Use of waste vegetable oil as an alternate

source of fuel

1

2

Executive SummaryOur study will estimate the feasibility of the use of vegetable oil as an alternate source of fuel. Results of this research will provide important results that will help us know the benefits of this source of fuel. It will also help us gauge the consumer awareness level regarding the same. A primary research was conducted amongst the team members and results were collated. There was an intense discussion on the usage and feasibility of this source of fuel and their benefits. The sample population chosen were those who are aware of the alternate sources of fuel. A questionnaire was developed which will help us to know the awareness of the respondents regarding the prevalent alternate sources of fuel. The reasons will be identified for the respondents to switch to an alternate source of fuel and what are the benefits they look for.

3

ContentsExecutive Summary...............................................................................................................................2

Introduction...........................................................................................................................................4

History and Background........................................................................................................................4

Problem Statement...............................................................................................................................5

Purpose of the Research........................................................................................................................5

Literature Review..................................................................................................................................5

Research Design....................................................................................................................................5

Research Methodology......................................................................................................................5

Data Collection..................................................................................................................................5

Designing the questionnaire..............................................................................................................6

Sampling Procedure...........................................................................................................................6

Data Tabulation and Analysis.............................................................................................................6

Sources of Data..................................................................................................................................7

Current Uses of Vegetable Oil...............................................................................................................7

Research Findings - Future Importance and Benefits............................................................................7

No net CO2 or greenhouse gas production.......................................................................................7

Replacement of Fossil fuels...............................................................................................................7

Safety.................................................................................................................................................7

Generation and storage.....................................................................................................................8

Electricity generation.........................................................................................................................8

Market of Biodiesels..........................................................................................................................8

Attainment of Kyoto Protocol Targets...............................................................................................8

Limitations.............................................................................................................................................8

Conclusion.............................................................................................................................................9

References...........................................................................................................................................10

Appendix.............................................................................................................................................10

Questionnaire......................................................................................................................................11

4

IntroductionCooking oil is produced from vegetable and nut sources and contains high fat allowances. The term ‘used cooking oils’ refers to cooking oil which has been used in food production and which is no longer viable for its intended use. Used cooking oil arises from many different sources, including domestic, commercial and industrial.

Proper disposal of used cooking oil is an important waste-management concern. Oil is lighter than water and tends to spread into thin and broad membranes which hinder the oxygenation of water. Because of this, a single litre of oil can contaminate as much as 1 million litres of water. Also, oil can congeal on pipes provoking blockages.

Because of this, cooking oil should never be dumped on the kitchen sink or in the toilet bowl. The proper way to dispose of oil is to put it in a sealed non-recyclable container and discard it with regular garbage.

Cooking oil can be recycled. It can be used to produce biodiesel.

Biodiesel refers to a vegetable oil or animal fat-based diesel fuel consisting of long-chain alkyl (methyl, propyl or ethyl) esters. Biodiesel is typically made by chemically reacting lipids (e.g., vegetable oil, animal fat (tallow)) with an alcohol.

History and BackgroundWhile the use of vegetable or animal oils and fats as fuels may be somewhat surprising at first, when examined in an historical context we can see that the compression ignition engine, first developed to a usable level of functionality by the French-born Rudolf Diesel near the end of the 19th century, was originally designed to operate on vegetable oil.

In 1900, Rudolf Diesel demonstrated his new compression ignition engine at the World Exhibition in Paris running on peanut oil. In 1911 he wrote “The engine can be fed with vegetable oils and would help considerably in the development of agriculture in the countries that use it.”

It was about this time that new drilling technology and exploration techniques were developed and together these ushered in the age of cheap and plentiful fossil fuels. Consequently, the use of vegetable and animal oils and fats as fuels has only been used for a few special purposes such as in racing fuels or in environmentally sensitive areas where petroleum spills tend to cause more serious problems than do spills of animal and/or vegetable derived fuels.

After some one hundred years of using liquid petroleum fuels, we are now finding that there are unforeseen side effects, the foremost perhaps being the so-called Enhanced Greenhouse Effect.

5

Problem StatementWaste edible oils and fats pose significant disposal problems. The US Motor Gasoline Consumption comes to 8,989,000 barrels/day (378 million gallons/day) and 137.97 billion gallons/day. Also US Crude Oil imports 9,783,000 barrels/day.

As of 2008, the United States was producing in excess of 22 billion litres (5.8 billion US gallons) of waste vegetable oil annually, mainly from industrial deep fryers in potato processing plants, snack food factories and fast food restaurants. If all those 19 billion litres could be collected and used to replace the energetically equivalent amount of petroleum, almost 1.5% of US oil consumption could be offset.

A research problem, in general, refers to some difficulty which a researcher experiences in the context of either a theoretical or practical situation and works to obtain a solution for the same. In the context of the use of vegetable oil as an alternate source of fuel, some key problems are:

Why is there a need of use of vegetable oil as an alternate source of fuel for vehicles? What problems are being faced by us while using existing fuels?

Purpose of the ResearchThe main purpose of this research is to examine and analyze the use of vegetable oil as an alternate source of fuel for cars, in terms of financial feasibility and environmental benefits.

The Key Research Objectives are:

To find out the feasibility of use of vegetable oil as an alternate source of fuel To know the environmental benefits from usage of this fuel To find the consumer awareness level regarding the use of the alternate source of fuel

Literature Review

Research Design

Research MethodologyThe research methodology has been designed keeping research objectives under consideration. The research methodology aims to measure the feasibility of using vegetable oil as an alternate source of fuel and its benefits.

Data CollectionThe Exploratory Phase

An exploratory primary research was conducted among the 6 team members itself. All of them were aware of the environment problems faced by using fuels and how they contribute to the economy.

6

All of us on brainstormed various aspects which were aligned with the research objectives. No questionnaire was used for this and it was a general discussion regarding usage of alternate sources of fuel and how their usage can benefit us, if successful.

Key findings

Regular fuels cause a lot of pollution Awareness of usage of alternate sources of fuel is catching up with society Alternate sources of fuel reduces carbon emissions Reduced carbon emissions can win many accolades to an organization or a country

Designing the questionnaireA questionnaire was prepared to gauge the awareness regarding usage and availability of alternate sources of fuel in the society. The questions were designed in such a way so as to align them with the research objectives.

What Information is needed?

We have made an attempt to know the awareness of the respondents regarding the prevalent alternate sources of fuel and their usage. Further an attempt was made to find out the reasons for respondents to switch to an alternative source of fuel and what benefits they look for.

What was the content of the Individual questions?

Some general questions about the respondent’s background Only questions those were necessary to draw inferences and conclusions Questions where we knew the respondent would have true information Questions which were within the respondents experience Questions which would be easy to understand and interpret for the respondent.

What was the wording of the questions?

It was endeavored for the questions to be

Simple Unambiguous Specific Mix of positive and negative statements to measure attitude.

Sampling ProcedureTarget customer group: This study was aimed at people who are educated and are aware of the upcoming alternate sources of fuels. The main target was users who preferred alternate sources of fuel over the general fuels and are aware of their advantages.

Data Tabulation and AnalysisSince actual survey was not conducted so there was no data and analysis.

7

Sources of Data

Current Uses of Vegetable OilCurrently, the largest uses of waste vegetable oil in the U.S. are for animal feed, pet food, and cosmetics. Since 2002, an increasing number of European Union countries have prohibited the inclusion of waste vegetable oil from catering in animal feed. Waste cooking oils from food manufacturing, however, as well as fresh or unused cooking oil, continues to be used in animal feed.

Research Findings - Future Importance and Benefits

No net CO2 or greenhouse gas productionPlants use sunlight and photosynthesis to take carbon dioxide (CO2) out of the Earth's atmosphere to make vegetable oil. The same CO2 is then put back after it is burned in an engine. Thus vegetable oil does not increase the CO2 in the atmosphere, and does not contribute to the problem of greenhouse gas. It is really a way of catching and storing solar energy. It is a true renewable energy.

Burning fossil fuels releases sulphur dioxide (SO2) and other harmful air pollution. Because vegetable oil has not been inside the earth for millions of years, it is not contaminated with things like sulphur and burns much cleaner, even than ultra-low sulphur diesel. Burning fossil fuels also contributes to the greenhouse gas problem.

Replacement of Fossil fuelsVegetable oils have the potential to replace fossil fuels in the economy. Vegetable oils are the basis of biodiesel, which can be used like conventional diesel.

The recent increase in world oil prices, and the growing awareness of the environmental problems associated with the use of petroleum fuels, has led to the renewed interest on biomass-based fuels. The motivations for using these fuels are twofold, its environmental benefits and its impact on the economy. These fuels are non-toxic, renewable sources of energy, which do not contribute to the net global carbon dioxide build-up. For a country that heavily relies on imported petroleum oils for its energy needs, but that has an abundant supply of alternative energy source, the use of these oils will certainly have a positive impact on the country’s economy in terms of foreign reserves savings. With such incentives, the need for further research based on locally available resources is both real and significant.

SafetyVegetable oil is far less toxic than other fuels such as gasoline, petroleum-based diesel, ethanol, or methanol, and has a much higher flash point (approximately 275-290 °C). The higher flash point reduces the risk of accidental ignition.

8

Generation and storageTechnologies of hydrogen economy, batteries, compressed air energy storage, and flywheel energy storage address the energy storage problem but not the source of primary energy. Other technologies like fission power, fusion power, and solar power address the problem of a source of primary energy but not energy storage. Vegetable oil addresses both the source of primary energy and of energy storage. The cost and weight to store a given amount of energy as vegetable oil is low compared to many of the potential replacements for fossil fuels.

Electricity generationVegetable oil is a convenient safe way to store energy for transportation and is similar to the way things have been done. For electricity generation these things are not so important. The most important thing is cost for the electricity produced. The world coal reserves are far larger than the world oil reserves. So replacing the coal used in power plants is not as urgent as replacing the oil used for transportation. The motivation to use vegetable oil for power generation is much less than for transportation. Other methods, like nuclear power, fusion power, wind power and solar power, may provide cheaper electricity, so vegetable oil may only be used in peaking power plants and small power plants, as diesel is limited to today.

Market of BiodieselsIn some countries, filling stations sell bio-diesel more cheaply than conventional diesel.

Availability of biodiesel around the World is increasing. It is estimated that by 2010 the market for biodiesel will be 7.5 billion litres (2 billion US gallons) in the U.S and 9.5 billion litres (2.5 billion US gallons) in Europe. Biodiesel currently has 3% of the diesel market in Germany and is the number 1 alternative fuel. The German government has a Bio fuels Roadmap in which they expect to reach 10% bio-fuels by 2010 with the diesel 10% coming from fuel made from vegetable oil.

From 2005 to 2009 a number of types of vegetable oil have doubled in price. The rise in vegetable oil prices is largely attributed to bio-fuel demand.

Attainment of Kyoto Protocol TargetsMuch of the fuel price at the pump is due to fuel tax. Since vegetable oil (even as biodiesel) does not contribute to greenhouse gas, governments may tax it much less than gasoline as they have done with ethanol. This would help them reach Kyoto protocol targets.

LimitationsVegetable oils have their own limitations to use in place of diesel due to their high viscosity. The high viscosity results in poor atomization of the fuel when the oil is injected into the combustion chamber of a compression ignition (CI) engine. This can lead to extended ignition delay periods for initial combustion to commence and preparation, characterization and testing of these fuels.

Consequently, there is a reduction in engine performance due to incomplete combustion of the injected fuel particles.

9

ConclusionThe gradual move from oil has begun. Over the next 15 to 20 years we may see bio-fuels providing a full 25 percent of the world's energy needs. While the move is good for reducing greenhouse emissions, soaring oil prices have encouraged most countries to 'go green' by switching to greater use of bio-fuels.

More alternative energy sources are in research. Algaculture, form of aquaculture involving the farming of species of algae could potentially produce far more oil per unit area. Results from pilot algaculture projects using sterile CO2 from power plant smokestacks look promising.

Genetic modifications to soyabeans are already being used. Genetic modifications and breeding can increase vegetable oil yields.

10

References Business Research Methods - Cooper & Schindler Research Methods for Business – Uma Sekaran en.wikipedia.org

Appendix Sample Survey Questionnaire

11

Questionnaire1) Which is the present source of fuel being used by you?

2) Do you know what an alternate source of fuel is?

3) Given an option would you try an alternate source of fuel?

4) Do you think that there is a realistic alternative fuel source?

5) Where do you think the future of oil (petroleum based) is headed?

6) Do you see our country completely breaking its dependence from oil?

7) Are you aware of any existing alternate sources of fuel?

8) Have you ever used any alternate sources of fuel?

9) Are you aware of the benefits of the alternate sources of fuel?

10) Do you think our country is ready to adopt alternate sources of fuel?

11) What benefits do you expect from the alternate sources of fuel?i. Better mileage

ii. Pollution freeiii. Cheapiv. Ease of availability

12) How far in the future do you estimate that people will completely change to an alternative fuel source?

13) Is the transition possible or is it just an unobtainable goal?14) How do you think that the change will affect the economy?15) Do you see any side effects that might occur in any of the fuel sources?16) Do you think that people would be willing to make the change?17) Do you think that we are wasting time on finding an alternative fuel source? 18) Do you think we are spending too much of the national budget on this? 19) What would you say to the skeptics who believe that the switch is not possible? 20) Do you think that the big oil companies are willing to make the change? 21) Who will the changes benefit? 22) Do you think that this has been an issue for a while and that people have been putting it

aside? 23) What do you think it will take to make people to change their perspectives on oil? 24) Do you think that alternative fuel will be as costly as oil? 25) Do you think that alternative fuel will one day run out and we will have to look

somewhere else? 26) Do you think that the fuel crisis is cyclical and one day will occur again?

12