Introduction:
Today we are facing the serious fuel problems. Main problem is not only the inadequacy of fuels but also about their combustion products. As we know that, liquid is most usable state of fuels, we are a lot habitual about using it. Like in our cars, trucks, generators, trains etc. Bio diesel is one of best steps towards the renewable and non-polluting energy source. Here is discussed the Process to Make Bio diesel.
Bio Diesel:
Making bio diesel is very simple process. It is so basic that it could be achieved in the small home laboratory, too. When bio diesel is to be produced on the large scale, the basic process remains the same with some changes for achieving commercial agreement.
Process of Making Bio Diesel:
Basically, bio diesel is made from vegetable oils. Vegetable oils contains triglycerides and glycerin. Glycerin content is about 13% and this is needed to be separated. During the chemical process the triglycerides are converted into esters. This is actual product which burns. As an output, we get mixture of glycerin and ester. Glycerin have higher density and hence it settles down. At this stage separation is done to get bio diesel.
The process in which vegetable oil converts into esters is called as trans-esterification. The process of making bio diesel needs some simple chemicals:
- Methanol, which is easy to process and chip.
- Sodium Hydroxide, NaOH, Caustic soda.
Initially, alcohol methanol is allowed to react with vegetable oil in the presence of catalyst, sodium hydroxide. This reaction output is crude bio diesel and glycerin. Moreover, 90% of vegetable oil is converted into biodiesel by this process. The biproduct of the trans esterification reaction is Glycerin, which is highly used substance in the cosmetics industries, for making soaps, face wash creams and many more applications in the industry. Then bio diesel is chemically washed to get more pure of it.
Imporatant About Bio-Diesel:
Generally, bio diesel made non commercially don’t qualify the ASTM’s code for bio diesel. Using such bio diesel may cause some problems in engine which are expensive to repair. So, cleaning of reaction products is a lot important here.
References:
[1] http://www.oregonbiofuels.com/
Kiran Pagar - Founder of Engiblogger. I get fascinated with Technology advances in world. I love to study and work with those technologies. I am Mechanical Engineer, my main interests are Animation, Software Development and Blogging. 
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