Biodiesel from other oils

A Hewlett Packard model 5890 gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer may be used to obtain the GC-MS spectra of the biodiesel samples. Use a 30-meter Rtx-5 (Fused Silica) column (0.25 mm ID, 0.25 micron film). Set the inlet temperature at 250°C and the detector temperature at 280°C. The detection solvent delay is 3.3 minutes. The oven program has an initial temperature of 80°C (initial time 3 minutes) and a final temperature of 280°C (final time 3 minutes) with a rate of 20.0°C/ minute. The sample is prepared by adding one drop of biodiesel to 4 mL of methanol and a 1.0 /xL sample is injected. The GC-MS spectrum for biodiesel from coconut oil has several well-resolved peaks, whereas the spectra for biodiesel from other oils usually include overlapping peaks. 

The BCI of a biorefinery producing biodiesel from vegetable oil which is fully deployed, with 8 (1/1/3/3) is a benchmark to compare the complexity of other current and future biorefinery systems. 

Biodiesel is diesel fuel produced from vegetable oils and other renewable resources. Many different types of oils can he used, including animal fats, used cooking oils, and soybean oil. Biodiesel is miscible with petroleum diesels and can he used in biodiesel-diesel blends. Most often blends are 20 percent biodiesel and 80 percent traditional diesel. Soy diesel can be used neat (100%), hut many other types of biodiesel are too viscous, especially in winter, and must be used in blends to remain fluid. The properties of the fuel will vaiy depending on the raw material used. Typical values for biodiesel are shown in Table 1. 

Demirbas, A. 2003. Biodiesel fuels from vegetable oils via catalytie and non-eatalytie supereritieal aleohol transesterifieations and other methods a survey. Energy Convers Manage 44 2093-2109. 

The biorefinery approach is the most sound in terms of truly exploiting the potential of an aquatic biomass, and this concept is now becoming accepted on a worldwide basis. In the biorefinery approach, the economic and energetic value of the biomass is maximized, although it must be emphasized that fluctuations in the prices of fossil carbon (coal, oil, gas) raises uncertainty regarding the opportunity to produce biodiesel from aquatic biomass. For example, when the oil price is below US 120 per barrel it is uneconomic to produce biodiesel in this way. On the other hand, an aquatic biomass demonstrates an excellent potential for use as a source of specialty chemicals, with some components also having added value as animal feeds or fertilizers. 

Cold properties of biodiesel are highly correlated to the fatty acid composition. Biodiesel with a high content of saturated fatty acids, such as that from palm oil and coconut oil, possesses poor cold flow properties. On the other hand, biodiesel with a high content of unsaturated fatty acids possesses better flow properties at lower temperatures. However, biodiesel from highly unsaturated fatty acids with more than two double bonds has combustion problems. Therefore, in some countries, the content of highly unsaturated fatty acid methyl esters in biodiesel is kept low (5). 

Similarly to oil-based refineries, where many energy and chemical products are produced from crude oil, biorefineries will produce many different industrial products from biomass. These will include low-value, high-volume products, such as transportation fuels (e.g. biodiesel, bioethanol), commodity chemicals, as well as materials, and high-value, low-volume products or speciality chemicals, such as cosmetics or nutraceuticals. Energy is the driver for developments in this area, but as biorefineries become more and more sophisticated with time, other products will be developed. In some types of biorefinery, food and feed production may well also be incorporated. 

Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) are shown in Table 10.2. After fine-tuning and approval, the ASTM standards are expected to eliminate many of the potential problems that can result from the large number of vegetable oils and animal fats that can be used to produce biodiesel. In other words, when a particular manufacturing source supplies biodiesel that meets the ASTM standards, it is assumed it will be fully compatible with all other sources of biodiesel and exhibit the same end-use characteristics even though the feedstock may not be the same at each manufacturing site. 

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