Sunday, December 30, 2007

CJP Found New Couple Oil Crop Cultivation Technology For Biodiesel Production

(PRWEB) December 30, 2007 ---The years of continuous research, experiments and trials have given Centre for Jatropha Promotion & Biodiesel (CJP) a big break through in the search for a viable alternative feedstock for biodiesel in combination with Jatropha. CJP is the Global authority for scientific commercialization of Jatropha fuel crop.

The Director Plant Science CJP Mr. R.R. Sharma has stated that Jatropha plantation occupy about 50% of the planted land and to utilized the rest of land in sustainable manner we have been experimenting different intercropping options, patterns and agro- technologies. We have been in search of such an inter-crop for Jatropha which should be oil bearing like Jatropha itself without competing with it for food and water and should be capable of fulfilling Jatropha fertilizer requirement and still maintaining soil fertility.

"Finally we got it," said Mr. Sharma. Emergence of the combination crop system may change the entire scenario of the biodiesel industry and shall provide much relief to the industry which desperately in a need of a viable sustainable non-food feed stocks.

Mr. Sharma further added that, "Now we can ensure an oil yield of > 6 tons per ha i.e. same acreage of land may provide double output. The technology termed as COC by CJP shall be released commercially soon."

Saturday, December 22, 2007

Chicken Fat Converted Into Biodiesel


Chemical engineering researchers at the University of Arkansas have investigated supercritical methanol as a method of converting chicken fat into biodiesel fuel. The new study also successfully converted tall oil fatty acid, a major by-product of the wood-pulping process, into biodiesel at a yield of greater than 90 percent, significantly advancing efforts to develop commercially viable fuel out of plentiful, accessible and low-cost feedstocks and other agricultural by-products.

“Major oil companies are already examining biodiesel as an alternative to petroleum,” said R.E. “Buddy” Babcock, professor of chemical engineering. “With the current price of petroleum diesel and the results of this project and others, I think energy producers will think even more seriously about combining petroleum-based diesel with a biodiesel product made out of crude and inexpensive feedstocks.”

Under Babcock’s guidance, Brent Schulte, a chemical-engineering graduate student in the university’s College of Engineering, subjected low-grade chicken fat, donated by Tyson Foods, and tall oil fatty acids, provided by Georgia Pacific, to a chemical process known as supercritical methanol treatment. Supercritical methanol treatment dissolves and causes a reaction between components of a product – in this case, chicken fat and tall oil – by subjecting the product to high temperature and pressure.

Substances become “supercritical” when they are heated and pressurized to a critical point, the highest temperature and pressure at which the substance can exist in equilibrium as a vapor and liquid. The simple, one-step process does not require a catalyst.

Schulte treated chicken fat and tall oil with supercritical methanol and produced biodiesel yields in excess of 89 and 94 percent, respectively. With chicken fat, Schulte reached maximum yield at 325 degrees Celsius and a 40-to-1 molar ratio, which refers to the amount of methanol applied. The process also produced a respectable yield of 80 percent at 300 degrees Celsius and the same amount of methanol. At 275 degrees Celsius and the same amount of methanol, the process was ineffective. Ideal results using tall oil fatty acid were achieved at 325 degrees Celsius and a 10-to-1 molar ratio. At 300 degrees Celsius and the same amount of methanol, the conversion produced a yield of almost 80 percent. Again, at 275 degrees Celsius, the process was ineffective.

Previous efforts, including a study two years ago by another one of Babcock’s graduate students, to make biodiesel out of low-cost feedstocks – as opposed to refined oils – have used one of two conventional methods, base-catalyzed or acid-catalyzed esterification. Although successful at producing biodiesel, these conventional methods struggle to be economically feasible due to long reaction times, excessive amounts of methanol required and/or undesired production of soaps during processing.

“The supercritical method hit the free fatty-acid problem head on,” Babcock said. “Because it dissolves the feed material and eliminates the need for the base catalyst, we now do not have the problems with soap formation and loss of yield. The supercritical method actually prefers free fatty acid feedstocks.”

Biodiesel is a nonpetroleum-based alternative diesel fuel that consists of alkyl esters derived from renewable feedstocks such as plant oils or animal fats. The fuel is made by converting these oils and fats into what are known as fatty acid alkyl esters. The conventional processes require the oils or fats be heated and mixed with a combination of methanol and sodium hydroxide as a catalyst. The conversion process is called transesterification.

Most biodiesel is produced from refined vegetable oils, such as soybean and rapeseed oil, which are expensive; they generally account for 60 to 80 percent of the total cost of biodiesel. Due to these high feedstock prices, biodiesel production struggles to be economically feasible. Currently, as Babcock alluded, biodiesel cannot compete with petroleum diesel unless the per-gallon price of diesel remains higher than $3. For these reasons, researchers recently have focused efforts on less refined and less-expensive feedstocks as a more viable competitor to conventional diesel.

Biodiesel has many benefits. In addition to reducing U.S. dependence on foreign oil, it is better for the environment than purely petroleum-based products. As a renewable, biodegradable and thus carbon-neutral material, biodiesel does not contribute to greenhouse gases. In fact, it decreases sulfur and particulate-matter emissions. It also provides lubrication for better-functioning mechanical parts and has excellent detergent properties.

“Biodiesel provides an effective, sustainable-use fuel with many desirable properties,” Schulte said. “In addition to being a renewable, biodegradable and carbon-neutral fuel source, it can be formed in a matter of months from feedstocks produced locally, which promotes a more sustainable energy infrastructure. It also decreases dependence on foreign oil and creates new labor and market opportunities for domestic crops.”

Adapted from materials provided by University of Arkansas, Fayetteville. Source: sciencedaily.com

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

How to make biodiesel

The video shows the whole chain from seed to diesel. Enjoy.

Monday, December 10, 2007

Spanish energy firm to invest $250M in biofuel in the Philippines

50,000 hectares to be planted with cassava

By Amy R. Remo
Inquirer
12/11/2007

An energy company based in Spain plans to invest as much as $250 million to develop 50,000 hectares of land into cassava plantations whose output will be used as feedstock for biofuel facilities in the Philippines, Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap said.

Abengoa Bioenergy signed a memorandum of understanding with Philippine Agricultural Development and Commercial Corp. during President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s two-day state visit to Spain last week, Yap said.

Abengoa is the largest ethanol producer in Europe, where it operates several bioethanol facilities. It also has plants in Brazil and the United States, where it ranks fifth in the industry.

The memorandum of understanding, which is valid for a year, was signed by Agriculture Undersecretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat and Abengoa chairman Javier Salgado Leirado last week.

Under its provisions, Abengoa will help the Department of Agriculture identify varieties of cassava for cultivation trials.

Puyat said that Abengoa would provide design engineering and supply the machinery required to develop cassava plantations, as well as study the possibility of setting up bioethanol factories in the Philippines.

Feedstock production from the distillery is projected at 1.0-1.2 million tons to generate about 150 to 200 million liters of bioethanol a year, he said.

Through a Abengoa-PADCC working committee, the PADCC will help Abengoa in conducting capability-enhancement training for farmers, Puyat added.

He said Abengoa would lend its technical expertise in the agricultural production side to develop high yielding varieties and increase feedstock productivity.

Yap said Abengoa and PADCC could enter into partnerships focusing on energy crops development and cost-competitive biomass technology.

Earlier, a Bilbao-based biodiesel leader in Europe -- Bionor Transformacion S.A. -- revealed plans to invest $200 million in the Philippines to develop at least 100,000 hectares of land into jatropha plantations to be used as feedstock for biofuel plants.

Friday, December 7, 2007

Evolution Biodiesel Kits

This is an overview of a small scale biodiesel processors made in the USA. For those interested in making quality biodiesel in your shop, farm or home, then this video is for you. This shows that Biodiesel is easy to make...regardless of price making your own is cheap; best of all it creates the least damage to the environment. Watch and enjoy.

Monday, December 3, 2007

PNOC to propagate jatropha for biodiesel in Mindanao.

On the news today from the PDI (Philippines Daily Inquirer):

By Abigail L. Ho

PNOC Alternative Fuels Corp. is set to propagate jatropha, for use as biodiesel feedstock, in Mindanao.

According to an official of PNOC-AFC, a subsidiary of the Philippine National Oil Co., Mindanao appears to be the best and most suitable place for growing jatropha, mostly because of the climate and the large tracts of idle land available for use as plantations.

"The Food and Agricultural Organization, in its recent study, assessed the potential of jatropha production as a biodiesel feedstock," PNOC-AFC chair Renato Velasco said in a statement. "The results showed that we have sufficient arable lands and favorable climatic conditions to ensure the large feedstock production every year, and Mindanao is found to be the most suitable area.

"We have already started planting jatropha in Cagayan de Oro and we aim to establish an aggregate amount of at least 700,000 hectares of jatropha plantations all over the country, bulk of which will be in Mindanao."

While encouraging Mindanao farmers to go into jatropha production, he said the aim of PNOC-AFC's jatropha propagation program was not to make farmers shift from producing food crops to planting jatropha.

"We want the farmers to continue growing rice, sugar and others," Velasco explained. "What we intend to do is give farmers additional income by planting jatropha (on idle lands)."

He said jatropha production was a viable livelihood option for farmers as this required minimal supervision and would not compete with food crops for land.

Idle tracts of land--ones that would not be suitable for food crops--could be used in jatropha cultivation.

As for concerns on the use of jatropha as biodiesel feedstock, PNOC-AFC, together with relevant government agencies and the academe, are conducting wide-scale scientific work to discover which variety of jatropha would be best for widespread propagation, Velasco said.

"The Philippines is capable of producing jatropha biodiesel that can pass international standards," Velasco said. "What is more important to note is that we used seeds from the local jatropha variety."

Case IH Expands B100 Biodiesel Use in Farm Equipment

Case IH has extended its recommendations on use of biofuels to include B100 - or pure biodiesel - on even more of its farm equipment models.

Farmers now can use B100 on nearly all Case IH medium- to high-horsepower tractors, combines, windrowers, and most self-propelled sprayers and cotton pickers -- so long as proper protocols are followed for engine operation and maintenance.

"With record prices for crude oil, Case IH committed to exploring better ways to use environmentally-friendly biofuels made from renewable raw materials. We have conducted rigorous laboratory and in-field tests to evaluate how our engines perform with various biodiesel blends," says Don Rieser, Case IH director of tractor product management. "As always, our ultimate goal is greater productivity for our customers. That's why we also are committed to educating our dealers and customers on how to get best results with biodiesel fuels - especially when using higher-level blends."

Rieser says that Case IH dealers are knowlegeable about guidelines for using biodiesel fuels in Case IH equipment and can advise farmers on biodiesel approvals and technical requirements. Recommended practices include sourcing pre-blended biodiesel from reliable suppliers, following proper filter and oil change intervals and - in some cases - having dealers install special parts to help the vehicle perform as expected with a higher percentage of biodiesel.

Equipment approved for B100

New approvals for use of B100 apply to Case IH JX Series, JXC Series, JXN Series and JXU Series tractors, as well as the full-line up of Maxxum, Puma and Magnum tractors - including the new Magnum 335. All new Steiger tractors also are approved for B100, except the highest horsepower model, the Steiger 535.

Other Case IH models okayed for B100 are the new Module Express 625 module-building cotton picker and SPX 3320 and SPX 4420 self-propelled sprayers.

All Case IH machines leave the factory with a full tank of B5 biodiesel - a blend of 5% biodiesel and 95% traditional fuels. Customers can use B5 in all Case IH engines without restrictions or special engine maintenance. Case IH also supports B20 use in more than 90 percent of the models it sells in North America and Europe - again with certain requirements for operation and maintenance.
Customers can check biodiesel approvals and requirements by visiting the Case IH Web site at www.caseih.com and looking for the special "Biodiesel Ready" logo on individual product pages.

Case IH is a global leader in agricultural equipment, committed to collaborating with its customers to develop the most powerful, productive, reliable equipment - for those who demand more. With headquarters in the United States, Case IH has a network of dealers and distributors that operates in over 160 countries. Case IH provides agricultural equipment systems, flexible financial service offerings and parts and service support for professional farmers and commercial operators through a dedicated network of professional dealers and distributors. Productivity enhancing products include tractors; combines and harvesters; hay and forage equipment; tillage tools; planting and seeding systems; sprayers and applicators; and site-specific farming tools.

For more information, visit us on the World Wide Web at http://www.caseih.com

Saturday, December 1, 2007

Video demonstration of BioDiesel in Stove

This is a demonstration video how to use biodiesel in a stove. In the Philippines, we still have lots of people using kerosene stove in cooking, maybe biodiesel can be an alternative.

After the stove had been made running, this video shows it runs almost without smoke and no smell.

Watch it and enjoy.

Biodiesel heater

This is a good video demonstrating how we can keep warm this coming winter using biodiesel.