Biodiesel fuels seed oils

By 2006, the U.S. had 77 ethanol plants producing more than 3 billion gallons of ethanol per year. Canada produced an additional 60 million gallons. Corn was the feedstock in 62 of the 77 U.S. plants. Other feedstocks included seed corn, corn and barley, corn and beverage waste, brewery waste, cheese whey, corn and milo, corn and wheat starch, potato waste and various sugars. The U.S. had 11 additional plants under construction and 55 proposed. West Central Soy processes soybeans to a food grade oil. Alcohol and a catalyst are then used to produce biodiesel fuel and glycerin. 

Shrestha et al (2005) conducted a study in which SME, mustard seed oil methyl and ethyl esters and used peanut oil methyl esters were blended (B0, B5 and B10) with No. 2 petrodiesel and treated with six commercial petrodiesel CFI additives. It was found that at 100, 200, and 300% of the specified loading rate, CP and PP were reduced by an average of 2.2 °C and 14.1 °C, respectively. Mustard seed oil ethyl esters exhibited the highest average reduction in CP and PP and SME exhibited the lowest, as shown by Table 1.9 for CP. Furthermore, a significant decrease in CP was noticed when additive concentration was increased from 100% of the specified loading rate to 200% however, the difference between 200% and 300% was not significant. The authors conclude that the effect of fuel additive is not only different for different feedstocks but also some fuel additives worked better for a specific blend of biodiesel with No. 2 petrodiesel. 

Another potential source of liquid fuel is oil squeezed from seeds (seed oil). For example, some farmers in North Dakota, South Africa, and Australia are now using sunflower oil to replace diesel fuel. Oil seeds, found in a wide variety of plants, can be processed to produce a biodiesel oil composed mainly of carbon and hydrogen, which of course reacts with oxygen to produce carbon dioxide, water, and heat. The main advantage of seed oil as a fuel is that it is renewable. It is hoped that oil seed plants can be developed that will thrive under soil and climatic conditions unsuitable for corn and wheat. Ideally, fuel would be grown just like food crops. 

For biodiesel fuels, the basic idea is to convert natural glycerides to liquid products that have properties closer to those of diesel fuels than those of gasolines. The feedstocks for conversion to biodiesel are usually triglyceride oils from oilseeds. These oils normally contain small amounts of monoglycerides, diglycerides, and free fatty acids. Animal fats and natural non-seed-oil triglycerides are also suitable starting materials. 

S. Saka and D. Kusdiana, Biodiesel Fuel from Rape Seed Oil as Prepared in Supercritical Methanol , Fuel, 2001, 80, 225. 

Moser, B. R., and S. F. Vaughn. 2010. Coriander Seed Oil Methyl Esters as Biodiesel Fuel Unique Fatty Acid Composition and Excellent Oxidative Stability. Biomass and Bioenergy 34 (4) 550-558. 

Many useful lipid oils are extracted from a variety of plant seeds including rapeseed, soybeans, sunflowers, and com. In addition to their food uses, these oils are used in a large variety of applications including raw materials for making other chemical products, lubricants, and as biodiesel fuels. Part of the usefulness of lipid oils in many applications is due to their similarity to petroleum hydrocarbons. Volatile solvents, most commonly the 6-carbon straight-chain alkane n-hexane, CgHj4, are used to extract oils from plant sources. In this process, the solvents are distilled off from the extract and recirculated through the process. 

Ramadhas AS, Jayaraj S, Muraleedharan C. Biodiesel production from high FFA rubber seed oil. Fuel 2005 84 335-340. 

Veljkovic VB, Lakicevic SH, Stamenkovic OS, Todorovic ZB, Lazic ML. Biodiesel production from tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L.) seed oil with a high content of free fatty acids. Fuel 2006 85 2671-2675. 

Tariq M, Ah S, Ahmad F, Ahmad M, Zafar M, Khalid N. Identification, FT-IR, NMR ( H and Y ) and GC/MS studies of fatty acid methyl esters in biodiesel from rocket seed oil. Fuel Process Technol 2011 92 336-341. 

Moso", B.R., Vaughn, S.F., 2010b. Coriander seed oil methyl esters as biodiesel fuel unique fatty acid composition and excellent oxidative stability. Biomass Bioenergy 34, 550-558. 

Georgogianni, K.G., Kontominas, M.G., et al., 2008. Conventional and in situ transesterification of sunflower seed oil for the production of biodiesel. Fuel Processing Technology 89 (5), 503-509. 

In Europe, vegetable-oil-based fuels are mainly produced from rapeseed. In the USA, vegetable-oil-based fuels are mainly derived from soybeans. Another feedstock used in Europe and North America is sunflower seed. Most of the vegetable oil that is used as energy source for the generation of transportation fuel is converted to fatty acid methyl ester (FAME), often called biodiesel . 

Starch and fatty acids are the main food constituents of biomass. Sugar is derived from starch by hydrolysis or directly by extraction from sugar cane or beet. Fermentation converts sugars into alcohol that can be directly used as fuel, or in principle can be used as the raw material of a bioreftnery plant for further upgrading. Triglycerides, derived from oil seeds, are used to be converted into biodiesel through transesterification processes (Fig. 1.14). 

Vegetable oils fijom crops, with a total lipid content of at least 20% by weight, such as soy bean, rape seed and sunflower, have been studied and cultivated in plantations as sources of feed stock for biodiesel production in the USA and in European countries such as France, Austria and Italy. For Kenya and Afiica at large, where there is a dire need for food, the use of such edible oil crops for fuel would be ridiculous. Jatropha curcas (family Euphorbiaceae), which constitutes 53-57% non-edible oils, has therefore been evaluated as a source of oil for biodiesel production. 

One impediment to the cultivation of jatropha for the production of bio-fuel is that it would threaten the growing of food crops and the technology of commercial biodiesel production plant is not yet readily available on the market. However, the area of land that would be brought under jatropha cultivation during the initial years would not yield adequate quantities of seeds for a trans-esterification unit to operate economically. Farmers, on the other hand, would not go in for jatropha cultivation on a commercial basis without being assured of a reliable market. Clearly, it is necessary to find alternative uses for the oil in its natural form (i.e., without trans-esterification), for which a large quantity of the oil can be used for soap making. 

Biodiesel production is a complex process. Simply explaiited, oite method of producing the fuel is to firstly pass seeds or other raw materials through a mill to release fiieir oil (Stage 1). Subsequently, the product is transferred to a centrifuge, w hich removes seeds from the oil bv ... 

---