Synthesis of Bio-Oil from waste as an alternative for conventional fuel

Srilagna Sarkar, Amity University Kolkata

Researchers from various sectors have started shifting to renewable energy resources from conventional fossil fuels due to their high consumption percentage. As we know the bio-origin materials are capable of producing a variety of energy resources like Biofuels through many conversion routes like bio & thermochemical and also direct combustion and most viable for producing bio-diesel reactive extraction processes. The bio-diesels vegetable oil is classified into edible and non-edible feedstocks. The edible feedstocks like oils from palm, Coconut, olive, etc. Are predominant in biofuel production but leads as a threat to food supplies and the non-edible feedstocks namely Karanja, mahua, neem, etc. are considered as an alternative.

A recent study explores the methodology used for the synthesis of bio-oil from waste tricosanthes cucumerina seeds by the method known as solvent extraction method (as it is considered as the most viable technology in the production of biodiesel). The research was based on to study and investigate the fundamental properties which are the extraction of field content of the bio-oil, the concentration of free fatty acids and the yield percentage along with the effect of size of the crushed seeds, its moisture content the time and temperature of extraction, and the solvent to seed ratio was examined. In these 5 different solvents were used to synthesize Trichosanthes cucumerina seeds, where the hexane was found to be better a solvent than the others. 

Later, the trans-esterification process was carried out to remove the free fatty acids from the bio-oil and convert it to bio-diesel, the biodiesel was then produced in three stages of the trans-esterification process which produced 93.4₊/- 0.2% of biodiesel. The presence of free fatty acids and other functional groups were characterized by GC-MS and FTIR analysis and the properties of the bio-oil and biodiesel produced from the Trichosanthes cucumerina was measured and then compared with the conventional fuel. The bio-diesel properties obtained were close to diesel fuel and hence can be considered as an efficient substitute for a diesel engine.

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Source:https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-74130-9

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