Selection of project

In a world with complex and growing energy needs, biodiesel offers a simple,
sustainable option. Biodiesel can be made with diverse resources that are
abundant here in India, thus increasing our energy independence. A
domestically produced, renewable fuel, it can be made from plant oils as well
as animal fats and recycled waste grease.

The main benefit of biodiesel is that it can be described as carbon neutral.

This means that the fuel produces no net output of carbon in the form of
carbon dioxide (CO2).

This effect occurs because when the oil crop grows it absorbs the same
amount of CO2 as is released when the fuel is combusted.

Biodiesel is rapidly biodegradable and completely non-toxic, meaning

spillages represent far less of a risk than fossil diesel spillages.

Biodiesel has a higher flash point than fossil diesel and so is safer in the
event of a crash.

Objectives

To explain in detail what is meant by the terminology BIODIESEL.

To highlight the benefits of Biodiesel.

To discuss the three basic routes to biodiesel production from oils and fats.

To shed light on the production process of Biodiesel.

A case study of indigenous in house Biodiesel manufactured by Central

Railway Loco Workshop, Parel.

Viability of Biodiesel in the future.

Current scenario in India.

Relevance

Biodiesel is a cleaner-burning alternative fuel for diesel engines. It reduces

greenhouse gas emissions by more than three-quarters, helping to fight
global warming.

Instead of drilling for petroleum, we can recycle waste fats and used cooking
oil into quality biodiesel. And oilseed crops like soybeans take up carbon
dioxide, dramatically reducing CO2 in the atmosphere.

Even when made from first use oils, biodiesel has a 78 percent life cycle carbon
dioxide reduction. This takes into account everything from the field to the fuel tank.

Methodology
Types of biofuel

Biodiesel Production

Base catalyzed transesterification of the oil.

Direct acid catalyzed transesterification of the oil.

Conversion of the oil to its fatty acids and then to biodiesel.

Almost all biodiesel is produced using base catalyzed transesterification as it

is the most economical process requiring only low temperatures and
pressures and producing a 98% conversion yield.

The Transesterification process is the reaction of a triglyceride (fat/oil) with an

alcohol to form esters and glycerol. A triglyceride has a glycerine molecule as
its base with three long chain fatty acids attached. The characteristics of the
fat are determined by the nature of the fatty acids attached to the glycerine.
The nature of the fatty acids can in turn affect the characteristics of the
biodiesel.

The figure below shows the chemical process for methyl ester biodiesel. The
reaction between the fat or oil and the alcohol is a reversible reaction and so
the alcohol must be added in excess to drive the reaction towards the right
and ensure complete conversion.

The products of the reaction are the biodiesel itself and glycerol. A successful
transesterification reaction is signified by the separation of the ester and
glycerol layers after the reaction time. The heavier, co-product, glycerol
settles out and may be sold as it is or it may be purified for use in other
industries, e.g. the pharmaceutical, cosmetics etc.

Straight vegetable oil (SVO) can be used directly as a fossil diesel substitute
however using this fuel can lead to some fairly serious engine problems. Due
to its relatively high viscosity SVO leads to poor atomisation of the fuel,
incomplete combustion, coking of the fuel injectors, ring carbonisation, and
accumulation of fuel in the lubricating oil. The best method for solving these
problems is the transesterification of the oil.

The engine combustion benefits of the transesterification of the oil are:

Lowered viscosity

Complete removal of the glycerides

Lowered boiling point

Lowered flash point

Lowered pour point

Production Process
An example of a simple production flow chart is proved below with a brief
explanation of each step.

Observation

Father of Bio-Diesel : Dr. Rudolf Diesel who invented the first Diesel in 1895
used only Bio-Diesel in his engine.

His visionary statement was: The use of vegetable oils for engine fuel
may seem insignificant today , But such oils may in course of time, as
important as petroleum and coal tar products of present time

Indian Railways (IR) being the largest consumer of Petro diesel realized the
importance of an alternative fuel, a few years back and decided upon BioDiesel. In association with M/s Indian Oil Corporation conducted a trial run of
New Delhi Amritsar Shatabdi Express on 31.12.2002 to assess a suitability
with a 5% blend with Petro Diesel. The run went on smoothly .
Subsequently, directives were issued to all Railway unit to develop Bio-Diesel

as an alternate fuel to its large fleet of Diesel engines running across the
length and breath of the country. All the IR Diesel Engines including the latest
generation of G M Locomotives comes under this category and Bio-Diesel
assumes greater significance into with M/s IOC to supply Bio-Diesel for its
use.

In continuation, Central Railway Loco Workshop, has manufactured in house

Bio-Diesel Plant in the month of Aug.2014. The Plant was manufactured
totally in house at Railway Workshop including the design. The capacity of
Plant is 120 Liter per batch .and then after the production of Bio-Diesel has
been commenced.

Bio-Diesel is defined as the mono- alkyl esters of fatty acids derived from
vegetable oils. In simple terms Bio-Diesel the product obtained when a
vegetable oil is chemically reacted with an alcohol to produce alkyl esters of
fatty acid.a catalyst such as Potassium Hydroxide is required. In this process
Glycerol is produced as a co- product.

The approximate proportions of the reaction are:

100 Liter of used vegetable oil+ 10 Liter of Methanol

100 Liter of Bio-Diesel + 10 Liter of Glycerol.

The main reaction for converting oil to Bio-Diesel is called Trans esterification.
Trans esterification is the process of reacting a triglyceride molecule with an
excess of alcohol in the presence of strong base such as KOH to produce fatty
esters and glycerol. The chemical reaction with methanol is shown
schematically below.

CH2OCOR1

CHOCOR2 + 3CH3OH

CH2OCOR3

Triglyceride + Methanol

R1,R2,R3 fatty acid chain

The trans esterification mainly depends upon the FFA contents of raw oil. In
case of higher FFA contents of raw oil difficulties arise due to formation of
soap which promotes emulsification during water wash stage.

R1COOCH3
R2COOCH3

CH2OH
+

CHOH

R3COOCH3
Bio-Diesel

CH2OH
+

Glycerol

(Methyl Ester)

Production Stages

Taken known quantity of [previously filtered up to 53 microns thickness sieve]

oil. [tri glyceride/complex fatty acids] in a biodiesel reactor vessel.

Neutralizing the free fatty acids using sodium or potassium methoxide i.e
known quality of methanol and known quantity of NaOH or KOH.

Creating an alcohol ester under desired temperature( 65 C ) with suitable

speed stir the mixture.

Between1/2 to 2 hrs. biodiesel is formed alone with glycerine with clear phase
separation..

Settle to content for 6 hrs. to overnight.

Bottom layer contains glycerine with impurities.

Top-layer is bio-diesel, wash it with water till free from alkali. Generally in 3-4
water wash it become free from alkali.

Then transfer the content ( Bio-Diesel) into the dewatering tank and heat it
up to 120 C for removal of moisture & water content.

Now the Bio-Diesel which is free from moisture & water filter it with 10 micron
filter media & store it in clean container and use it as 5% blend with HSD Oil.

Work done by Central Railway Loco Workshop Parel:

Loco Workshop started conversion of used vegetable oil into Bio-Diesel from
Aug.2014 onwards duly establishing Bio-Diesel Plant of 120 Liter capacity. During
Sept.2014,Parel Workshop started its experiments on fork lifter & truck with 5%
blend of Bio-Diesel. The result was found satisfactory in road vehicles. Then after it
was added in HSD oil of shunting Locomotives with 5% bio-diesel blend. So far (up
to Aug.2015) 3,666 Liters of Bio-Diesel has been prepared and out of which 3495
Liters of Bio-Diesel has already been utilized in Kurla and Bandra Locos. Total used
vegetable oil collected from various sources e.g. Parel, Matunga canteen, CRMI PR,
PA Div.& from star hotels of Mumbai. The total collection of used oil up to Aug.2015
is 4806 Liters.
Current scenario in India

The ex President of India,Late Dr. Abdul Kalam, is one of the strong

advocaters of jatropha cultivation for production of bio-diesel.[7] In his recent
speech, the Former President said that out of the 600,000 km of wasteland
that is available in India over 300,000 km are suitable for Jatropha
cultivation. Once this plant is grown the plant has a useful lifespan of several

decades. During its life, Jatropha requires very little water when compared to
other cash crops.

Recently, the State Bank of India provided a boost to the cultivation of

Jatropha in India by signing a Memorandum of Understanding with D1 Mohan,
a joint venture of D1 Oils plc, to give loans to the tune of 1.3 billion rupees to
local farmers in India. Farmers will also be able to pay back the loan with the
money that D1 Mohan pays for the Jatropha seeds.

Indian Railways

The Indian Railways has started to use the oil (blended with diesel fuel in
various ratios) from the Jatropha plant to power its diesel engines with great
success. Currently the diesel locomotives that run from Thanjavur to Nagore
section and Tiruchirapalli to Lalgudi, Dindigul and Karur sections in Tamil
Nadu run on a blend of Jatropha and diesel oil. [8]

Analysis

The initial surge of biofuels in industrial economies was driven by energy

security and rising fossil fuel prices; but market forces alone were not
sufficient to drive the process, which required heavy policy support
(subsidies, mandates and tariffs for imports) targeting few domestic-based
feedstocks (corn, rapeseed, soybeans); meanwhile research and development
of new feedstocks to support future biofuel expansions took off, including
high-yielding (sweet sorghum) and more versatile crops (jatropha), as well as
dedicated energy crops for second-generation biofuels.

Assuming second-generation biofuels become commercially viable, we can

expect significant expansion of biomass use (broader set of crop feedstocks,
waste and agricultural residues). Such development will likely alter the
demand and supply of biomass sources, and hence their economics,
tightening even more the agricultureenergy linkages, and the potentially
even more intensive competition for land between food and energy uses. This
in turn will have uncertain implications for rural development opportunities,
especially in poor, developing countries that continue to rely heavily on
traditional uses of biomass that are neither sustainable nor climatesmart.
What is clear is that the economics of production will be the determining

driver in sorting out how resources (land, labour, water and other resources)
are likely to shift between food or energy.

Competitiveness of biofuels in the long run will continue to depend on the

economics of fossil energy, the policy support environment, and the relative
incentives and disincentives to encourage renewable versus fossil-energy
sources. Economic competitiveness of biofuels will also depend on the
substitution possibilities between food and fuel market uses, and the
advances in technology and innovation in biofuel production processes.
Continued reliance on policy support through subsidies and mandates
indicates the lack of market competitiveness of biofuels in the short and even
the medium run.

Conclusion

Bio-Diesel is an ecologically friendly fuel, it is produced from any vegetable

oil ( including used ones) ,Bio-Diesel contains practically no sulphur.
(0.001%),it considerably decreases the soot emission ( up to 50%), when
burnt, Bio-Diesel emits the same amount of CO2 as the plants absorbs in
growth( closed CO2 cycle)and hence no green house effect and global
warming, Bio-Diesel contains no benzole or other carcinogenic poly aromatic
components. Bio-Diesel easily decomposes biologically and in case of an
accident no harm is to the soil or ground water. Bio-Diesel is not considered a
hazardous material( flash point above 110 C). Bio-Diesel has superior
lubrication capabilities and increases engine life and moreover the Bio-Diesel
is an ecological beneficial and renewable source of energy alternative to
convenient diesel fuel. Also it create employment opportunity, both industries
and agriculture allied work in order to growing activities of Jatropa and
Pungum trees.

The Indian rupees recent fall against the US dollar has been phenomenal.
And along with the currency crisis, the inflation of food prices has been on the
spotlight as well. Hidden behind the price rise among food commodities is the
steady increase in diesel price. Since 2012, the government has made an
effort to reduce subsidies and decontrol diesel prices by increasing it by 50
paise per litre every month. Despite that, losses on diesel for state-owned oil
companies are hovering around Rs.11 per litre. So, the government is now
under pressure to drastically increase the diesel price by Rs.2-3 per litre.

The current fuel crisis resurrects an old debate about alternatives for
imported petro-diesel, which has burdened our country with a huge current
account deficit. Various alternatives like ethanol, electric fuel cells, hydrogen
have all been tried. However, all these fuels require setting up a capital
intensive infrastructure, which needs a critical mass of buyers before they
can be economically feasible. However, Biodiesel produced from oilseeds is
considered a good alternative which can not only be produced locally, but is
cost-effective as well.