IIT-M team develops microwave process to make biofuel oils
16 Jun 2020 01:52:45
CHENNAI :
The biofuel oils were produced from two waste products -- agricultural waste such as rice straw and bagasse and discarded plastics
THE Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT-M) on Monday said its researchers have developed a simple microwave process to produce biofuel oils. In a statement issued here the IIT-M said the biofuel oils with high energy values were produced from two waste products -- agricultural waste such as rice straw and bagasse and discarded plastics.
The project was funded by GAIL (India) Ltd. The urgency in search of renewable fuels is driven by the environmental impact of extracting fossil fuel and volatility in oil prices and the associated political unrest across the world. Biofuel oils generated from renewable biological sources are considered a practical and pragmatic replacement for petroleum and petrochemicals, IIT-M said.
The research team led by Dr R Vinu, Associate Professor, Department of Chemical Engineering and the other members were Dr Dadi Suriapparao and Banupriya Boruah. “Biomass is the only renewable source of carbon on the earth with immense potential for the production of energy, chemicals and materials with zero carbon footprint on the environment. Agricultural waste products such as rice straw, sugarcane bagasse and wood chips, among others, can potentially serve as bio-oil producing biomass,” Vinu was quoted as saying the statement. One of the common methods to produce bio-oil from biomass is ‘pyrolysis’ or heat-induced breakdown of the biomass components into fuel components. However, bio-oil produced by the pyrolysis of biomass contains large amounts of oxygenated groups or ‘oxygenates’, far greater than in fossil fuels.