AUTONOMOUS BIODIESEL PRODUCTION UNIT

AUTONOMOUS BIODIESEL PRODUCTION UNIT “DAEDALUS” A COMPLETE SOLUTION FOR RURAL SUSTAINABLE BIODIESEL Sarantopoulos Ioannis1, Bakirtzoglou Vagios2, Che Franklin 1*, Theocharis Tsoutsos 1, Kalaitzakis Konstantinos2 1 : Department of Environmental Engineering 2 : Department of Electronic and Computer Engineering Company Technical University of Crete, University Campus, Kounoupidiana, 73100, Greece Abstract In the framework of this study, we present the experience of the Technical University of Crete for the design and construction of “Daedalus”, probably the world’s first autonomous biodiesel production unit. This innovative unit is already operational in the University Campus, producing biodiesel from different feed-stocks. In additional, this work examines some initial results from the quality tests of the produced biodiesel as well as the advantages and disadvantages of the unit.The data required for the optimum design of this unit were obtained from a wide study on the existing literature and experience on biodiesel units. The goal of this project was the development and operation of a prototype for autonomous small scale biodiesel production. The energy autonomy is based in the exploitation of the solar radiation for the efficient production of heat and electricity. The combination of different renewable energy sources transform this unit to an innovate product which can serve rural developing communities which present high biomass and solar potential. In addition, “Daedalus” can be used as a tool for improving the sustainability of biodiesel production through the decrease of the use of fossil fuels during the production process. Keywords: Biodiesel, decentralized, developing countries, rural development, small scale application

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INTRODUCTION

Access to modern and sustainable energy services and resources is critical to improve the living standards in the developing world. In the past, many attempts have been undertaken within the sub-Saharan countries in order to incorporate modern renewable energy production in rural areas, but some of these attempts have been proved unsuccessful as they require energy supply for their operation. As this energy is mainly provided from generators, the designing and the viability of the project is often subject to malfunctions due to technical or social obstacles. Moreover, in many developing areas exists a great potential of unexploited solar energy, which can be easily used for biofuel production. The economic problems encountered in rural communities of developing countries combined with the limited access and non-diversified nature of the energy resources in such societies, consist a great hindrance to their development. On the contrary, most of the areas where those communities live, are abundant on biomass sources suitable for providing modern energy and boosting their development [1] [2]. Decentralized sustainable biodiesel production is taking into consideration the environmental capacity and therefore a unique opportunity for many rural areas to boost their improvement rate and in the same time to have minimum environmental impact and high economical benefits for the local community. On the other hand, decentralized biodiesel production can be a solution for sustainable energy production in many areas in developed world where community desire a holistic approach of sustainability and energy independency from conventional energy sources [3][4]. Actions for commercializing or implementing rural sustainable biodiesel production have been made by different organization and biodiesel has been proved to be a viable solution in many cases [5][6]. However, the

risk of unsuccessful implementation of biomass project are not negligible and thus, innovative approaches taking into consideration local condition should be developed. In the framework of this study, we present the experience of the Technical University of Crete for the design and construction of “Daedalus”, the world’s first autonomous biodiesel production unit. This innovative unit is already operational in the University Campus, producing biodiesel from different feed-stocks. In additional, this work examines some initial results from the quality tests of the produced biodiesel as well as the advantages and disadvantages of the unit. The data required for the optimum design of this unit were obtained from a wide study on the existing literature and experience on biodiesel units. The goal of this project was the development and operation of a prototype for autonomous small scale biodiesel production. The energy autonomy is based in the exploitation of the solar radiation for the efficient production of heat and electricity. The combination of different renewable energy sources transform this unit to an innovate product which can serve rural developing communities which present high biomass and solar potential. In addition, “Daedalus” can be used as a tool for improving the sustainability of biodiesel production through the decrease of the use of fossil fuels during the production process.

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DESIGNING THE UNIT

2.1 Concept development In the Technical University of Crete, relative work has been conducted in order to create a biodiesel unit suitable for decentralized biodiesel production. Considerations that were taken into account were the local availability of materials, simplicity of operation,

high production yield, low cost construction and easy maintenance. Energy independency of the unit was also engaged as in many places electricity provision is not available or very expensive. The designed unit was decided to be also portable so as to be convenient to the user to move it from place to pace. Energy independency of the unit was achieved by combining two solar energy sub-systems. For electricity needs, a photovoltaic system with a battery was proposed. For heating needs, a solar heating panel accompanied with a hot water storage tank was developed as it had primitive heating and economic efficiency in compare to a conventional electric heating element. For the biodiesel process, the concept included two different batches able either to work parallel or serial, depending on the feedstock and on the required capacity. The process can be either one stage basic transesterification or two stages acid-base esterification. Regarding the biodiesel washing process, this can be water or wet wash process with subsequent biodiesel filtration for the removal of particles. 2.2 Dimensioning the sub-systems Dimensioning of the unit was performed with the following assumptions: Maximum batch production capacity: 20L Maximum daily production capacity: 40L Cycles per day: 2 Battery autonomy: 2 days Separate methanol-catalyst mixture preparation reactor Batch production temperature: 50 oC Solar radiation density: based on stats for Souda, Crete Photovoltaic system (photovoltaic panel, battery, DCDC inverter) was dimensioned using the software HOMER from USA National Renewable Energy Laboratory and solar heating system was developed by conducting simple heat energy balances. 3

Picture 1: The Daedalus unit 4

PILOT OPERATION

As a pilot unit, Daedalus, has been successfully tested in processing used frying oils collected from food service entreprises in the wider region of Chania, Greece. Initial test results regarding physical charateristics (viscosity and density) are showing that the produced biodiesel quality confroms with EN 14214 specifications.

Figure 1: Allocation in categories of electricity requirments

DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION

The unit was constructed mainly from steel, except from the reactors which were constructed from stainless steel and pipes which were from HDPE for to resist corrosion by methanol and biodiesel. The unit was equipped with the following parts: 87 W Kyocera photovoltaic panel CX20 Phocos DC-DC inverter 35 Ah calcium batterry 25 L hot water storage boiler 0.5 m3 solar radiation colector Picture 1 depicts the constructed unit in its final form, during operation.

Figure 2: Allocation in categories of the thermal requirements Energy consumption of the unit has been measured in order to determine the possible energy reduction

stratefies and to optimize the design in latter stage. Total electricity needs per cycle is 63.5Wh, where the total heating needs where calculated at 376.8 Wh. The allocation of the energy needs to the different categories is shown at Figure 1 and Figure 2.

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CONCLUSIONS

The results of this endeavor are manifold and relevant especially if viewed under the limelight of the United Nations Millennium Developmental Goals, which are poverty reduction and especially sustainable development to improve the quality of life in the developing world. It will also provide a new business idea for commercializing this product to various contexts. Modern sustainable energy consumption in rural areas has multiple positive effects since it improve the local life conditions, creates market for local products and mitigates climate change. Daedalus is complete biodiesel production unit which was specifically developed to serve remote areas without access to conventional energy sources, but with high potential of oils. On site investigation and pilot operation of the unit would deepen the experience on community-based energy systems and would substantially assist developing efforts and sustainability locally.

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REFERENCES

[1] I. Sarantopoulos, F. Che, T.Tsoutsos,V. Bakirtzoglou, W. Azangue, B. Donatien, F.M. Ndipen, Evaluation of rural biodiesel production. Case study: Mango’o Village, Center Province, Cameroon, (2009), pag. 5558. [2] I. Sarantopoulos, F.Che, T.Tsoutsos, V. Bakirtzoglou, C. Panoutsou, W. Azangue, D. Bienvenue, F. Ndipen, e-Proceedings of the 16th European Biomass Conference – Valorization of Palm Kernel Shell and Palm oil in Biodiesel Production for Rural Uses. Case Study: Mango’o Village, Cameroon, (2008) [3] T. Tsoutsos, V. Kouloumpis, T. Zafeiris, P. Zolkou, eProceedings of the AgENg2008, Agricultural & Biosystems Engineering for a Sustainable World, Life Cycle Assessment for biodiesel in Greek climate conditions, (2008) [4] T. Tsoutsos, V. Kouloumpis, T. Zafeiris, P. Zolkou, C. Panoutsou, e-Proceedings of the 16th European Biomass Conference – Life Cycle Assessment for biodiesel in Greek climate conditions, (2008) [5 ] Practical Action Consulting, Small-Scale Bioenergy Initiatives: Brief description and preliminary lessons on livelihood impacts from case studies in Asia, Latin America and Africa, (2009). [6] Y. Mulugetta, Evaluating the economics of biodiesel in Africa, (2009), pag. 1596.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 

The Authors are grateful to the Regional Innovation Pole of Crete for the financial support

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The project has been awarded with the Mondialogo Engineering Award 2006/2007 The project has been awarded with the Energy Globe Award 2008