Biodiesel Production Process

2240 Words9 Pages
1.0 INTRODUCTION We live in an age where oil acquisition and consumption dominate the course of national and international politics throughout much of the world. Our dependence on oil is responsible for many of the greatest environmental, health, and security problems our nation faces today. Finding a way to ease our dependence on oil presents one of the paramount challenges of our age. Figure 1 shows that the consumption of the oil in Malaysia is increasing significantly while there is a remark of decreasing production since year 2004. Figure 1: Production and consumption of oil in Malaysia Biodiesel which is a relatively clean-burning, renewable fuel produced from new and used animal and vegetable oil, could be used to replace at least a portion of the diesel fuel consumed in Malaysia. The use of biodiesel results in substantial reductions of unburned hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide (CO) and particulate matter (PM). Secondly, using biodiesel will create jobs and contribute to local economies. In fact, adding biodiesel increases the lubricity of the fuel, which can increase the life of the engine and its components. However biodiesel is not a panacea. One notable disadvantage is that diesel-engine emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx) tend to increase. Impurities such as unreacted fatty acids or alcohol, as well as glycerin or catalyst left over from the production process, can lead to accelerated wear or corrosion of engine components. 2.0 BIODIESEL PRODUCTION 2.1 Overview of Biodiesel Production Basically there are three routes to produce biodiesel from oils and fats. There are:- * 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 The Transesterification process is the reaction of a triglyceride (fat/oil) with an alcohol

More about Biodiesel Production Process

Open Document