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Nanobiotechnology for the
production of biofuels from spent tea
Tariq Mahmood* and Syed
Tajammul Hussain
Nano Science and Catalysis Division, National Centre
for Physics, Quaid-i-Azam University campus, Shahdrah valley
road, Islamabad, 45320 Pakistan.
*Corresponding author. E-mail:
tariqm20002000@yahoo.com.
Tel(office): ++92512077356. Cell: ++923335178543.
Accepted
28 December, 2009 |
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Bioenergy
is the only alternative and cheap source of energy which can
be made easily available to the world. The present
experiment included three steps for the conversion of spent
tea (Camellia sinensis) into biofuels. In the first
step, spent tea was gasified using Co nano catalyst at 300°C
and atmospheric pressure. Catalytic gasification of spent
tea yielded 60% liquid extract, 28% fuel gases and 12%
charcoal. Gaseous products contain 53.03% ethene, 37.18%
methanol and 4.59% methane. In the second step of the
experiment, liquid extract of spent tea obtained from
gasification, on transesterification gave 40.79% ethyl ester
(biodiesel). In the third step, Aspergillus niger’s
growth on spent tea produced 57.49% bioethanol. This
study reports an interesting finding that spent tea (solid
waste) could be used not only for the production of
biodiesel and bioethanol but also hydrocarbon fuel gases.
The world today is consuming several million tons of tea
yearly. The present technology could be utilized to produce
alternate energy.
Key
words:
Black tea, biodiesel, bioethanol, Co nano particles,
hydrocarbon gases, catalytic gasification. |
