacity (e.g.,5
to 20kg/day may also be stared at decentralized level.)
 4

ACTIVITY 1: Making Bio-diesel

Biodiesel is a mixture of methyl esters of Fatty acids (long
chain carboxylic acids). It has similar properties to the
diesel fuel made from crude oil that is used to fuel many
vehicles. It can be made easily from vegetable cooking oil
that contains compounds of fatty acids. Enough fuel can be
produced in this activity to burn in a later activity, although
it is not pure enough to actually be used as fuel in a car or
lorry. The synthesis is a simple chemical reaction that
produces biodiesel and propane-1,2,3-triol (glycerol).
Cooking oil is mixed with methanol and potassium
hydroxide is added as a catalyst. The products separate
into two layers, with the biodiesel on the top. The biodiesel
 5

is separated and washed, and is then ready for further

experimentation.

What you will need

 Eye protection
 Access to a top pan balance
 One 250cm3 beaker
 Two 100cm3 beaker
 One 100cm3 measuring cylinder
 Five plastic teat pipettes
 Distilled water
 100cm3 vegetable -based cooking oil
 15cm3 methanol (highly flammable, toxic by inhalation,
if swallowed and by skin absorption)
 1cm3 potassium hydroxide solution 50% (corrosive).
Safety
 6

 Wear eye protection

 Methanol is flammable and poisonous.
 Potassium hydroxide is corrosive.
What to do
1. Measure 100cm3 of vegetable oil into the 250cm3 flask.
Weigh the flask before and after to determine the mass
of oil you used.
2. Carefully add 15cm3 of methanol.
3. Slowly add 1cm3 of 50% potassium hydroxide.
4. Stir or swirl the mixture for 10 minutes.
5. Allow the mixture to stand until it separates into two
layers.
6. Carefully remove the top layer (this is impure biodiesel)
using a teat pipette.
7. Wash the product by shaking it with 10cm3 of distilled
water.
8. Allow the mixture to stand until it separates into two
layers.
9. Carefully remove the top layer of biodiesel using a teat
pipette.
10. Weigh the amount of biodiesel you collected and
compare it to the amount of vegetable you started
with.
 7

Apparatus for testing biodiesel

ACTIVITY 2: Testing biodiesel
How does biodiesel compare to other fuels? Just because
we can produce a fuel from an alternative source, does
that mean it is a good idea? There are many factors that
go into the decision to use alternative fuels.  Ideally the
physical properties of an alternative fuel should equal or
exceed those of the traditional product. But how are
 8

fuels evaluated in the first place. In this activity,

biodiesel and some other fuels are tested and compared
for sootiness and acidity.
What you will need
 Eye protection
 Small glass funnel (approx. 7cm diameter)
 One 250cm3 flask
 Two boiling tubes
 One two-hole stopper to fir boiling tubes
 Filter pump
 A piece of wide bore glass tubing approximately
10cm long with two one-hole stopper to fit.
 Two short pieces of glass tubing to fit the one-hole
stoppers
 5cm glass bend to fit the two-hole stopper
 900 glass bend to fit the two-hole stopper (one leg to
extend to bottom of flask)
 Two stand and clamp
 A little sodium hydroxide 0.1mol dm-3 (irritant)
 Universal indicator solution
 A little mineral wool.
Safety

1. Wear eye protection.

2. Take care if you have to insert glass tubing into the
stoppers yourself. Make sure that your teacher shows
you the correct technique.
 9

What to do

1. Pour 125 cm3 of distilled water into the 250 cm3 flask

and add 10 cm3 of universal indicator. Add one drop of
0.1 mol dm-3 sodium hydroxide solution and gently swirl
the flask so that the colour of the solution is violet or at
the most basic end of the universal indicator colour
range.
2. Place 10 cm3 of this solution into the boiling tube.
3. Assemble the apparatus illustrated in Figure 1,
attaching it to the filter pump with the vacuum tubing.
4. Place 2 cm3 of biodiesel onto a wad of mineral wool in
the metal sample cup.
5. Turn on the water tap so the filter pump pulls air
through the flask and ignite the biodiesel. Position the
funnel directly over the burning fuel, so as to capture
the fumes from the burning fuel. Mark or note the
position of the tap handle so you can run the pump at
the same flow rate later in the experiment.
6. Allow the experiment to run until the universal
indicator turns yellow and time how long this takes.
7. Record what happens in the funnel and in the glass,
tube containing the second piece of mineral wool.
8. Clean the apparatus, and repeat the experiment using 2
cm3 of kerosene (this is very similar to diesel fuel).

Activity 3: Potential for bio fuels

Technical Feasibility

1. Can be blended in any ratio with Petro-diesel

 10

2. Existing storage facilities and infrastructure for Petro-

diesel can be used with minor alteration.
3. From environment and emissions point of view it is
superior to Petro-diesel.
4. It can provide energy security to remote and rural
areas.
5. It has good potential for employment generation

Sources of bio-diesel

1. All Tree Bearing Oil (TBO) seeds – edible and non-edible

2. Edible: Soya-bean, Sun-flower, Mustard Oil etc.
3. Non-edible: Jatropha Curcas, Pongemia Pinnata, Neem
etc.
4. Edible seeds can’t be used for bio diesel production in
our country, as its indigenous production does not meet
our current demand.
5. Among non-edible TBO, jatropha Curcas has been
identified as the most suitable seed for India.

Advantage of Jatropha

1. Jatropha Curacs is a widely occurring of TBO

2. It grows practically all over India under a variety of Agro
climatic condition.
3. Can be grown in arid zones (20cm) rainfall as well as in
higher rainfall zones and even on the land with thin soil
cover.
4. Its plantation con be taken up as quick yielding plant
even in adverse land situation viz. degraded and barren
lands under forest and non-forest use, dry and drought
 11

prone areas, marginal lands, even on alkaline soils and

as Agro-forestry crops.
5. It grows as a tree up to the height of 3-5 meter.
6. It is a good plantation for Eco-restoration in all type’s
wastelands.

Trans-esterification Process

It is the displacement of alcohol from an ester by

another alcohol in a similar process to hydrolysis.
Vegetable oil i.e., the triglyceride can be easily trans-
esterification in the presence and at temperature of
approximately 60 to 70o with an excess of methanol.
If 100gm of vegetable oil is taken, 1gm of the alkaline
catalyst (potassium hydroxide), and 12gm of methanol
would be required as a first step, the alkaline catalyst is
mixed with methanol and the mixture is stirred for half
an hour for its homogenization. This mixture is mixed
with vegetable oil and the resultant mixture is made to
pass through reflux condensation at 650C.
The mixture at the end is allowed to settle.
The lower layer will be of glycerine and it is drain off.
The upper layer of bio-diesel (a methyl ester) is wished
to remove entrained glycerine.
The excess methanol recycled by distillation.
 12

This reaction works well with high quality oil. If the oil
contain1% free fatty acid (FFA), then difficulty arises
because of soap formation. If FFA content is more than
2% the reaction becomes unworkable.
Methanol is flammable and potassium hydroxide is
caustic, hence proper and safe handling of these
chemicals are must.

Thank You.