MIT-World Peace University (MIT-WPU) is a top educational institute located in Pune, India. It is recognized within&nbsp;UGC under Government of Maharashtra Act No. XXXV 2017.&nbsp;

It is part of the MIT group of institutions (established in 1983) which covers 10+ campuses across India and has more than 50,000+ students enrolled across various disciplines at a given point of time. The institute houses 15 schools ranging from Engineering &amp; Technology, Design, Pharmacy, Commerce, Governance among others. It offers undergraduate, postgraduate and PhD programs among different disciplines.&nbsp;

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MIT World Peace University

School of Chemical Engineering

Energy plays an important role in the development of any nation. But with the present rate of consumption, conventional sources of energy like natural gas and petroleum will be exhausted shortly. That's why the concept of using bioenergy is giving attention worldwide. Hence, biofuels appears to be a proven renewable energy option. In this paper, we address the issue of producing vegetable oil from Jatropha Curcas seeds, using both mechanical and solvent extraction methods. We are also interested in the production of biodiesel from the raw oil obtained (i.e transesterification or alcoholysis). Results showed that solvent extraction produced high quality oil than mechanical extraction. It was also found that parameters such as oil temperature, reaction temperature, ratio of alcohol to oil and purity of reactants are factors that affect the transesterification process. The use of KOH instead of NaOH as catalyst gave better quality of biodiesel.

Engineering and Technology

World University root node

International Journal of Chemical Sciences

Biodiesel production from Jatropha curcas oil

Algae are a filamentous waste plant growing in any type of water such as fresh, sea water etc. Normally algae are regarded as a menace in water bodies. Algae oil is an interesting sustainable feedstock for biodiesel manufacturing. There are various methods for extracting the oil from algae, such as mechanical pressing, hexane solvent extraction etc. The paper discusses experimental method developed for the extraction of oil from algae which is obtained from open pond system. It is observed that the solvent extraction method recovers almost all the oil and leaves behind only 0.5% to 0.7% residual oil in the raw material. Because of the high percentage of recovered oil, solvent extraction is found to be an effective method for extraction of oils and fats, but is having disadvantage of being costly as compared to expeller method. An experimental investigation shows that expeller pressing method can recover 75% of the oil from algae. Even though expeller pressing method is an economical method than the hexane solvent extraction method, further to make this method more effective, some modifications in the design of expeller are required which will increase the recovery of oil.

Extraction of oil from algae by solvent extraction and oil expeller method

Plastics have become a major factor in modern life and the massive volume of plastics in use has a significant effect on the environment. Major efforts are underway to reduce the impact of plastics on the environment and to make them more eco-friendly. Such efforts include the use of bio-materials instead of nonrenewable resources such as petroleum for manufacturing polymers. There are also studies which are aimed at reducing the impact of discarded plastic products on air and water supplies, as well as on flora, fauna, and landfills. © 2006 SAGE Publications.