Developed a Super Emulsification Process to Produce Biodiesel

Recently, Kazuo Tajima's research team at Kanagawa University in Japan announced that it has developed a new super emulsification process that can be used for biodiesel production without the need for a purification process, thus reducing the cost by 25% 1/4.

It is estimated that the cost of biodiesel produced by this process is approximately 20 Yen/litre, which is approximately 0.20 U.S. dollars per liter. Compared with the existing biodiesel production process, it can also reduce CO2 emissions by 5%.

The new process involves the formation of a three-phase emulsion without the need for surfactants that are needed for conventional emulsification. Emulsified biodiesel is made by mixing diesel and jatropha oil with nanosized 30–50-nm castor oil droplets.

The resulting stable emulsion has good combustion properties and can reduce CO2, nitrogen oxides NOx and particulate matter emissions. This biodiesel production does not produce glycerol as a by-product through the anti-esterification treatment of J. curcas oil. This type of fuel has been tested on 2 tons of commercial diesel cars, and it can travel 120km at a time.