Biodiesel Production from Jatropha Oil using Ultrasonic Technology

Abstract

Energy crisis is the key issue of present era. It is attached with the judicial use of energy, its conservation, availability and sustainability. Fossil fuels could not answer the above questions satisfactory. Alternative energy sources are the only option left with the world. Among all alternative energy sources, Biodiesel evolved as a promising renewable fuel of future. It is produce from the renewable sources. Various methods are available to produce biodiesel. As a fuel it is cheap, creating less pollution compare to fossil fuel. It is also easy to produce. It does not require much change in the engine using fossil fuel. Transesterification is the widely accepted method for the production of biodiesel. Various approaches are available to produce biodiesel via transesterification using various catalysts, viz. conventional heating using alkali, acidic, hetero-geneous and homogeneous catalysts, solid catalysts, enzymatic reactions, supercritical reaction, microwave synthesis and ultrasound synthesis. Various feedstocks for the production of biodiesel are also available in plenty of amount on earth viz. mainly edible and non-edible oils and algae. Review of various approaches under transesterification methods are carried out. Best results are summarized. For alkali catalyst, it is not giving good conversion with the high Free Fatty Acid FFA) containing feedstocks as it leads to the formation of soap adhering main reaction. Acid catalyst can deal with high FFA containing oil, but at the cost of high oil to alcohol molar ratio. Solid catalysts, heterogeneous, need high temperature reaction temperature for getting activated. Enzymatic reactions are very unstable. Also, the cost of enzyme is a very crucial factor. Super-critical reactions are very fast and give high conversion in very few minutes. But they require very high pressure and high oil to alcohol molar ratio. It may be catalytic or non-catalytic. Choice of supercritical fluid and alcohol is a key for success. Microwave is a novel techniques used for the production of biodiesel. It gives high conversion in a few minutes. Power consumption is also less compared to conventional heating. But it offers many problems in terms of commercialization. Ultrasound synthesis is giving good comparison against microwave synthesis. It is also using less energy and giving good conversion is few minutes. Ultrasound and microwave synthesis both can be carried out in batch as well as continuous mode. Ultrasound synthesis has potential to become commercial one. Both the techniques can deal with high FFA containing oils also. Overall sum-mary and the critical comparision of the published good results are compiled to give better idea of biodiesel production development. In this project report, mainly results are compared like yield and conversion among all other process with ultrasonic technology using alkaline catalyst. This will helps to identify the most appropriate method for production of bio-diesel technologically and economically.