Bio Energy Plantations plans to set up a biodiesel plant to produce methyl esters from crude Jatropha curcas L. oil extracted from its plantations.

To start with, the company is planning to produce 40,000 tonnes of biodiesel per annum and subsequently increase by another 50 % by 2010.

Following is the design of the plant which BEP is planning to put up in its plantation area.

The biodiesel is purified using an aqueous medium to achieve EN 14214. The plant is capable of producing 2,500 litres of biodiesel every 12 hours in Rapid Reaction mode.

The biodiesel plant design features these basic stages:
• Water separation from waste oil
• Electric or kerosene heating
• Methoxide mixing
• Methyl ester reaction
• Glycerol separation
• Methyl ester washing
• Methyl ester purification
• Methanol recovery

Technical advantages of the plant design:
• Space saving, multi-purposing reactor
• Very fast process time
• Easy to operate - less complex
• Cheaper to build because there are fewer pumps, valves, and tanks

Start-up of Jatropha Biodiesel Production in India

November 20, 2003: DaimlerChrysler is launching a new public-private joint enterprise in India for the production of environment-friendly biodiesel that can be used to power Mercedes vehicles. This was announced by DaimlerChrysler on the occasion of the third Environmental Forum in Magdeburg between November 17 and 19, 2003. The project is setting out to test the production of biodiesel from Jatropha plants on eroded ground and its preparation for subsequent use in internal combustion engines. Further positive effects to be expected are the creation of jobs and a reduction in CO2 content. Click here for more info.