Biofuel process of production

Biofuel is considered to be the most pure and the easiest available fuels on the planet. One of the key features of biofuels is that they are better than other forms of fuels like petrol or diesel that is manufactured by most of the big oil manufacturing companies.

There are various forms of biofuels and most of them are made through a detailed process having various stages. Most of the animal fats, vegetables and oils contain glycerine. In the process of manufacturing the biofuels, all the fats and oils are turned into esters, separating the glycerin. The process through which the glycerin is separated from the biodiesel is known as transesterification. This process also uses lye as a catalyst in the whole process. Some of the chemicals which are used in the manufacturing of biofuels are ethanol or methanol which brings into use methyl esters. Methanol is derived from fossil fuels while ethanol is derived from plants. 

Biofuel Process of production (www.esru.strath.ac.uk)

The process of manufacturing biofuel can be classified in the following stages.

Filtering: In this process, waste vegetable oil is filtered to remove all the food particles. This process generally involves warming up the liquid a little. After warming up the liquid, it can be filtered with the use of coffee filter.

Removing of water: All the water contained in the residual gangue has to be removed which will make the reaction faster. The water can be easily removed by making the liquid boil at 100 degree C for sometime.

Titration: This process is carried out to determine the amount of lye that would be required. This process is the most crucial and the most important stage of biofuel manufacturing.

Preparation of sodium methoxide: In this process, methanol is mixed with sodium hydroxide to produce sodium methoxide. In most of the cases, the quantity of methanol used is generally 20 percent of waste vegetable oil.

Heating and mixing: The residue is heated in between 120 to 130 degree F after which it is mixed well. It should be remembered that process should be done carefully avoiding splashing of the liquid.

Settling and separation: After mixing the liquid, it has to be allowed to cool down. After the cooling process, the biofuel will be found floating at the top while the heavier glycerin would be found at the bottom. The glycerin can be easily separated by allowing it to drain out from the bottom. The person is left over with pure biofuel which can be used for various purposes.

There is also another process, in wich it is used biomass to produce ethanol. The way this ethanol is produced can be separated in three main steps. First, there is a grinding process in wich the biomass is reduced to biomass feedstock. This makes easier to handle the material, and more efficient the production. Then, the hemicelluloses fraction of the biomass is broken down into simple sugars, this, because of a chemical reaction called hydrolysis. Finally, the mash is fermented with the yeast bacteria, in order to turn sugar into ethanol. After this, there are other processes that aim to purify the ethanol.

http://biofuel.org.uk

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