Production of Biofuels

CHE732
Energy and Environmental Engineering

Topic: Biofuel Production Processes

Dr. Azeem Mushtaq
Assistant Professor
Dept. of Chemical Engineering
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Biofuel Production Processes

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Vegetable oils-based pressing and extraction
Basic approaches :
Mechanical Oil Extraction
- cold pressing means no heat applied
- hot pressing - external heat is applied
Solvent Extraction
- organic solvent (hexane, isopropyl alcohol)
- supercritical solvent (carbon dioxide)

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Vegetable oils-based pressing and extraction
Mechanical Pressing Solvent Extraction

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 Biodiesel based on Trans/Esterification
Pretreatment
• Phospholipids (Degumming)
• Free fatty acids (Acid neutralization)
• Soap removal by washing
• Bleaching to remove remaining pigments, FFAs, Soaps etc.
Transesterification
Means taking a triglyceride molecule (i.e., Vegetable oil), removing the
glycerine by substituting with an alcohol (e.g., Methanol) and thus
creating a so-called FAME.

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Biodiesel based on Trans/Esterification

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Ethanol and Butanol based on Fermentation
Bioethanol
• The process of bioethanol production relies on the metabolism of
yeasts, which are capable of turning sugars into ethanol by
biochemical conversion.
• Substrates for ethanol fermentation are thus plant-derived sugar
solutions.
• The different characteristics of the raw material result in distinctive
technologies, showing different states of developments.
• Usually, conventional (so-called first generation) and lignocellulosic
ethanol (so-called second generation) is considered.

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Ethanol and Butanol based on Fermentation
Bioethanol
1.Conventional Bioethanol
Sugarcane-based Starch-based plants

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Ethanol and Butanol based on Fermentation
Bioethanol
1.Lignocellulosic Ethanol

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 Biomethane based on Digestion
Biomethane
• Biomethane is commonly based on upgraded biochemical produced biogas.
• Regarding the biochemical conversion path, usually wet or biomass with a low dry
matter content is converted anaerobically to biogas, which is upgraded to natural
gas quality by different technologies.

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 Biofuels based on Pyrolysis process
Biohydrogen
• Pyrolysis is defined as the decomposition of macromolecular substances only due
to increased temperatures.
• The presence of a reaction agent has to be avoided in order to inhibit unwanted
reactions. Pyrolytic reactions also take place during gasification and combustion
processes especially during heating-up of the fuel.
• The reaction pathways of the decomposition of biomass macromolecules depend
not only on parameters like temperature and residence time but also on the
heating rate.

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Typical Technical Characteristics of Selected Biofuel Options

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Typical Technical Characteristics of Selected Biofuel Options

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Typical Technical Characteristics of Selected Biofuel Options

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Biomass Composition

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Thank you

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