Engineering Research Practice: Jatropha Biodiesel Production Report

This report delves into the potential of Jatropha curcas as a biodiesel source, addressing the global energy crisis and the need for renewable alternatives. It begins by outlining the problem, emphasizing the increasing demand for non-renewable energy sources and their environmental impact. The study investigates the advantages of Jatropha, including its ability to thrive in various climates and its potential as a source of organic manure. A comprehensive literature review provides background information on Jatropha curcas, its characteristics, and its applications. The methodology section details the process of biodiesel production, including data collection and the transesterification reaction. The report also addresses the limitations of the study, the hypothesis, and ethical considerations. The systematic description of solving the problem includes steps for seed preparation and oil extraction. The report concludes with an outline of the proposed study, including budget estimates and a Gantt chart. The report highlights the potential of Jatropha as a sustainable and environmentally friendly fuel source.

ENGINEERING RESEARCH PRACTICE
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Contents
The problem and its setting.........................................................................................................................2
Importance of the study and the general Background............................................................................2
Problem Statement.....................................................................................................................................2
Sub-problems..........................................................................................................................................3
Limitation of the study................................................................................................................................3
Hypothesis...................................................................................................................................................4
Acronyms.....................................................................................................................................................4
Assumptions................................................................................................................................................4
Literature Review........................................................................................................................................4
Jatropha Curcas (Al-Sharb)......................................................................................................................4
The methodology of the research...............................................................................................................8
Data collection.........................................................................................................................................8
The process of Producing Jatropha Biodiesel......................................................................................8
Systematic Description of solving the problem...........................................................................................9
Ethical Consideration.................................................................................................................................12
Outline of the proposed Study..................................................................................................................13
8. Kernel Cooling Unit..........................................................................................................................13
Estimates of the Budgets...........................................................................................................................14
Kernel Cooling Unit....................................................................................................................................14
Peeling Unit Machine................................................................................................................................14
Gantt chart................................................................................................................................................14
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................................16

The problem and its setting
Importance of the study and the general Background
There is a rapid increase in demand and consumption of petroleum products yearly following the
increase in urbanization, living standards and the population as a whole. Additionally, the
extinction threat on the non-renewable sources globally has effectively offered encouragement to
employ other means to conventional, petroleum products currently found in the market. The
current fuels in common use across the world which are obtained from fossil fuel are diesel and
gasoline. There is no great variation however in the amount of diesel consumed in several
countries including the UK which has been estimating to about 230 000 tons per month. The
development, as well as the economy of UK, is greatly influenced by the increased importation
of crude oil(Mehmood et al 2019).
Apart from the extinction threat of fossil fuel, as a result of its non-renewable nature, gasoline is
linked to negative impacts on the environment. Diesel-driven vehicles were prohibited from an
operation following the vigorous air pollution by the emissions of harmful gases in large
amounts sometimes back. Accumulation of the harmful gases like CO and SOX to high levels
results in effects like health problems, global warming, and acid rain. Therefore, putting into
consideration fuels with renewable sources, more friendly to the environment in order to attain
the demand for energy that increase globally should be overstressed.

Problem Statement
There are numerous sources for both renewable and non-renewable energy including petrol,
mineral, diesel, and coal. Currently, it can be observed that there is a daily increase in the
demand for the non-renewable sources of energy. This particular demand is likely to pose future
problems due to the unbalanced ratio for the demand and supply of these resources. This may
result in energy crises. The trending effect will be reflected on the human development.
Scholars have developed intensive research due to such critical problem to come up with
alternatives for renewable energy sources such as tidal energy, viz solar energy and wind energy.
From the years back, research has been conducted on vegetable oil in some parts of the world as
an alternative source of fuel. In developed countries, most of the production of biodiesel is from
peanut, rapeseed, sunflower, soybean and many others as a mechanism of addressing energy
crises.
Sub-problems
There are no modifications or any kind of system injection or the lines of fuels required for the
use of vegetable oil that is transesterified or changed chemically. The vegetable oil can be
directly applied in the diesel engine. Out of the different types of vegetable oils used in the
production of biodiesel, non-edible oils are preferred since the edible ones are in great demand
and at the same time expensive compared to diesel fuel. The competition for edible oil for food
consumption and diesel oil production thus remains to be a challenge.
Limitation of the study
Jatropha curcas has been identified out of the non-edible sources of oil to be the great source of
biodiesel and in comparison to other sources that have also greatly contributed to the rapid
growth, jatropha curcas has been realized to be more efficient for the production and is

appropriate for the tropical and subtropical areas across the world. The species are limited to
offer enough diesel fuel for the country and may result in large currency on export for the
country. However, the study did not explore all varieties of Jatropha curcas and therefore are
possibility of having limitations in terms of the quality of the oil when other varieties are tested.
Hypothesis
The oil has a high content of diesel and the extraction, as well as modification, can easily be
performed due to the natural state of the climate.
Acronyms
CO- Oxides of Carbon
SOX- Oxides of sulfates
Assumptions
 The production of the biodiesel oil from Jatropha Curcas took into assumption several
factors:
 The calorific value of the produced oil will be sufficient enough to run engines
 The production process is not affected by the temperature variation
 The produced fuel is not seriously contaminated to the point where its functionality will
be compromised.
Literature Review
Jatropha Curcas (Al-Sharb)
Jatropha curcas also referred to as physic unit is a small tree of height 5m or a bush that falls in
the family of euphorbia. Jatropha as a genus is compost of around 170 species under it and is

extracted from a Greek work janitor's meaning doctor and trophy', meaning food, summed to be
medical uses. Farmers across the world usually prefer planting of the plant as a living fence or
hedge since it cannot be fed on by the animals. The plant consists of thick glabrous branches and
straight trunk and either grey or reddish bark covered by large white patches. The leaves are
green and 6cm long and 15cm wide as shown in the figure below.
Figure 1: showing Jatropha Curcas(Teo, Goto and Taufiq 2015)
The flowers produced by the plant in racemes inflorescences are yellowish-green assuming the
pattern of dichasia cymae. The number of female and male flowers produced per inflorescences
is 1 to 5 and around 25 to 93 respectively. The ratio of male to female flower is averagely 29:1.
The flower bears the same shape but female flowers are a bit large. The fruits produced by the
plant are grey-brown capsule of length 4cm and tri-halved shape each having a single seed. The
seeds are black and of length 2cm and thickness of 1cm. the fruits generally mature within
September and October. After the flowering process, the seeds take three months to mature.

Figure 2: showing the seeds and fruits of the Jatropha Curcas plant
The plant Al-Sharb is regarded old in the country of Yemen and is used as separation structures
in the fields to act as live fence dales riversides to Tehama hills shed from the south, west and
middle parts of Taiz. The figure below illustrates the regional stations for the Taiz southern
heights executed initially by the irrigation and the agricultural ministry and the agricultural
teaching and research public authority.
Figure 3: showing Places where Jatropha Curcas grows and how it spreads to Taiz (indicated
by the yellow shadings) (Mehmood et al 2019)

Jatropha Curcas has other advantages apart from the production source of biodiesel fuel. These
advantages include the following:
 The plant can survive in areas with low amounts of rainfall within the range of 600mm
per annum and in less fertile soils, it, however, thrives well in areas experiencing large
amounts of rain or areas under irrigation.
 Easy establishment, hardy and have a relative speed of growth.
 The seeds have a high content of nitrogen, therefore, provide a good source of organic
manure.
 Some parts of the plant can be used for medicinal purposes, for example, barks are
composed of tannins and its flowers attract a large number of bees forming the potential
part for the production of honey.
 The plant can be used in forested land reclamation since it lends to the beneficial
plantation on watershed developed lands as well as fallow lands, degraded, wasted and
marginalized areas of low fertility and other regions like alongside the railway lines, farm
boundaries, canals, and roads(Odetoye et al 2018) .
 Just like any other tree, Al-Sharb photosynthesizes by use of carbon dioxide gas, and
stores it in the woody parts to enrich the soil with carbon content, therefore it proves to be
free from pollution.
Despite all the advantages mentioned above, Jatropha has some disadvantages which include:
 The plant cannot survive in waterlogging and sloppy areas where the temperatures exceed
300C.
 The ultimate climate changes for the plant cannot be estimated in terms of annual rainfall.

 The seeds of the plant are relatively hard and more toxic, the species within the seed can
affect the young growing plants.
 The plant requires medium climatic states of 600mm, hot climatic conditions of 1200mm
and a pH lower than 9 for the soil. The temperature of the atmosphere should not go
below 0 0C since it highly responds to the frost of the ground experienced during winters.
Establishment of the plant can be done through cuttings, seedling or seeds. Propagated cuttings
are more efficient and attain faster growth. The plant takes a duration of about one to two years
after planting to bear fruits. The plant has no necessity requirements for the type of soil and the
tillage processes. Jatropha can accomplish the requirements including energy provision for
domestic operations like lighting and cooking. It creates employment as well as additional
household income sources through the selling of the fuel, medicinal products, animal feed,
fertilizer, cosmetics, raw materials for the industry like soap and many others. To the
environment, it offers protection to grazing fields and crops as well, at the same time, it is used
as a control measure to erosion, windbreaker, and source of manure(Zhou et al.2015).
The methodology of the research
Data collection
The process of Producing Jatropha Biodiesel
The production of biodiesel involves a catalyzed (strong base like hydroxides of potassium or
sodium) reaction of fats and oils with alcohol (either ethanol or methanol). Esters obtained from
the fatty acids (ethyl or methyl), the initial components of fats and oils are generally preferred for
the reaction. The by-products that result from the reaction are alkali salts and glycerin and are
applied in the chemical industries as raw materials. The pharmaceutical industry may apply
glycerin in its processes while potassium salts are used to produce fertilizer rich in potassium.

A quick review of the literature concerning biodiesel will shortly present the production
relationship of biodiesel from fats and oils as shown below:
Oil (100 lbs.) + methanol (20 L) → biodiesel (100 lbs.) + glycerol (20 lbs.) (a simplified
transesterification reaction shown below)
Figure4: showing Transesterification reaction
Systematic Description of solving the problem
Steps for the preparation of Jatropha curcas crude oil
Seed Preparation
Mature fruits of the plant are harvested and dried over the sun. Manual decortication is
performed or by use of decorticator. The seeds are then heated over the sun for hours or placed
over the fire for ten minutes to make it ready for the extraction of oil. One has to be careful not to
overheat the seeds. This is done to weaken the oil containing shells and make the flow of oil
easy. Heating liquefies the oil enhancing the process of extraction. Extraction of oil from the
seed can then be done by use of solvents, heat or pressure. Heat is not usually preferred for

economical extraction of vegetable oils. Extraction of oil from the seeds of the plant can be
performed using three techniques such as the solvent method of extraction, mechanical
extraction method by use of screw press and lastly intermittent method of extraction.
Crushing of the Seed and Extraction of Oil
The seed composts of approximately 38% wt. oil. Screw press technique can be used for
mechanical extraction of around 27 to 32% of the oil(Marutani, Soria and Martinez 2018).
Mechanical methods can be applied for efficient extraction of the oil since availability
constraints for the technique was traditionally performed by an expertized woman in the mode
shown below.
Figure5 : showing the traditional technique of crushing and extraction of oil from the
seed(Mehmood et al.2019).
The extracted oil from the seed is refined oil, taken in that form to the transesterification system,
it can either be crude oil that has to undergo treatment before commencing the process of
transesterification. The stages for the crude oil in the process include neutralization to remove
phosphates. This involves the use of various chemical products and requires a system of
centrifugal cleaning and a process of separation. The oil is then given the white color to remove

suspended pigments of oil, phosphates, and soap. This is performed through dragging of oil and
filtration.
Oil Purification
Purification of the extracted oil is performed through boiling the oil in water, sedimentation or
through filtration.
Transesterification
This is now the actual process of transforming the vegetable oil (fatty acid, alkyl ester) in raw
form into biodiesel. Production of biodiesel from bio lipids (biological fats and oils) is compost
of some basic routes.
 Direct transesterification of the bio lipid acid.
 Supercritical Methanol Novel Non-catalytic transesterification
 Bio lipid transesterification catalyzed by base conducted under atmospheric pressure and
temperature of around 60 to 70 0C.
The most preferred method is the transesterification process catalyzed by the base and the steps
followed for the processing include:
1. Ensure the heated oil attain the temperature of around 60 to 70 0C. This facilitates a rapid
reaction process. The reaction is very slow at room temperature and can take long while
above 70 0C, the reaction is impeded.
Conduct a titration for the extracted oil (calculate the amount of sodium hydroxide to be added)
to determine the percentage free fatty acid account for in the oil. First, the vegetable oil is
combined with methanol and mixed, then a mixture of water and sodium hydroxide is added to