BIO FUELS

The energy crisis which commenced with the history of man is

still a great challenge for the modern researchers, investigators, and
scientists. Automotive engineers have sacrificed their lives in devising
new techniques to ensure less fuel consumption, larger emission
reduction and higher brake thermal efficiency. So the time demands to
explore new energy resources which may give us the guarantee of
fulfilling the energy requirements for the next new 100 years .Also as
the present energy resources (conventional diesel, gasoline, coal etc.)
due to their augmented demand are being consumed very rapidly so the
supply and demand of energy can be accomplished by another kind of
energy resource i-e Bio fuel.
Bio fuels are the renewable energy resources which are obtained
from vegetable oil, animal fats and algae etc (natural resources). For
example biodiesel is a clean, environment friendly, non toxic energy
resource which produces three times more energy than required for its
production and can be used without any modification in compression
ignition (CI) engines. In its production the feed stock may be soya
beans, mustard, sunflower and brassica seeds which when passed
through thermostatic rollers, yield vegetable oil. This vegetable oil is
involved in the single reaction chemistry of biodiesel production on
industrial level where this vegetable oil (or animal fat) is allowed to
react with methanol in the presence of hydroxide ion to catalyze the
reaction. Thus vegetable oil (triglyceride) on treating with alcohol yields
the main product i-e alkyl ester and co-product glycerol. This process is
termed as transertification process and is carried out world wide to
manufacture biofuel.