A

MAJOR PROJECT
ON
BIODIESEL PRODUCTION FROM WASTE COOKING OIL
(Literature and Planning)
Submitted for the Partial Fulfillment of requirements for the Award of Degree of Bachelor of Engineering in
Petrochemical Engineering

Session 2015-2019
SUBMITTED BY:
ANKUR SEMLE (0101PC151006)
ASHWIN SONI (0101PC151009)
CHETANA THAKRE (0101PC151011)
PAWAN LAVAVANSHI (0101PC151031)
PRACHI SOLAKI (0101PC151033)

GUIDED BY:
ASST. PROF. R.S. THAKUR
ASST. PROFESSOR, DEPT. OF PETROCHEMICAL ENGINEERING
DEPARTMENT OF PETROCHEMICAL ENGINEERING
UNIVERSITY INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, RGPV (BHOPAL)
 DECLARATION BY THE CANDIDATES

We hereby declare that the work which is being presented in the major project entitles “BIODIESEL
PRODUCTION FROM WASTE COOKING OIL” submitted for the partial fulfillment requirement for the
award of bachelor degree in Petrochemical Engineering the work which has been carried out at University
Institute Of Technology, RGPV, Bhopal in the session 2018-19, is an authentication record of our work
carried under the guidance of Asst. Prof. R.S Thakur department of Petrochemical Engineering(PCE),
UIT RGPV Bhopal.

The matter written in this project has not been submitted for the award of any other Degree.
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

We are thankful to all individual who have lent us support and guidance without which we could not have
completed our project in the stipulated period.

First and foremost, we would like to express our deepest gratitude to our project supervisor Prof. R.S.
Thakur for the invaluable support, guidance, motivation and encouragement throughout the period. It
was there enthusiastic and progressive outlook towards the project which inspired us throughout the work
during this period.

We are also thankful to all other members and staff of the department who were involved in the project
either directly or indirectly for their valuable cooperation.

Last but not the least we would like to extend our thanks to our fellow students for their friendly
cooperation.
TABLE OF CONTENT:

S.NO. CONTENT
1. INTRODUCTION

2. LITERATURE SURVEY-
 Process for the synthesis of biodiesel.
 Factors affecting biodiesel production.
 Future scope.
 Conclusion.
 CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION
Diesel fuel is largely utilized in the transport, agriculture, commercial, domestic, and industrial sectors for
the generation of power/mechanical energy. Of the alternative fuels, biodiesel obtained from vegetable
oils and animal fats holds good promises as an eco-friendly alternative to diesel fuel. Biodiesel has recently
attracted huge attention in different countries all over the world because of its availability, renewability,
non-toxicity, better gas emissions, and its biodegradability. Biodiesel is a renewable energy source
produced from natural oils and fats, which can be used as a substitute for petroleum diesel without the
need for diesel engine modification. In addition to being biodegradable and non-toxic, biodiesel is also
essentially free of sulfur and aromatics, producing lower exhaust emissions than conventional gasoline
whilst providing similar properties in terms of fuel efficiency. The biodiesel production from vegetable
oils has been extensively studied in recent years. Many researchers have reported the biodiesel production
in several ways. There are four basic routes to biodiesel production from oils and fats: Base-catalyzed
transesterification; direct acid-catalyzed transesterification; enzyme catalytic conversion of the oil into its
fatty acids and then into biodiesel, and non-catalytic transesterification using methanol or methanol/co-
solvent. Base-catalyzed transesterification of vegetable oils with simple alcohol has long been the
preferred method for producing biodiesel. Methanol is the most commonly used alcohol because of its
low cost. Methanol is produced by a variety of processes, the most common of which is the distillation of
liquid products from wood and coal, natural gas, and petroleum gas. A base-catalyzed process can achieve
high purity and yield of biodiesel product in a short time (30–60 min); however, it is very sensitive to the
purity of the reactants. Only well refined vegetable oil with less than 0.5 wt.% of free fatty acid can be
used as the reactant in this process. When waste cooking oil with more than 10 wt.% free fatty acid is used
an acid-catalyzed process is preferred, but the yield of product is low (82% of mass conversion with 200%
excess of methanol) when the most common sulfuric acid is used. Commercial production of biodiesel
began in the 1990s. Biodiesel has become more attractive recently because of its environmental benefits.
Limiting factors of the biodiesel industry are feedstock prices, biodiesel production costs, crude oil prices,
and taxation of energy products. The economic benefits of a biodiesel industry would include value added
to the feedstock, an increased number of rural manufacturing jobs, increased income taxes, increased
investments in plant and equipment, an expanded manufacturing sector, an increased tax base from plant
operations and income taxes, improvement in the current account balance, and reductions in health care
costs due to improved air quality and greenhouse gas mitigation. The cost of feedstock is a major economic
factor in the viability of biodiesel production. Feedstock costs typically account for 80% of the total costs
of biodiesel production Nevertheless, the price of waste cooking oil (or used frying oils) is 2.5–3.0 times
cheaper than virgin vegetable oils, thus can significantly reduce the total manufacturing cost of biodiesel.

The aim of this study was to experimentally investigate how affect the temperature methanol/oil ratio, and
catalyst concentration on biodiesel yield from waste cooking oil. The most important factors, which affect
the yields of the esters, are: temperature, residence time, the mol ratio of oil to alcohol, and catalyst
percentage.

Waste/Used Cooking: -

Oil The feedstock coming from waste vegetable oils or commonly known as waste cooking oils is one of
the alternative sources among other higher grade or refine oils. Waste cooking oil is easy to collect from
other industries such as domestic usage and restaurant and also cheaper than other oils (refine oils). Hence,
by using these oils as the raw material, we can reduce the cost in biodiesel production. The advantages of
using waste cooking oils to produce biodiesel are the low cost and prevention of environment pollution.
These oils need to be treating before dispose to the environment to prevent pollution. Due to the high cost
of disposal, many individuals dispose waste cooking oils directly to the environment especially in rural
area. So that, the use of waste cooking oils is an effective way to reduce the cost of biodiesel production.
Used cooking oil has sufficient potential to fuel the compression ignition engines. The kinematic viscosity
of used cooking oil is about 10 times greater, and its density is about 10% higher than that of mineral
diesel. These properties play vital role in the combustion; therefore, these must be modified prior to the
use of used cooking oil in the engine. Many techniques have been developed to reduce the kinematic
viscosity and specific gravity of vegetable oils, which include pyrolysis, emulsification, leaning and
transesterification. Among these techniques, transesterification is the hot favorite. This is because this
method is relatively easy, carried out at normal conditions, and gives the best conversion efficiency and
quality of the converted fuel.
 CHAPTER 2

LITERATURE REVIEW

Process for the synthesis of biodiesel: -

There are different processes which can be applied to synthesize biodiesel such as direct use and blending,
micro emulsion process, thermal cracking process and the most conventional way is transesterification
process.

Direct Use and Blending: - The direct use of vegetable oils in diesel engine is not favorable and
problematic because it has many inherent failings. Even though the vegetable oils have familiar properties
as biodiesel fuel, it required some chemical modification before can be used into the engine. It has only
been researched extensively for the past couple of decades but has been experimented with for almost
hundred years. Although some diesel engine can run pure vegetable oils, turbocharged direct injection
engine such as trucks are prone to many problems. Energy consumption with the use of pure vegetable
oils was found to be similar to that of diesel fuel. For short term use, ratio of 1:10 to 2:10 oil to diesel has
been found to be successful.

Micro-Emulsion Process: - The problem of the high viscosity of vegetable oils was solved by micro-
emulsions with solvents such as methanol, ethanol, and 1-butanol. Micro-emulsion is defined as a colloidal
equilibrium dispersion of optically isotropic fluid microstructures with dimensions generally in the 1-150
nm range formed spontaneously from two normally immiscible liquids and one or more ionic or non-ionic
amphiphiles. The components of a biodiesel micro-emulsion include diesel fuel, vegetable oil, alcohol,
and surfactant and cetane improver in suitable proportions. Alcohols such as methanol and ethanol are
used as viscosity lowering additives, higher alcohols are used as surfactants and alkyl nitrates are used as
cetane improvers. Microemulsions can improve spray properties by explosive vaporization of the low
boiling constituents in the micelles. Micro-emulsion results in reduction in viscosity increase in cetane
number and good spray characters in the biodiesel. However, continuous use of micro-emulsified diesel
in engines causes problems like injector needle sticking, carbon deposit formation and incomplete
combustion.
Thermal Cracking (Pyrolysis): - Pyrolysis can be defined as the conversion of one substance into another
by means of heat in the absence of air (or oxygen) or by heat in the presence of a catalyst which result in
cleavage of bonds and formation of a variety of small molecules. The pyrolysis of vegetable oil to produce
biofuels has been studied and found to produce alkanes, alkenes, alkadienes, aromatics and carboxylic
acids in various proportions. The equipment for thermal cracking and pyrolysis is expensive for modest
biodiesel production particularly in developing countries. Furthermore, the removal of oxygen during the
thermal processing also removes any environmental benefits of using an oxygenated fuel. Another
disadvantage of pyrolysis is the need for separate distillation equipment for separation of the various
fractions. Also, the product obtained is similar to gasoline containing Sulphur which makes it less
ecofriendly. Pyrolytic chemistry is difficult to characterize because of the variety of reaction path and the
variety of reaction products that may be obtained from the reaction occur. The pyrolyzed material can be
vegetable oils, animal fats, natural fatty acids and methyl esters of fatty acids. The first pyrolysis of
vegetable oil was conducted in an attempt to synthesize petroleum from vegetable.

Transesterification: - The most common way to produce biodiesel is the transesterification method,
which refers to a catalyzed chemical reaction involving vegetable oil and alcohol to yield fatty acid alkyl
esters (i.e., biodiesel) and glycerol. The reaction requires a catalyst, usually a strong base, such as sodium
and potassium hydroxide or sodium methylate. A catalyst is usually used to improve the reaction rate and
the yield. Since the reaction is reversible, excess alcohol is used to shift the equilibrium to the product
side. Especially methanol is used as alcohol because of its low cost and its physical and chemical
advantages. Methanol can quickly react with vegetable oil and NaOH can easily dissolve in it. To complete
a transesterification reaction stoichiometrically, a 3:1 molar ratio of alcohol to triglycerides is necessary.
In practice, the ratio needs to be higher to drive the equilibrium to a maximum ester yield. The triglycerides
are reacted with a suitable alcohol (Methyl, Ethyl, or others) in the presence of a catalyst under a controlled
temperature for a given length of time. The final products are Alkyl esters and Glycerin. The Alkyl esters,
having favorable properties as fuels for use in CI engines, are the main product and the Glycerin, is a
byproduct. The chemical reaction of the tri-glyceride with methyl alcohol is shown below. With higher
alcohols the chemical equation would change correspondingly.

Materials and equipment’s: -

Second-used cooking oil used in the research was obtained from street sellers. Prior using the oil for
biodiesel production, it was filtered and precipitated. The characteristic of second-used cooking oil is
summarized in Table 2. Methanol was used as alcohol for the transesterification reaction. KOH was used
as base catalyst. Transesterification reactions were performed in a batch reactor, as shown in fig.1. The
reaction set-up included a 500 ml glass vessel equipped with thermometer and water-cooled condenser. A
magnetic hot plate stirrer provides the heat and mixing requirement. The reaction were varied from
temperature 50 to 66.5°C, volume ratio of oil to methanol 220:30 to 170:80 and catalyst concentration 1 -
4 wt.% KOH. After 60 minute reaction, the mixture was cooled at the room temperature. The reaction
time of 60 minute was selected based on the preliminary study result. It was found that 60 minute is enough
to reach the optimum yield. The two layers were separated by sedimentation and the upper layer was
analyzed.
 Reaction is as follows:

Biodiesel Production/ transesterification process

Biodiesel derived from biological resources is a renewable fuel, which has drawn more and more attention
recently. A fatty acid methyl ester is the chemical composition of biodiesel. Transesterification is widely
used for the transformation of triglyceride into fatty acid methyl ester. The manufacturing process is based
on the transesterification of triglycerides by alcohols to fatty acid methyl esters, with glycerol as a
byproduct. The base catalyzed production of biodiesel generally has the following processes.

Mixing of Alcohol and Catalyst: - This typical process is mainly done by mixing alkali hydroxide
(commonly potassium hydroxide and sodium hydroxide) with common alcohols (methanol and ethanol)
in the mixer with standard agitator to facilitate the mixing. Alkali hydroxide is dissolved in the alcohol to
produce alkoxide solution.
Chemical Reaction: - The alcohol and catalyst mixture is then charged into a closed reaction vessel and
the oil is added. The reaction system is totally closed to the atmosphere to prevent the loss of alcohol,
since it easily vaporizable. The reaction mixture is kept just near the boiling point of the alcohol to speed
up the reaction. Excess alcohol is normally used to ensure total conversion of the oil to its esters as there
is no problem of recovering of the alcohol for later use after recycling.

Separation: - After the reaction is completed, there exists glycerol and biodiesel formation. Both have a
significant amount of the excess alcohol that was used in the reaction which is in need of being recovered.
The reacted mixture is sometimes neutralized at this step if the basic media that is caused by alkali
hydroxide is occurred. The glycerol phase is much denser than biodiesel phase, making biodiesel to be
floated. The two products can be separated by gravity using settling vessel. The glycerol is drawn off at
the bottom of the settling vessel and biodiesel is drawn off at the top. In some cases, a centrifuge is used
to separate the two materials faster by screening both phases.

Alcohol Removal: - After the glycerol and biodiesel phases have been separated, the excess alcohol in
each phase is removed with a flash evaporation process or by distillation commonly. But currently
extractive distillation can instead be used to fasten the process and to be more economical. On the other
hand, the alcohol is removed and the mixture neutralized before the glycerol and esters have been
separated to prevent the effect of basic media inside the reactor. After the alcohol is being recovered it is
used as main raw material.

Biodiesel Washing: - After transesterification the upper ester layer may contain traces of NaOH, methanol
and glycerol. Since the remaining unreacted methanol in the biodiesel has safety risks and can corrode
engine components, the residual catalyst (NaOH) can damage engine components, and glycerol in the
biodiesel can reduce fuel lubricity and cause injector coking and other deposits. These being water soluble
is removed by washing (4 -6 times) the biodiesel with water maintained at 40-50ºC. Washing is carried
out by spraying hot water over the biodiesel; precautions were taken to avoid soap formation. The washed
biodiesel needs drying in order to remove trace impurities. In some processes washing step is not necessary
depending on the quality of biodiesel produced. After the completion of washing process the biodiesel
may contain some traces of water. Biodiesel is heated to 110 °C to remove the trapped traces of water (for
drying)
Factors affecting biodiesel production

The process of transesterification brings about drastic change in viscosity of the vegetable oil. The high
viscosity component, glycerol, is removed and hence the product has low viscosity like the fossil fuels.
The biodiesel produced is totally miscible with mineral diesel in any proportion. Flash point of the
biodiesel is lowered after transesterification and the cetane number is improved. The yield of biodiesel in
the process of transesterification is affected by several process parameters which include; presence of
moisture and free fatty acids (FFA), reaction time, reaction temperature, catalyst and molar ratio of alcohol
and oil. The main factors affecting the transesterification are molar ratio of alcohol to oil, amount and
catalyst type, reaction time, reaction temperature, stirring rate, presence of free fatty acids and moisture.

Temperature:- Reaction temperature is the important factor that will affect the yield of biodiesel. For
example, higher reaction temperature increases the reaction rate and shortened the reaction time due to
the reduction in viscosity of oils. However, the increase in reaction temperature beyond the optimal level
leads to decrease of biodiesel yield, because higher reaction temperature accelerates the saponification of
triglycerides and causes methanol to vaporize resulting in decreased yield. Usually the transesterification
reaction temperature should be below the boiling point of alcohol in order to prevent the alcohol
evaporation. The range of optimal reaction temperature may vary from 50°C to 60°C depends upon the
oils or fats used .Therefore, the reaction temperature near the boiling point of the alcohol is recommended
for faster conversion by various literatures. At room temperature, there is up to 78% conversion after 60
minutes, and this indicated that the methyl esterification of the FFAs could be carried out appreciably at
room temperature but might require a longer reaction time. In butyl esterification, however, temperature
had stronger influence. Temperature increases the energy of the reacting molecules and also improves the
miscibility of the alcoholic polar media into a non-polar oily phase, resulting in much faster reactions.

Reaction Time:- The increase in fatty acid esters conversion observed when there is an increase in
reaction time. The reaction is slow at the beginning due to mixing and dispersion of alcohol and oil. After
that the reaction proceeds very fast. However the maximum ester conversion was achieved within < 90
min. Further increase in reaction time does not increase the yield product i.e. biodiesel/mono alkyl ester.
Besides, longer reaction time leads to the reduction of end product (biodiesel) due to the reversible reaction
of transesterification resulting in loss of esters as well as soap formation.

Methanol to Oil Molar Ratio:- One of the most important parameters affecting the yield of biodiesel is
the molar ratio of alcohol to triglyceride. Stoichiometrically 3 moles of alcohol and 1 mole of triglyceride
are required for transesterification to yield 3 moles of fatty acid methyl/ethyl esters and 1 mole of glycerol
is used. It is varied from 5.6 – 7.8 :1 for both the catalyst systems. Biodiesel yield could be elevated by
introducing an excess amount of methanol to shift the equilibrium to the right hand side .Methanol,
ethanol, propanol, butanol and amyl alcohol can be used in the transesterification reaction, amongst these
alcohols methanol is applied more frequently as its cost is low and it is physically and chemically
advantageous (polar and shortest chain alcohol) over the other alcohols. In contrast, ethanol is also
preferred alcohol for using in the transesterification process compared to methanol since it is derived from
agricultural products and is renewable and biologically less offensive in the environment. The effect of
volumetric ratio of methanol and ethanol to oil was studied. Results exhibit that highest biodiesel yield is
nearly 99.5% at 1:6 oil/methanol. In comparison, biodiesel yield using methanol continuously increases
with the raise of methanol molar ratio .

Type and Amount of Catalyst:- Biodiesel formation is also affected by the concentration of catalyst.
Most commonly used catalyst for biodiesel production is sodium hydroxide (NaOH) or Potassium
hydroxide (KOH). The type and amount of catalyst required in the transesterification process usually
depend on the quality of the feedstock and method applied for the transesterification process. For a purified
feedstock, any type of catalyst could be used for the transesterification process. However, for feedstock
with high moisture and free fatty acids contents, homogenous transesterification process is unsuitable due
to high possibility of saponification process instead of transesterification process to occur. The yield of
fatty acid alkyl esters generally increases with increasing amount of catalyst. This is due to availability of
more active sites by additions of larger amount of catalyst in the transesterification process. However, on
economic perspective, larger amount of catalyst may not be profitable due to cost of the catalyst itself.
Therefore, similar to the ratio of oil to alcohol, optimization process is necessary to determine the optimum
amount of catalyst required in the transesterification process.

Mixing Intensity:- Oils and alcohols are not totally miscible, thus reaction can only occur in the interfacial
region between the liquids and transesterification reaction is a moderately slow process. So, Mixing is
very important in the transesterification process, adequate mixing between these two types of feedstock is
necessary to promote contact between these two feed stocks, therefore enhance the transesterification
reactions to occur. Mechanical mixing is commonly used in the transesterification process. The intensity
of the mixing could be varied depending on its necessity in the transesterification process. In general, the
mixing intensity must be increased to ensure good and uniform mixing of the feedstock. When vegetable
oils with high kinematic viscosity are used as the feedstock, intensive mechanical mixing is required to
overcome the negative effect of viscosity to the mass transfer between oil, alcohol and catalyst. Agitation
speed plays an important role in the formation of end product (mono alkyl ester or biodiesel), because
agitation of oil and catalyst mixture enhances the reaction. For example the mixing intensities chosen were
200 rpm, 400 rpm, 600 rpm and 800 rpm for 60 min while other parameters were kept constant. At 400
rpm higher conversion of end product were obtained. Because, lower stirring speed shows lower product
formation. On the other hand higher stirring speed favors formation of soap. This is due to the reverse
behavior of transesterification reaction.

Free Fatty Acid and Moisture Content:- The free fatty acid and moisture content are the key parameters
for determining the viability of vegetable oils to be used in transesterification process. Presence of
moisture content in the oil increases the amount of free fatty acids. To carry out this reaction to completion,
less than 3% free fatty acid content in oils is needed. Base-catalyzed transesterification reaction requires
water free and low acid value (< 1) raw materials for biodiesel production. If the oil samples have high
FFA content (more than 1%) then the reaction requires more alkali catalyst to neutralize the FFA. Presence
of water gives greater negative effect than that of FFAs because water can cause soap formation and
frothing which can cause increase in viscosity. In addition formation of gels and foams hinders the
separation of glycerol from biodiesel. Free fatty acid and water always produce negative result during
transesterification and causes soap formation and consumes the catalyst which leads to reduction of
catalyst effect. They also lead to the reduction of methyl ester. To overcome this problem, supercritical
methanol method was proposed. It may be noted that water has less influence in supercritical methanol
method. As it stated the moisture levels of the collected waste chicken fats vary widely, being as high as
18%. Therefore, it is not possible to convert these oils to biodiesel by using a single process. One drawback
of biodiesel is that there is an inverse relationship between biodiesel’s oxidative stability and its cold flow
properties. Saturated compounds are less prone to oxidation than unsaturated compounds but they raise
the cloud point of the fuel. The reaction of FFAs with alcohol produces ester, but also water that inhibits
the of the transesterification glycerides. This is due to the effect of the water produced when the FFAs
react with the alcohol to form esters. The coincidence of the lines indicates that water formation is the
primary mechanism limiting the completion of the acid catalyzed esterification reaction with FFAs.
Table showing authors and their research in the field of production of biodiesel:-

SERIA AUTHOR YEA TECHNIQUE RAW

L NO. R MATERIA
L
1 Daming Huang, 2012 Direct Mixing & Palm oil
Haining Zhou, micro Emulsion
Lin Lin
2. Feng Guo, 2013 Transesterificati Jatropha oil
Zhen Fang, on
Xiao-Fei
Tian,Yun- Duo
Long, Li-Qun
Jiang
3. Alemayehu 2014 Transesterificati Rapeseed
Gashaw, on oil
Tewodros
Getachew &
AbileTeshita
4. Mohammad 2015 pyrolysis Sunflower
Abdul oil
Rakube,Bharga
vi R.
5. Jundika c 2016 Transesterificati Palm oil
kurnia,Sachin V
on
jangam, Saad
Akhtar,Agus P
susmito,Arun S
Mujumdar

6. Marina Corral 2017 Multi response Soy oil

Bobadilla,Fati surface
ma Somovilla methodology
Gomez, Eliseo using
P. Vegera desirability
Gonzalez function
All the research work done on this topic uses the main catalyst for their research was NaOH(Sodium
Hydroxide) and CH3OH(Methanol).

World production of vegetable oils:-

Oils Million tons

Palm oil(fruit) 43.20
Soy oil 38.11
rapeseed oil 19.38
Sunflower oil 11.45
Cotton oil 4.94
Palm oil(seed) 5.10
Peanut oil 4.93
Coconut oil 3.62
Olive oil 2.97
Jatropha oil 5.67
Future scoped through this review:-
Technological advances and efficiency gains—higher biomass yields per acre and more gallons of biofuel
per ton of biomass—could steadily reduce the economic cost and environmental impacts of biofuel
production. Biofuel production will likely be most profitable and environmentally benign in tropical areas
where growing seasons are longer, per acre biofuel yields are higher, and fuel and other input costs are
lower. For example, Brazil uses bagasse, which is a byproduct from sugar production, to power ethanol
distilleries, whereas the United States uses natural gas or coal.
The future of global biofuels will depend on their profitability, which depends on a number of interrelated
factors. Key to this will be high oil prices: 6 years of steadily rising oil prices have provided economic
support for alternative fuels, unlike previous periods when oil prices spiked and then fell rapidly,
undercutting the profitability of nascent alternative fuel programs. On the other hand, the sector’s
profitability has been negatively affected by rising feedstock prices (corn and vegetable oil, not sugar),
which account for a very large share of biofuel cost of production. For this commodity-dependent industry,
government support to reduce profit uncertainty has been a common theme in the U.S., Brazil, and the
EU, where biofuel production has been most significant.
Biofuels will most likely be part of a portfolio of solutions to high oil prices, including conservation and
the use of other alternative fuels. The role of biofuels in global fuel supplies is likely to remain modest
because of its land intensity. In the U.S., replacing all current gasoline consumption with ethanol would
require more land in corn production than is presently in all agricultural production. Technology will be
central to boosting the role of biofuels. If the energy of widely available, cellulose materials could be
economically harnessed around the world, biofuel yields per acre could more than double, reducing land
requirements significantly.

Competitive Fossil Fuel Alternatives: -

High oil prices have drawn attention not only to biofuels, but to a range of other liquid fuel alternatives.
Large investments are being made in developing more difficult-to-access conventional oil resources
located in remote areas or deeper waters, unconventional sources, such as oil sands and heavy crude oil,
and the conversion of coal to oil. While world oil production is expected to increase 30 percent by 2030,
production from unconventional fossil fuels will increase even faster, according to the U.S. Department
of Energy. Global biofuel production is projected to more than double. Many of the fossil fuel alternatives
have lower costs of production than biofuels. Canada’s oil sands, for example, can produce oil for $30 per
barrel. Current production is more than 1 million barrels per day, with some forecasting production rising
to more than 3.5 million barrels per day by 2030.
Another alternative is converting coal to oil, which is of particular interest to economies with abundant
coal resources, such as China and the United States. Oil prices of $40 per barrel may be sufficient to make
this process profitable despite high investment costs.

Looking to the Future: The Potential of Second-Generation Biofuels:-

Many uncertainties remain for the future of biofuels, including competition from unconventional fossil
fuel alternatives and concerns about environmental tradeoffs. Perhaps the biggest uncertainty is the extent
to which the land intensity of current biofuel production can be reduced. The amount of biofuel that can
be produced from an acre of land varies from 100 gallons per acre for EU rapeseed to 400 gallons per acre
for U.S. corn and 660 gallons per acre for Brazilian sugarcane.
Cellulosic ethanol could raise per acre ethanol yields to more than 1,000 gallons, significantly reducing
land requirements. Cellulosic ethanol is made by breaking down the tough cellular material that gives
plants rigidity and structure and converting the resulting sugar into ethanol. Cellulose is the world’s most
widely available biological material, present in such low-value materials as wood chips and wood waste,
fast-growing grasses, crop residues like corn stover, and municipal waste.
U.S. cellulosic fuel production costs are now estimated at more than $2.50 per gallon, compared with
$1.65 per gallon for corn ethanol. Venture capital and government subsidies are supporting companies
interested in making cellulosic ethanol commercially viable, primarily in the United States, but also in
several other countries, including Canada, Brazil, China, Japan, and Spain.
In the meantime, other costs of cellulosic ethanol production need to be fully assessed, such as the impacts
of harvesting grasses, trees, and crop residues on the erodibility and fertility of land resources. There are
also questions regarding the upstream logistical and environmental costs of harvesting, transporting, and
storing large volumes of bulky feedstock used in processing.
CONCLUSION
With exception of hydropower and nuclear energy, the major part of all energy consumed worldwide
comes from petroleum, charcoal and natural gas. However, these sources are limited, and will be
exhausted in the near future. Thus, Biodiesel is an alternative and renewable fuel for diesel engines and
has become more attractive in recent times. The catalysts used in the production of biodiesel are acids,
bases and enzymes. Transesterification is a commonly employed method to reduce the viscosity during
the production of biodiesel. The purpose of this method is to reduce the viscosity of oil or fat using acid
or base catalyst in the presence of methanol or ethanol. However, the biodiesel production by
transesterification is strongly affected by molar ratio of alcohol, reaction temperature, reaction time and
catalyst concentration. The main advantage in biodiesel usage is attributed to lesser exhaust emissions in
terms of carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons and particulate matter. Hence, the paper concentrates on the
development of economically viable as well as ecofriendly substrates such as waste cooking oil for
biodiesel production and briefly discusses the factors that will affect the biodiesel production.