A Thermochemical Study of Iron Aluminate-Based Materials: A Preferred Class for Isothermal Water Splitting

The use of hydrogen as a renewable fuel has been stymied by our inability to produce it cleanly and economically. The conventional solar thermochemical approach considers a two-step redox cycle...

Three-Stage Membrane Treatment of Wastewater from Biodiesel Production-Preliminary Research

As biodiesel production as renewable fuel increases, so does the amount of wastewater resulting from this technology. Wastewater is generated during the so-called biodiesel washing, i.e., washing out glycerol and methanol with water. The purified biodiesel must meet international standards, such as EN 14214 or the American ASTM D6751 standard. To fully say that biodiesel technology is environmentally friendly, the amount of wastewater should be minimized. It is also desirable that the purified water can be recycled to the technology. For this purpose, wastewater pre-treated by flotation, during which mainly oils are removed, was subjected to three-stage membrane separation. For each of the stages, the membrane was selected and characterized in terms of its separation capacity and stream stability. Starting with microfiltration, which was mainly aimed at reducing turbidity, affects the permeate flux in the following steps. Then, ultrafiltration and nanofiltration membranes were selected. These membranes were aimed at reducing the concentration of inorganic and organic substances. Consequently the cascade was composed of: MF-0.45 µm, UF-150 kDa, and NF-characterized by an 80% degree of desalination. The final permeate has a salt concentration of less than 0.15 g/L and can be reused in biodiesel technology.

Biodiesel-Alkaline Transesterification Process for Methyl Ester Production

The world needs to increase renewable and alternative fuel sources such as Biomass, Bioethanol, and Biodiesel to compete with fossil fuels. Biodiesel is an important renewable fuel source since it can be used in regular diesel vehicles without requiring engine modifications. Conventional biodiesel production takes around 90 min of reaction time. A longer reaction time is not suitable for commercial production. Furthermore, traditional products such as oil react with biodiesel methoxide to produce a maximum of 90% biodiesel yield. As the catalyst is not involved with the reaction, pure methanol and methoxide (methanol with KOH catalyst) are separately added to the system to enhance the pre-reaction step. By changing the methanol to methoxide ratio, biodiesel is produced, and yield is calculated. The highest yield, which is 95%, is obtained with a 5:15% methanol to methoxide ratio. The total reaction time with the new experimental procedure is only 20 min. That is a significant reduction by saving operating costs such as energy consumption. Produced biodiesel show similar properties to that of standard biodiesel.

Feasibility Study of Bio-fuel As a Sustainable Product of Biomass: An Overview of Its Fundamentals, Application and Environmental Impact

The energy crisis and ecological disasters have become a critical problem in recent decades. The human activities through industrial operations increase emissions and other pollutant particulates in the world as a result of steady patronage on fossil feedstock. Several experiments were performed to identify an alternative fuel meeting the rising energy demand. Biomass (bio-fuel) has recently been developed as an economical fuel, environmentally friendly resource, renewable and sustainable fuel. Approximately 350 crop plants were evaluated and some of them could be considered as suitable alternative diesel engine fuels. To increase the bio-fuel quantity globally, apart from crops, other biomaterial sources are considered potential in biofuel production. It was shown that the properties of biofuel combustion are identical to fossil. In the experimental combustion of biodiesel blends, higher ignition pressure and temperature, shorter ignition delay, and higher peak release were recorded. This paper is a literature review on the need for biofuels as a global renewable fuel resource and aims to explain the characteristics of combustion and pollutant formation in the application of biofuels. The study also stated the resources, the use of biogas and its emission impact in flameless combustion mode. With holistic adoption of biomass source of fuel together with the modern conversion techniques, issues from fuel emissions will be mitigated.