CHENNAI: Researchers at the IIT-M have developed a simple microwave process to produce high-energy biofuel oils from agricultural waste.
The project, funded by GAIL (India) Ltd, aims to produce oil from waste such as rice straw and bagasse, and plastic. Such oils generated from renewable biological sources are considered to be a practical and pragmatic replacement for petroleum and petrochemical products, said the statement.
One of the most common methods to produce bio-oil as ‘pyrolysis’ or heat-induced breakdown of components. However, the newly developed method results in lower heating value of bio-oils compared to fossil fuels, and in addition, increases their acidity and corrosiveness, the statement added.
However, mixing plastic with biomass would produce bio-oils with better properties - such as higher energy yields. The IIT-M team used microwave to breakdown components, ranging from rice straw, sugarcane bagasse, and groundnut shell, to wood sawdust and wood from ‘Seemai Karuvelam’ tree with two synthetic plastics.
“We believe usage of microwave is a sustainable and energy-efficient approach for resource recovery from a wide variety of wastes, including disposed single-use plastics and non-reusable face masks,” said R Vinu, Associate Professor with Department of Chemical Engineering. Vinu was also the lead of the research team, and their results have been published in the journal, ‘Bioresource Technology and Fuel Processing Technology’, the statement added. Dadi Suriapparao and Banupriya Boruah from the department were also part of the research.