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Vegetable
Oil + Methanol = Biodiesel + Glycerol
Biodiesel, the renewable and most environmental friendly,
is the liquid fuel , produced from vegetable oils or animal
oils by converting the triglyceride oils to methyl (or ethyl)
esters with a process known as transesterification.
The transesterification process reacts alcohol- Methanol or
Ethanol with the oil to release three "ester chains"
from the glycerin backbone of each triglyceride. The reaction
requires heat and a strong base catalyst (e.g., sohydroxide
or lye), to obtain complete conversion of the vegetable oil
into the separated esters and glycerin. The glycerin can be
further purified for sale to the cosmetic and pharmaceutical
industries. The mono-alkyl esters become the Biodiesel, with
one-eighth the viscosity of the original vegetable oil. Each
ester chain, usually 18 carbons in length for soy esters,
retains two oxygen atoms forming the "ester" and
giving the product its unique combustion qualities as an oxygenated
vegetable based fuel. Biodiesel is nearly 10% oxygen by weight.
Seeds of Hope and future
Palm is a medium-sized tree having 25 years yields. Cultivation
areas are in South Thailand. They are of great economic importance
because of the food, fiber, and oil. Plams have a characteristic
growth from, a single, unbranched stem / trunk topped with
a tuft of fanlike. Palms can be used to produce palm oil and
palm kernel oil. Palm oil. is the oil pressed from the fibrous
flesh of the fruit of palm,. Commercial palm oils are used
for soaps and candles,lubricants, margarine, fuel and many
other purposes. Right now they are the number one promoted
plant for biodiesel in a large scale in Thailand. The productivity
of crude palm oil and palm kernel oil are around 512 kg. and
73 kg. for 1600 sqm (of palm trees) respectively. Coconut,
a common name for the fruit of a tree of the alm family, widely
plant in tropical regions. The tree grows to a height of 18-30
meters, with a smooth cylindrical trunk. They are long-lived
plant that can live up to 80-90 years.
The oval nut shape has a fibrous outer husk and a hard inner
shell with three round scars at one end; the embryo lies against
the largest scar and emerges through it as a developing plant.
This plant can be used to produce oil and ethanol. Coconut
oil is a white, semisolid fat or nearly colorless fatty oil
extracted from coconuts, used chiefly in foods and in the
manufacture of soaps, cosmetics, candle and also biodiesel.The
productivity of coconut oil is 54 kg. per 1600 sqm of coconut
trees. Potential plant for biodiesel. Jatropha is a medium-sized
tree with 2-7 meter height and long live for at least 20 years.
It is originally from South America. Jatropha, yielding purple
dye and a tanning extract and bearing physic nuts containing
a purgative oil that is poisonous in large quantities. They
have the similar shape as Castor with curve leaf. Jatropha
trees for 1600 sqm can generate 300-400 kg of Jatropha seeds
for the first year and double in the 3rd year. Four kg. of
Jatropha seeds can produce 1 liter of Jatropha oil. The most
interesting and promising plant for biodiesel industry. Soybean
is a whole year plant. They probably originated in eastern
China and is widely cultivated as a farm crop. There are over
2,500 varieties in cultivation, producing beans of many sizes,
shapes, and colors. The seeds, which are almost spherical
in shape, are usually light yellow, but some rare varieties
are black, brown and green. As a crop, soybeans are high in
yield and easy to harvest; they grow well wherever corn is
cultivated. It contains a variety kind of uses especially
for food industries. The two basic products are protein meal
and oil. In East Asia, soybeans are used in a multitude of
forms, e.g., as soy sauce, soybean meal, vegetable oil, tofu
(bean curd), miso (fermented soybean paste), and soy milk,
and as a coffee substitute. Soybean oil is used commercially
in the manufacture of glycerin, paints, soaps, rubber substitutes,
plastics, printing ink, and other products.. Soybean for 1600
sqm can generate 52 kg. of soybean oil. Can be alternative
feedstock for biodiesel. Sunflower is a whole year plant with
attaining the height of 3 meters. The large, solitary blossom,
sometimes as large as a meter in diameter, is composed of
yellow ray flowers and central disk of either yellow, brown,
or purple, depending on the species.
The seeds are almost universally used as a poultry food and
principally as the source of an oil utilized for such purposes
as cooking and soapmaking; the oil cake is fed to stock. They
grow best in the area of sunshine. The sun is a direct result
of differential growth of the stem. The seeds are almost universally
used as a poultry food and principally as the source of an
oil utilized for such purposes as cooking and soapmaking;
the oil cake is fed to stock. Refined sunflower-seed oil is
edible and considered by many equal in quality to olive oil.
1600 sqm of sunflower can produce 81 kg.of sunflower oil.
Due to the shortage and higher in the price make sunflower
having the less potential plant for biodiesel product. Castor
bean, a plant of the spurge family, widely cultivated as an
ornamental, originally from Eastern Africa. Castor oil is
a yellowish oil obtained from the seed of the castor bean.
The oil content of the seeds varies from about 20% to 50%.
After the hulls are removed the seeds are cold-pressed. It
is the source of castor oil which are as medicinal castor
oil ( prepared from the yield of the first pressing); as a
lubricant for machinery, as a softening agent in making artificial
leather, in brake fluids, and in paints and plastic materials.
The residue can be used as fertilizer and as cattle feed.
This is also one kind of biodiesel feedstock
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