Energy And Cost Estimation Of Biodiesel Production From Neem Feedstock – A Parametric Study

The current energy scene of fossil fuels tends to viable alternative fuel sources. Among many resources of fuel, biodiesel is one of the promising fuels for sustainability. Vegetable oil cannot be used directly in the diesel engine due to its high viscosity, high density, high flash point and low calorific value. Amongst several approaches of bio-diesel production, transesterification process with alkali catalyst provides better conversion of triglycerides to their corresponding methyl ester as biodiesel. At the same time, for sustainability, it is highly essential to analyze the life cycle of biodiesel production in terms of energy and cost issues. This study will help to confer the future prospects and create path of development of biodiesel programme in India. This paper presents the life cycle assessment in terms of energy utilization and related cost to find out biodiesel cost using neem as a feedstock. The neem (Azadirachta indica) tree in India, a widely cultivated crop, fruits bear in tree from 5–6 years of age and continue for about 100 years. In the study of soil-to-oil of neem, it comprises different aspects of cultivation, oil extraction and finally biodiesel production. The energy and cost were estimated in order to cultivation of neem in the area of 1 ha, 400 numbers of plants at the space of 5 m x 5 m for a single seasoned fruited till 30 years. It was observed that net energy gain and ratio are 9.54 MJ/ha/year and 13.05, respectively. The cost of biodiesel after selling off byproduct in India at the end of 30th year was estimated and found around 50, 51.5 and 49.3 rupees corresponding to the assumption of biodiesel yield from raw neem oil of 80%, 90% and 94%, respectively. This concludes that biodiesel from neem oil offers significant benefit in terms of energy and cost as well.