BIOFUELS

GENERATION, PROCESSING, RESEARCH & USES

BY SUMIT BHOWMICK
MME, LEVEL-2, TERM-1
STUDENT ID-1611001
 What are biofuels? Study of biofuels is an interdisciplinary study!

• Fuels with CONTEMPORARY Biological origin.

• Not PREHISTORIC, as those are fossil
fuels.

But why it is
NEED OF TIME?
Burning releases So,
only recently Greenhouse
trapped carbon effect is
Is it really into atmosphere lowered

so? So, no new

prehistorically
Nope! trapped carbon is
released like
PAH, NOx emission fossil fuels

by burning
 Biofuels can be solid, liquid, or gas-
LIQUID IS MOST COMMON What are their sources?
EXAMPLES • Recently living plant or animal
body, possibly altered by chemical
Ethanol & Liquid or biochemical means
• NOT BY GEOLOGICAL MEANS
Biodiesel
Sources
Sewage gas Gas
& cattle dung Oilseed, both edible and inedible
gas Carbohydrate producing plants
Woods and cellulosic waste
Biochar & Solid
agro-waste Algae
And Many More The materials
Biochemica from the
Chemical Thermal sources then
l
Conversion Conversion undergoes
Conversion
 Generation of Biofuels Just like
Generation
of
1 st 2nd Phones
Generation Generation
Biofuel from Biofuel from
edible sugar, inedible oilseed and
starch and oilseed cellulose of wood
sources

3rd Generation 4th Biofuels Production

Generation
with novel approach,
Biofuel from algae
seemingly out of
science fiction!
 But all Biofuels
cannot be classified
into this 4-generation
Scheme.
 1st Generation biofuels- How these are made?
Converts Food
carbohydrate and lipid into S Intense
ethanol and biodiesel Food vs.
respectively O
fuel Debate
Bioethano From Fermentation of
sugar and starch of
The main two Biofuels are
l cereal crops
By Chemical treatment
Biodiesel of oil obtained from
edible oilseeds
 Bioethanol production- the 1G way
SOURCES

Sugarcane Sugar Fruit waste

beet

Corn Cereal Potato

crops

Crush or The collected water-

Add proper Ethanol is
squeeze ethanol Azeotrope is
microbes, produced, distill
The Procedure is
starch or
sugar-rich
juice out,
preferably yeast,
and keep at proper
the mixture and
collect volatile
mixed with benzene.
Three separate Azeotrope
temperature for a distillate is found upon re-
filter and
while Azeotrope distillation, one being
condense it
virtually pure ethanol.
Another distillation Scheme is to distill the
water-alcohol Azeotrope with dry quicklime
The sustainable recycling- sugar and/or bioethanol production
Heat is needed to condense the sugary solution, also to distill ethanol.
So, shall we resort to fossil fuels to supply the heat?

No, Bagasse(আঁখের ছোবড়া)

and agricultural waste are
burned to get the heat, and
even to drive steam-
powered electric turbine.
 Biodiesel production- the 1G way
It is produced by Trans-esterification of oil and fat from plant and animal source
• Natural oils and fats are glycerol esters of
higher carboxylic acids
• Reacting them with methanol or ethanol in
presence of catalyst produce fatty acid
methyl/ethyl esters, and glycerol.
Biodiesel is Fatty Acid Methyl/Ethyl
Ester
This reaction is Transesterification, because it transforms Sources of oil-All Edible
the triglyceride into fatty acid methyl/ethyl esters.

Vegetable oil
The Process in a nutshell Animal fat
Extract the oil Soybean oil
and trans-esterify it Mustard oil
Sunflower oil
Palm oil
The Second Generation developments of biofuels
Inedible
oilseeds to
Two great leaps Cellulose to
towards non-food fuel bioethanol
biodiesel
source

Agricultural waste, like

Cellulose sources straws and wood cuttings

Fast-growing grasses like

switch-grass or Miscanthus
And of course,

Wood
 The two-step Cellulose breakdown
to sugar monomer by
Fermentation of
breakdown of sugar to ethanol
cellulose enzymatic action

Since breaking so large a polymer is not easy, conversion of cellulose to ethanol is more difficult

Wood contains both

cellulose and lignin

Cellulose is a POLYMER of Lignin is a very complex two-

glucose, bonded by glycoside dimensional POLYMER of
bonds phenylpropane derivative, bonded by
Since, benzene rings are very phenylether and ester bonds
stable, they do not break by
So, NO presently known
ordinary biochemical enzymatic biochemical procedure can
reaction. convert Lignin to ethanol
 Oil seed sources are some very common inedible plants,
whose choice may seem hilarious at first glance.

English বাংলা নাম

name
Jatropha
জামাল গোটা
Mahua মহুয়া
Flax শন পাট
Pongam করচ
Hemp
গাঁজা গাছ
Castor
ভেরেন্ডা

Oil extraction and chemical processing remains virtually same

 Third generation- the Algae generation
Algae for 3G
Microalgae with natural oil
content above 50% is
cultivated, and oils are
extracted from it
Advantages

Faster growth and Can be cultivated on

Converts more than
shorter life than land swamplands, CO2 from nearby
50% of absorbed
plants, so oil can be completely out of factories can be used
carbon into oil
extracted in rapid food production as feed
(Plants- 2 to 3%)
successions. reach
 Oil is first extracted from algae, then transesterified to get Biodiesel and Glycerin

Oil Extraction process

●
Algae pressed in oil
I press, 75% oil
extracted

Solvent extraction from

II
●

pressed cake using

The pressed
hexane, 95%cake is protein
oil extracted Rich
A more economical cheap
A single step supercritical CO2 alternative (Proposed) is using
Extraction extracts nearly 100% ROOM TEMPERATURE IONIC
oil, but it is quite expensive
LIQUIDS
 Welcome To the 4th Generation Biofuels 2030 And
Use of genetic Beyond
engineering, Mimicking Carbon-
plant breeding photosynthesis And negative
and biological photobiological cells fuel?
simulation

A lithoautotrophic (প্রস্তরজীবী স্বভোজী) Use genetically

Say, Bacteria converts carbon dioxide in

presence of sunlight (in a
modified woody
plants and
photobiological cell) into butanol. cyanobacteria to
produce biofuel

AND MANY MORE

 The Research strategy For Biofuels

Artificial • Plant breeding

Latest Research
Selection
• Directed evolution of Findings
biomolecules
• Genetically modified E-coli converts
glucose into Alcohol-rich high octane
Biological numbered Short-chain hydrocarbon
Simulation • Systems biology
Mixture
and • Synthetic biology
• Fungus from South American forest
modeling converts Cellulose to Biodiesel
• Bacteria From Panda’s Gut (অন্ত্র
,নাড়িভঁু ড়ি) converts Bamboo Cellulose to
Bio- • Genetic modification Hydrocarbon Gas
engineerin • Metabolic engineering
g • Anaerobic digestion
 New thinking, new possibilities
• Urban waste to Biofuel (sewage gas & biogas)
• Crop rotation of Biofuel crops with food crops-
Two-fold advantage
• Cultivating drought-tolerant 3F (Food-Feed-
Fuel) crops in arid, poverty-prone areas

Seeds Food
Sap of Sugar-
stalk Converted
to ethanol
Sweet Sorghum- Leaves Cattle
The Ultimate 3F and dry Feed
crop plant
 More Biofuels Solid and Gaseous Fuel
A Cheap Yet
valuable
Organic Biogenic
Cattle Dung Biogas Waste
Tool for
Chemists
Anaerobic Biogeni
Fermentation c Pyrolysis Biochar
Sewage Sewage Syngas
Waste Gas
Briquettes of Agricultural waste, Sawdust,
Grass Cutting etc
Both of them are potentially good Fuel Gas, Burned as fuel to save trees of forest
But Sewage Gas Contains Some Foul- (Congo, Mid-Africa)
smelling Amines and Sulfides
But This Burning
Releases Dangerous
PAH into
Atmosphere
 Liquid Biofuels- More Discussion
Fuel Fuel Fuel
Energy Energy Energy
Cleannes Cleannes Cleannes
Density s Density s Density s

O
K
Solid Fuel
X Best
O
K
O
K
Liquid Fuel
X
O
K
Gaseous Fuel

Top liquid Biofuels Bioethanol Biobutanol Biodiesel

More liquid Biofuels Burned Green

Bioether cooking oil diesel

Users
BRAZIL USA Bioethanol
European Union Biodiesel
 Biofuels in Engine- scopes and limitation
Bioethanol
• Viscosity, polarity, water
Can’t be used as fuel alone

So
solubility much different
than Gasoline Used up to 15% mixed with Gasoline to Increase octane
• Energy Density quite lower number and Decrease CO emission
than Gasoline
Can be made By BACTERIAL (not fungal)
BIOBUTANOL can be DIRECTLY BURNED in gasoline engine fermentation of sugar,Glycerol (1st, 2nd , 3rd
WITHOUT ENGINE MODIFICATION! Gen) or even directly from Carbon dioxide
(4th Gen.)
All post-1990 diesel
Biodiesel Gains much vehicles have
• Good solvent, more Viscosity Used as Diesel additive
sophisticated fuel
keeps engine mixed with diesel, to
than diesel injection system, so only
clean of Rust older diesel vehicles can
when cooled run on direct biodiesel
and Dirt
• Reduce Particulate
• Low Water Can not be used directly in diesel
Emission
Solubility, engine with sophisticated fuel
• Reduce CO emission
Water can’t injector (very sensitive to viscosity)
Alternative Biofuels Bioethers
• Reaction Product of alcohol and iso-olefins
• Used as Gasoline additive, not as fuel alone
Burned Cooking Oil
Collect from fryer, filter Impurities and use as fuel
(IN DIESEL ENGINE) in hot state! Or may Transesterify it!

Both
Plants
&
Animal
Sources
Would
Do

But, What is Renewable Diesel?

 Renewable Diesel A.K.A Green Diesel
• Hydrotreating Product of plant/animal oil
• It is medium-chain Hydrocarbon, NOT ESTER
• Chemically similar to Petroleum Diesel
(Ultra Low Sulfur Diesel)
• Oil Sources Similar to Biodiesel

CO2,H2S

Hydrotreating
Hydrodeoxygenation Product of Glycerin
Decarboxylation
 Thanks For
Listening about