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Frequently
Asked Questions On Bio - Gas
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Q1.
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What
is National Information Centre on Bio fuel ? |
| Q2. |
What is bio-Diesel ? How can
it be manufactured ? |
| Q3. |
What
are the benefits of bio diesel ? |
| Q4. |
What
are the plant species that are suitable for preparation of Bio-Diesel?
What size of Bio- Diesel plant works out to be economical ? |
| Q5. |
What
are the advantages of Bio-Diesel for a country like India ?
|
| Q6. |
How
compatible is the bio-diesel with the vehicle and pump engines?
What are the changes that are required to be made in the engine
? |
|
Q7. |
What
are the areas in the country wherein cultivation of species
suitable for manufacturing bio-diesel can be taken up ? |
| Q8. |
What
is the present status of Bio-Diesel research under IOC? By when
would the technology become commercially available ? |
| Q9. |
Why
Bio-diesel is important for Indian Railways ? |
| Q10 |
What
Setup is required for Bio-diesel Plant ? |
| Q11. |
What
is the Detailed procedure for production of Bio-Diesel ? |
| .Q12. |
What
is transesterifiction process of oil (Triglycerids) ? |
| Q13. |
What
are the conditions required for optimum growth of Jatropha Plant
? |
| Q14. |
From
where can I get plant saplings ? |
| Q15. |
Which
kind of manure is required for healthy growth of plant ? |
| Q16. |
What
kind of Irrigation and water management is required ? |
| Q17. |
Give
me a brief knowledge about harvesting practices & yields
? |
| Q18. |
What
are the uses of biodiesel ? |
| Q19. |
Does
biodiesel require engine modifications? |
|
Q20.
|
Do
I need special storage facilities ? |
| Q21. |
Is
Biodiesel the same thing as raw vegetable oil ? |
| Q22. |
Is
biodiesel used as a pure fuel or is it blended with petroleum
diesel ? |
| Q.23 |
What
are the advantages of Bio-diesel Vs. Diesel (HSD)? |
| Q24. |
What
is the need of Bio-diesel ? |
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| Q1
: What is National Information Centre on Bio fuel? |
| Ans
:NIC on bio-fuels is a part of PCRA which provide all the
necessary informations related to bio-fuels (Bio-diesel, Biogas
etc) to everybody, from a farmer to a business man & other
agencies working in this field. It makes people aware about
biofuels & helps them to get benefits from it. |
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| Q2
: What is bio-Diesel ? How can it be manufactured? |
| Ans
:Bio-diesel is an eco-friendly, alternative diesel fuel
prepared from domestic renewable resources i.e. vegetable oils
(ediable or non- ediable oil) and animal fats. These natural
oils and fats are made up mainly of triglycerides. These triglycerides
when reacted chemically with lower alcohols in presence of a
catalyst result in fatty acid esters. These esters show striking
similarity to petroleum derived diesel and are called "Bio-diesel".
As India is deficient in edible oils, non-edible oil may be
material of choice for producing bio diesel . For this purpose
Jatropha curcas considered as most potential source for it.
Bio diesel is produced by transesterification of oil obtains
from the plant. |
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| Q3
: What are the benefits of bio diesel ? |
Ans
:A. 1. It reduce vehicle emission which makes it eco-friendly.
It is made from renewable sources and can be prepared locally.
1. Increases engine performance because it has higher cetane
numbers as compared to petro diesel.
2. It has excellent lubricity.
3. Increased safety in storage and transport because the fuel
is nontoxic and bio degradable (Storage, high flash pt)
4. Production of bio diesel in India will reduce dependence
on foreign suppliers, thus helpful in price stability.
5. Reduction of greenhouse gases at least by 3.3 kg CO2 equivalent
per kg of biodiesel.
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 Top
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Q4 :What are the
plant species that are suitable for preparation of Bio-Diesel?
What size of Bio- Diesel plant works out to be economical?
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| Ans
: In the US bio-diesels are mainly derived from Soybean
oil and in Europe from the Sunflower oil. However, as India
is deficient in edible oils, non-edible oils may be material
of choice for producing bio-diesel like Jatropha, Karanjia and
Rice bran oils, etc. Since, in India bio-diesel is in research
phase, so, economics would only be generated later.
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Q5 :
What are the advantages of Bio-Diesel for a country like India?
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Ans :
Bio-diesel has been more attractive recently because of its
environmental benefits and the fact that it is made from renewable
sources and can be prepared locally. Since India is deficient
in edible oils, therefore, the non-edible oil like Karanjia,
Jatropha, etc. could be the desirable source for India for
production of bio-diesel. These plants could be grown on wasteland,
about 80 million hectare of which is available in India. These
crops grow in arid and semi-arid region and require almost
no post plantation management and care. Since, all most all
the wasteland is available in rural and economically underdeveloped
region, the large-scale bio-diesel production has an enormous
potential for employment and development of these areas.
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| Top
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| Q6
: How compatible is the bio-diesel with the vehicle and pump
engines? What are the changes that are required to be made in
the engine? |
| Ans
:The major application of Bio-diesel is in transportation sector
as an alternate to mineral diesel. Many automobiles builders
like Ford, John Deere, Massey-Ferguson, Mercedes, BMW, Volkswagen,
Volvo, etc have accepted Bio-diesel as the fuel suitable for
their vehicles in the existing diesel engines. However, mostly
Bio-diesel is used in 10% or 20% blends rather than as neat
Bio-diesel. This blending approach also avoids the need to build
a separate & costly infrastructure for storing Bio-diesel.
Though Bio-diesel is recommended for use in almost all diesels
run vehicles, the fuel must meet the ASTM/DIN specifications |
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| Q7
: What are the areas in the country wherein cultivation of species
suitable for manufacturing bio-diesel can be taken up? |
| Ans
: As discussed above, that Bio-diesel will be manufactured in
the rural areas because of the wasteland and cheap labor availability.
More precisely, it will depend upon the wasteland locations
in the country. |
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| Q8
: What is the present status of Bio-Diesel
research under IOC? By when would the technology become commercially
available? |
| Ans
: IOC (R&D) has examined and optimized the synthetic processes
for the preparation of bio-diesel from various vegetable oils,
which include oils from Rice bran, Jatropha curcas, Palm, Karanjia,
Sunflower etc. using methanol and ethanol as alcohol. In laboratory
process, the bio-diesel prepared, has been evaluated for various
physico-chemical properties. Subsequently, we have successfully
scaled up the production of bio-diesel at pilot scale (60 lit)
at IOC (R&D) Centre. The product obtained has been evaluated
for various physico-chemical properties and it was found that
the synthesized bio-diesel meets the ASTM bio-diesel specification.
Field trials and emission testing of Biodiesel is being pursued
at IOC (R&D) Centre. |
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| Q9
: Why Bio-diesel is important for Indian Railways? |
| Ans
: Indian Railways is the largest user of diesel, about two million
MTPA. Indian Railway is also owner of very large area of land,
which presently is without organised plantation. Railways have
shown interest to plant the bio-crops along the rail tracks
and other land available and it is estimated that the railways
can produce enough Bio-diesel to replace about 5 to 10% of diesel
required for their use. Introduction of bio-diesel in Railways
may serve two objectives. Firstly, lowering of emissions and
secondly providing enough lubricity to the diesel. The lubricity
of low sulphur diesel is likely to cause concerns in near future
when the sulphur level of diesel will fall below 500 ppm. Bio-diesel
at 1-2% level in petrodiesel will retain the lubricity of the
low sulphur fuel. |
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| Q10:
What Setup is required for Bio-diesel Plant ? |
| Ans
: The Bio-Diesel production involves mainly two steps: |
Extraction of oil from seeds
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Conversion of vegetable oil to bio diesel
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The extraction of
oil can be done in any suitable oil extraction unit.
Commonly used oil extraction units can be used for extraction
of oil from jatropha and karanja as well. The second step of
conversion of vegetable oil to bio diesel requires chemical
processing plant. The operation of this plant requires specific
training and this can be done by well trained engineers/ diploma
holders/chemists. |
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| Q11.
What is the Detailed procedure for production of Bio-Diesel? |
| Ans
: DETAILED PROCEDURE FOR PRODUCTION OF BIODIESEL |
| Trans-esterification
also called alcoholysis, is the displacement of alcohol from
an ester by another alcohol in a process similar to hydrolysis.
This process has been widely used to reduce the viscosity of
triglycerides. The transesterification reaction is represented
by the general equation, which is the key reaction for bio-diesel
production. |
| RCOOR’ + R”
RCOOR” + R’OH |
| If methanol is used
in the above reaction, it is termed methanolysis. The reaction
of triglyceride with methanol is represented by the general
equation. |
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| Triglycerides are
readily trans-esterified in the presence of alkaline catalyst
(Lye) at atmospheric pressure and temperature of approximately
60-70 0C with an excess of methanol. The mixture at the end
of reaction is allowed to settle. The excess methanol is recovered
by distillation and sent to a rectifying column for purification
and recycled. The lower glycerol layer is drawn off while the
upper methyl ester layer is washed with water to remove entrained
glycerol. Methyl esters of fatty acids are termed as bio-diesel.
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| QUALITY
CONTROL |
Thus Biodiesel prepared
should meet the International standards given below:
SPECIFICATIONS (ASTM D 6751-01) FOR BIODIESEL (B100) |
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Property
(units)
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ASTM
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Limits
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D 6751
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Flash point (°C)
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D-93
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Min 130
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Phosphorus (% mass)
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D-4951
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Max 0.001
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Water & sediment (%vol)
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D-2709
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Max 0.050
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CCR 100% (% mass)
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D-4530
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Max 0.050
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Sulphated ash (% mass)
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D-874
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Max 0.020
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Viscosity at 40°C (cst)
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D-445
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1.9-6.0
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Sulphur (% mass)
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D-5453
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Max 0.05
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Cetane number
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D-613
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Min 47
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Copper corrosion
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D-130
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Max 3
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Neutralization Value
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D-664
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Max 0.80
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Free glycerin (% mass)
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D-6584
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Max 0.020
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Total glycerin (% mass)
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D-6584
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Max 0.240
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Distillation Temp. (°C)
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D-1160
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90% at 3600C
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| Q12
: What is transesterifiction process of oil (Triglycerids)? |
| Ans
:This is nothing but a simple chemical reaction of the oil
with an alcohol to remove the glycerin, which is a by product
of biodiesel product. |
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| Q13
: What are the conditions required for optimum growth of Jatropha
Plant? |
| Ans
:In India, Jatropha plant is found as a wild plant more
or less in almost every region and is used as a hedge mostly
for protection from animals. Domestic or wild animals do not
relish it, bird do not harm it. Majority of lands and climates
are suitable for its growth. Jatropha plant can face sufficiently
hot, dry, semi dry, cold, frosty and fog weather. Even this
plant is useful for improving the quality of land and can be
successfully grown on unused barren land. |
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| Q14
: From where can I get plant saplings? |
Ans
:Saplings can be raised by seeds or cutting of branches
directly. Seeds are available in NIC itself. One can get them
from there. There are many nurseries of Jatropha. One of them
is Biotech Park, Lucknow. Saplings can be collected from there.
Address and other details of Biotech Park, Lucknow is attached
below.
Biotech Park
Near RSAC CAMPUS,
Sector G, Janaki purum,
Kursi road,
Lucknow - 226021 , India.
Phone : +91 -522 -2365050
Fax: +91-522-2365755
E- mail - info@ biotechcitylucknow.org
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| Q15
: Which kind of manure is required for healthy growth of plant? |
| Ans
:Use only the organic manures like farmyard manure compost,
vermicompost, green leaf manure etc. to achieve sustainability.
In poor to normal fertility land apply 10-15 tons/hr farm yard
manure compost on 4/5 tons/ha of vermicompost at the time of
land preparation. Each pit for Jatropha plant should receive
at least 1 kg of compost and 250 gm of vermicompost.
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| Q16
: What kind of Irrigation and water management is required? |
| Ans
:One foot deep and 2 meter wide channel joining the pits
should be made for irrigation. In rained and wastelands the
Jatropha plants should be irrigated in the initial 1-2 years,
later on they may not require much irrigation in normal rainfall
years but during drought year irrigation by deep system or any
other water saving system should be applied. |
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| Q17
: Give me a brief knowledge about harvesting practices &
yields? |
| Ans
:The capsules of Jatropha curcus are plucked after maturity.
Depending upon the location, land and soil features rainfall
pattern, irrigation facilities, manuring and overall agronomic
management, the seed yield of Jatropha plants vary considerably.
In the first year the yields are very low about 250-500 gms/plant
in subsequent years it increases from 2-3 kg after second year
to about 6-8 kg per plant after five years. A fully grown tree
may yield upto 10-12 kg under ideal situation. |
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| Q18
: What are the uses of biodiesel? |
| Ans
:Biodiesel can be used in Tractors and Dgsets in the ratio
of 20%. There are many suppliers of bio diesel you can sell
your product to them. Along with the oil, other potentially
high value products such as glycerin and seed can be effectively
marketed. |
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| Q19
: Does biodiesel require engine modifications? |
| Ans
:No, it doesn't require major engine modifications. One
can directly use it in engine. But some minor changes can be
done because bio diesel has a solvent effect that may release
deposits accumulated on tank walls & pipes from previous
diesel fuel storage. The release of deposits may dog filters
initially, so minor changes are advisable. |
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| Q20
: Do I need special storage facilities? |
| Ans
:In general, the standard storage and handling procedures
used for petroleum diesel can be used for biodiesel. The fuel
should be stored in a clean, dry, dark environment. Acceptable
storage tank materials include aluminum, steel, fluorinated
polyethylene, fluorinated polypropylene and Teflon copper, brass,
lead tin & zinc should be avoided. |
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| Q21
: Is Biodiesel the same thing as raw vegetable oil? |
| Ans
:No, it is not. Although bio diesel produced from any fat
or oil but after only transestrification reaction it converts
into biodiesel. |
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| Q22
: Is biodiesel used as a pure fuel or is it blended with petroleum
diesel? |
| Ans
:Biodiesel can be used as a pure fuel or blended with petroleum
in any percentage. B20 (a blend of 20%) by volume biodiesel
with 80% by volume petroleum diesel) has demonstrated significant
environmental benefits with a minimum increase in cost for fleet
operations and other consumers. |
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| Q
23. : What are the advantages of Bio-diesel
Vs. Diesel (HSD)? |
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Ans. Bio-diesel Vs. Diesel : Advantages
 It
can be stored just like the petroleum diesel fuel and does
not require separate infrastructure.
The
use of bio-diesel is conventional diesel engines results in
substantial reduction of un-burnt hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide
and particulate matters (but NOX about 2% higher).
Biodiesel
has almost no sulphur (0.05%), no aromatics and has about
10% built-in oxygen which helps in better combustion.
Its
higher Cetane number (> 51 as against 48 in diesel ) improves
the ignitions quality even when blended in the petroleum diesel.
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| Q 24. : What
is the need of Bio-diesel ? |
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Ans . Need for the Biodiesel :-
Petroleum
availability finite – Bio-diesel from renewable sources
ensures energy security of the country (CMP issue) .
Reduction
in import of petroleum and thus trade deficit.
Generates
employments opportunities for rural masses thereby providing
them livelihood support (CMP issue).
Plantation
of oil yielding plants such as Jatropha Curcas for bio-diesel
will result in greeting of waste & follow lands. It thus
helps in Eco-restoration, drought proofing and environment
security.
Helps
in achieving Bharat Stage II emission norms from April 1’2010
in the entire country as targeted in Auto Fuel Policy Report.
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