Use of Kinnow Peel as a Source of Biofuels and Carbon Nano Fibers

Only alternative and cheap source of energy which can be made easily be available to the world is bioenergy. Our experiment included the conversion of Kinnow/Orange peel into biofuels. In the first step Kinnow peel was gasified by using Cobalt oxide nano catalyst at 300, 400°C and at atmospheric pressure. Catalytic gasification yielded 60% liquid extract, 28% fuel gases, 1-5% tar and 10-12% charcoal. Gaseous products contain 3.80-53.03% ethene, 13.15-29.51% methanol, 1.28-1.77% propyne, 6.32-28.67% propane and 3.89-4.59% methane. In second step liquid extract of Kinnow peel obtained from gasification, on etherification gave ethyl ester (biodiesel). This study reports an interesting finding that Kinnow peel as could be used for not only the production of biodiesel, biomethanol, hydrocarbon fuel gases and Char as a source of carbon nano fibers. The world today is producing several million tons of Kinnow peel. The XRD spectrum of char or ash shows the formation of carbon fibers. The technology could be utilized to produce alternate energy.