I'm
currently looking into producing biodiesel here in Texas, for my self, my
family, friends, and later possibly commercially. I'm an engineering
student at A&M, and have recently been turned onto Biodiesel due to raising
gas prices, and the prospect of becoming energy independent.
A
little about the setup I'm starting.
1.
I'm getting the oil from the Jetropha plant, which is used in Central America,
Africa, and India on a decent sized scale.
2.
While the plant can grow in wasteland grade soil, due to the requirement of
high grade output, I'll be cultivating the plant in a large aeroponic
garden. The plant supposedly can remain productive for up to 40
years. However it takes from 1 to 2 years to begin to produce, again
though this is in poor quality soil.
3.
I'll be processing the seeds, and extracting the oil via cold press, and using
the seedcake from the rest of the seed for compost. Roughly 4kg of seeds
produce 1 liter of biodiesel. Which in current production methods is about 1
liter per tree per year, since their in soil production rates are about 3.5kg
per year. About 1000 of these can be planted per acre. So on some
spare land, you can grow these without too much intervention.
4.
Once the oil is extracted from the seeds, I will have to initially due the
transesterfication my self. Though for this plant I'm unsure of the exact
ratios I'll be needing of methanol and sodium hydroxide. The figures I'm
looking at are roughly for 1 litre of oil, 200 ml of methanol, and 5g of sodium
hydroxide.
Some
of the things I'm looking at experimenting with on the growing aspect.
1.
Hydroponics / Aeroponic growth rates, and nutrient solutions to use.
2.
Angled or Suspended growth effects on the plant (For High density,
Vertical enclosures)
3.
Sound frequencies interactions and effects on growth rates and production.
Supposedly heavy metal equates to bumper crops.
4.
Optimal light spectrum, and exposure time.
5.
CO2 / 02 concentrations effects on production.
On
the refinement and biodiesel side I also have a number of questions.
1.
Optimal ratios of catalysts for converting extracted oil into biodiesel.
2.
Equipment for scaling up designs, either self made or bought.
3.
Storage considerations, (storage lifespan, corrosiveness, transport safety)
4.
Utilizing the biodiesel. What conversions are necessary to utilize it,
and what equipment could it run?
5.
How feasible would it be to produce the methanol, to be used in the
conversion?
