The Hindu Business Line : Bio-diesel plant using variety of materials as feedstock developed

A team of Pune-based entrepreneurs has developed a continuous processing bio-diesel plant against the batch-type plants presently in use. A pilot plant with a 1,200 litres per day capacity has been installed at Bhosari, and a US patent for the process has been filed for, Prof Kshitij Patukale, one of the team members says.

This advantage of this new technology is that a variety of materials including acid oil, a waste product of the solvent extraction process, can be used as feedstock, says Mr Patukale.

Feedstock

“The bio-diesel industry is worried about availability of feed stock. Efforts in last several years have been concentrated on plantation of bio-diesel species such as jatropha, pongamia, simarruba, neem, etc. The Union and State Government agencies have actively promoted jatropha on thousands of hectares of land all over India. But what are the results? That jatropha is not a ‘plant it, forget it’ species as was believed. So one cannot depend solely on the non-edible oils as feedstock in India,” he says, adding that other sources as feed stock for manufacturing of bio-diesel must be found.

According to Mr Patukale, any available oil in large quality with any FFA and different chemical properties should get converted into bio-diesel.

“A large number of oils such as acid oil, palm oil, rice bran oil, rapeseed oil, soyabean oil, fish oil are available all over the world. Several eminent scientists are talking about castor as 90-day bio-diesel crop,” he says asserting that the bio-diesel industry in India today is looking for the right technology to convert any oil into bio-diesel.

One of the major sources of bio-diesel, he points out is acid oil, 10 lakh tonnes per day of which is generated every day in the country as a result of refining of edible oils. Traditionally this is sold to the soap industry, but could be diverted for production of bio-diesel and can yield 98 per cent bio-diesel litre-on-litre. This product, if it meets the norms of the American Society for Materials and Testing, can replace diesel, and cost 10 per cent lower, Mr Patukale says.

The pilot plant is presently installed at Jaypex Biofuel Processing Technologies Pvt Ltd, at Bhosari near Pune.

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