Biodiesel - the new-age fuel

Kamaljot kaur
Khushpreet singh
 INTRODUCTION
 Biodiesel is an alternative fuel for diesel engines
 Biodiesel can be used easily because it can be mixed at any
proportion with diesel oil, hence enabling us to apply it
immediately for diesel engines without much modification
 easy biodegradability
 10 times less poisonous compared to the ordinary diesel oil,
the waste product is not black
 less sulphur and other aromatic contents, hence the
combustion emission produced is safe for environment and
perform less accumulation of carbon dioxide gas in
atmosphere thus lessen further global heating effect (Chairil A.
et al., 2004).
 ADVANTAGES
 Biodiesel is very important alternatives energy
because the pollution of environment are
increased, plus the depletion of conservatives
petro-diesel.
 The biodiesel also contribute to greener
environment where the emitted gases
contained higher concentration of oxygen
compared to petro-diesel.
The Fossil Fuels
12. The Renewable Fuels

CO2
 Ethanol vs. Gasoline

Source: Prof. Dan Kammen (UC Berkley, Michael Chang (Argonne)

Soya bean •Jatropha
•Pongamia
Sunflower Natural Oils

Linseed

Biodiesel
 Technology Progression
Synthetic Biorefinery

Gasification

Direct Synthesis?
Corn
Algae

Cellulosic Bioethanol
 Jatropha curcas

 Found in Tanzania, Venezuela and India.

 Grown on marginal lands.
Jatropha Oil extraction
Jatropha Oil - Composition
Fatty acid weight %

Oleic acid 44.7

Linoleic acid 31.4

Palmitic acid 15.1

Stearic acid 7.1

 COOMe
Stearic acid methyl ester
COOMe
Palmitic acid methyl ester
COOMe
Linoleic acid methyl ester
COOMe
Oleic acid methyl ester
 Transesterification of oils
 Chemical methods – Acid or Base
catalysed
 Biochemical methods – Enzyme
catalysed
Acid Catalyzed Transesterification
Commonly used acids: H2SO4/ HCl
Base catalyzed transesterification
 Comparisons
Base catalysis is preferred:
2) 4000 times as fast.
3) Use of KOH gives useful side product.
4) Acids are corrosive.
 Limitations of chemical
methods

 Require more energy.

 Formation of soap inhibits
transesterification.
 Disposal of waste water.
Enzyme catalysed methods
 Lipases
 Biocatalysts are
biodegradable.
 Consume less energy.
 No soap formation.
 Further purification of
biodiesel not required.
 Can be used for oils
with high free fatty acid
content.
Optimum Molar Ratio (Oil: Methanol)
Optimum temperature

Maximum % yield at 50°C

Time taken : 92 hrs.

Summary of results
Optimum molar ratio 1:3

Optimum 50
temperature

Enzyme wt. 5% w.r.t wt of

oil

Time 92h

Conversion 80%
PRODUCTION OUTLINE
Cellulosic Ethanol Production
1st Pretreatment
 Convert hemi-cellulose into pentoses (5 carbon sugars)
and partial breakdown of cellulose

 Each type of cellulosic feedstock requires a unique

combination of pretreatments.
 Physical methods:

 steam explosion

 Chemical methods:

 dilute acid, alkaline, organic solvent, ammonia,

sulfur dioxide, carbon dioxide

 Biological methods: enzymatic breakdown
Cellulosic Ethanol Production
2nd Pretreatment
 Convert cellulose into hexoses (6 carbon
sugars)
 The cellulose fraction is hydrolyzed by
acids or enzymes to produce glucose
 Enzymatic hydrolysis – biological conversion of
cellulose to sugars
 Acid hydrolysis – acid concentrations to convert

cellulose to sugars
Cellulosic Ethanol Production
Lignin (By-product)
 The solids remaining after the hemi-
cellulose and cellulose are converted to
sugars are washed, dried and used as fuel
source for power production.
Cellulosic Ethanol Production
Hydrolysis
 (saccharification)
Hydrolysis breaks down the hydrogen
bonds in the hemi-cellulose and cellulose
fractions into their sugar components:
pentoses and hexoses.
 The yeast contains an enzyme called
invertase, which acts as a catalyst and
helps to convert the sucrose sugars into
glucose and fructose (both C6H12O6)
 Cellulosic Ethanol Production
Fermentation
 The fructose and glucose sugars reacts with an
enzyme called zymase, which is also contained
in the yeast, to produce ethanol and carbon
dioxide.
 The fermented mash, called beer, contains

about 10% alcohol plus all the non-fermentable

(After fermentation
the cellulosic and solids from the corn and yeast cells.
grain ethanol
production processesThe mash and solids are separated

are based on similar
methodology.)
 Grain Ethanol Production
Dry Milling Process
Grain Fermentation CO2
Denaturing
Beer
190 200
Distillation Dehydration Ethanol
Grind Proof Proof
Whole Stillage

Centrification Wet Grains

Thin Stillage Dried

Liquify & Cook Syrup
Evaporation Dryer Distillers
Grains

Saccharify Distillers
Distillers Solubles
Grains
Enzymes w/Solubles
Grain Ethanol Production
Grinding
 The grain passes through a hammer mill
which grinds it into a fine powder called
meal.
Grain Ethanol Production
Liquify and Cooking
 The meal is mixed with water and
cooked to liquify the starch. Heat is
applied to enhance liquefaction resulting
in a mash.
 Enzymes are added to facilitate starch
breakdown
Grain Ethanol Production
Saccharify
 An enzyme is added to the mash to
convert the liquefied starch to
fermentable sugars
Grain Ethanol Production
Fermentation
 Yeast is added to the mash to ferment the
sugars to ethanol and carbon dioxide.
 In a batch process, the mash stays in one
fermenter for about 48 hours before the
distillation process is started.
 Ethanol Production
Distillation (Cellulosic or Grain)
 The distillation involves boiling the
water and ethanol mixture. Since ethanol
has a lower boiling point (78.3C) than
water (100C), ethanol vaporizes before
water and can be condensed and
separated
 The distilled alcohol is about 96%
strength.
 Ethanol Production
Drying & Denaturing
(Cellulosic or Grain)

 Most ethanol plants use a

molecular sieve to water from the
distilled ethanol.
 Fuel ethanol must be denatured, or
made unfit for human
consumption, with a small amount
of gasoline (2-5%)
Grain Ethanol Production
Dried Distillers Grains (DDG)

 DDG is a by-product of grain ethanol

production.
 Drying the distillers grain increases its
shelf life and reduces transportation
costs
 A bushel of corn (56 lbs) yields about
2.8 gallons of ethanol and 17 pounds of
distillers grain
 Grain Ethanol Production
Dried Distillers Grains with Solubles (DDGS)

 DDGS is a by-product of grain

ethanol production.
 The liquid that is separated from
the mash during the distilling
process is partially dehydrated into
a syrup, then added back onto the
dried distillers grain to create
DDGS
 Ethanol Production
(Cellulosic or Grain) Carbon Dioxide (CO2)

 CO2 is given off during

fermentation
 Ethanol production plants collect,
compress, and sell it for use in
other industries
 Companies & Technologies
 BCI  Novazyme
 Clearfuels  Genencor
 Full Circle  Diversa
 Edenspace  Iogen
 Agrivada  Ceres
 Mascoma  Corn Ethanol Cos.
 Synthetic Genomics  Coal to Liquids
 Unannounced….  MSW to Ethanol
 CASE STUDY:

Ceres: What one company is doing…

 Ceres’s Traits Address all Parts of
Equation
Parts of the Equation Ceres Traits & Technologies
 Tolerance to chronic and acute drought
 Drought recovery
Acres High salt tolerance

 Tolerance to heat shock
 50% improvement in seedling growth under cold conditions

Tons per acre 500% increase in biomass in arabidopsis in the greenhouse


 300% increase in rice in the field
 30% increase in CO2 uptake (a measure of photosynthetic effic.)

Dollars per acre Significant reduction in required nitrogen


 20% improvement in photosynthetic efficiency on low nitrogen
 5% increase in root biomass

Gallons per ton 


Decreased lignin
Increased cellulose

Capital & Vari. cost 


Proprietary gene expression system
Strong constitutive promoters
 Tissue specific and inducible promoters

Co-products 

Up to 80-fold increase in desired plant metabolites
Ability to express entire metabolic pathways in plants

Source: Company Presentations

 Expanding Usable Acreage…

Drought tolerance Heat tolerance

Cold germination

Drought Inducible Promoters Salt tolerance

Drought recovery
Source: Company Presentations
 Increasing Tons per Acre…

CO2 uptake
Light density

Photosynthetic Efficiency
Flowering time
Increased biomass

Shade tolerance Herbicide tolerance

Stature control
Source: Company Presentations
 Reducing Dollars per Acre…
4

3.5

N (ng/ mg DW)
2.5

1.5

0.5

1 2
p < 0.001
Time Point

Nitrogen partitioning
Nitrogen uptake

Photosynthetic efficiency
Increased root biomass
under low nitrogen
Source: Company Presentations
 Reducing Cost Through Enzyme Production…

Target Line Activation Line

UASn Trait UASx Sterility UAS Marker X P1 T
Promoter
Protein

Sterility
Fluorescent Transcription
Factor
marker factor

Ceres’ proprietary gene expression system

Flower

Seed

Stem

Leaf

Root
Ceres Industry Tissue-specific promoters
promoter standard
promoter
Source: Company Presentations
 Ceres : Developing Commercial Energy Crops
Generating Plant Material for DNA Libraries Transformation with Ceres’ Traits
to be Used in Molecular Assisted Breeding

Embryogenic
callus

1 day after trimming

Shoot
regenerated
from callus

Plant
regeneration

Re-growth after 15 days

Ceres expects to have proprietary commercial varieties ready for

market in 2-3 years and transgenic varieties in 5-7
Source: Company Presentations
THANK YOU