Executive Summary : | Biodiesel is a renewable fuel produced from various feedstocks such as soybean oil, Jatropha oil, algae oil, etc. In general, biodiesel is produced by using the conventional transesterification method in which triglycerides (raw feedstock oil) react with alcohol (methanol/ethanol) in the presence of catalysts such as KOH/NaOH. The resulting mixture is then purified by water washing and the produced methyl/ethyl esters are known as biodiesel. However, the production of biodiesel is a highly energy-intensive and time-consuming process. Additionally, it also involves high feedstock and chemical costs. The usual water washing method used to purify the biodiesel, generates large amount of wastewater. One way to make the process cost-effective is to convert the by-products obtained from transesterification such as glycerol and de-oiled cake to value-added applications. In this view, the proposed project aimed to produce biodiesel by solar assisted electrocatalytic reactor from oil deodorizer distillate using waste eggshell as the source of catalyst and to purify produced biodiesel by using coco coir instead of conventional water washing. The electrocatalytic reactor is a low energy-consuming method as it does not require any heating element. Recent research works have focused on the development of low-cost metallic electrodes for electrolysis process.Oil deodorizer distillate is a sufficiently available (141.6 thousand tons) industrial waste and has very limited applications. Catalyst can be prepared from waste eggshells and can be used multiple times which shows benefits over conventional catalysts like KOH/NaOH. The project also intends to add value to the by-products of the biodiesel production process. In this view, the co-digestion of glycerol (a by-product of biodiesel production) with sewage sludge, biochar, de-oiled seed cake, and sawdust will be done to improve anaerobic digestion. In a nutshell, the proposed project aims to provide a simple, efficient, time-saving, eco-friendly, and industrially viable option to the existing biodiesel production process so that the affordable use of biodiesel in the society, agriculture, and transport sector can be done to address the critic issues of high fuel prices, increased pollution, food versus fuel and use of fossil-based fuels. Moreover, vegetable oil refineries can startup their biodiesel production plant producing biodiesel higher generation feedstocks such as from oil deodorizer distillate. |