Nigerian student invents bio-diesel from vegetable oil
From Emeka Anuforo and Abosede Musari, Abuja

CALL him the Albert Einstein of Nigeria, and you may be right. Nwakaire Joel from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN) has recorded a major breakthrough with the invention of bio-diesel from vegetable oil. To achieve this, he had to solve a problem, which even Rudolf Diesel could not tackle back in 1912.


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Scientist Diesel encountered the problem while researching to use vegetable oil from peanut to drive motor vehicle and other mechanical engines.

Taking up this challenge, which has defied solution for about 100 years, Joel from the department of Agricultural and Bio-resource Engineering used non- consumable vegetables such as Jatropha and algae, to produce what may emerge as Nigeria's first bio-diesel.

Rudolf Diesel had in 1912, predicted that "The use of vegetable oils (bio-diesel) for engine may seem insignificant today. But such oils may become, in course of time, as important as petroleum and coal tar products of the present time."

The Guardian learnt that Nwakaire solved the problems that stopped Diesel's research, by inventing a scientific refining process called verification, which helped him to scale the obstacle of viscosity and clogging.

He not only had the task of designing a refining process that is functional, he also had to design one that can be replicated easily at minimal cost; and most importantly, one that is affordable, easy to construct, environmentally and that is climate-friendly.

Experts say that if this project is adopted by the Nigerian government and other stakeholders, the country may have as well found an alternative to crude oil, spelling an advancement in science and technology and ensuring less importation of fossil fuel.

"It may as well be a solution to the energy problems that make long queues a common sight at filling stations across the country. It will also provide solutions to the accompanying problems of fuel scarcity and wastage of quality time at filling stations," one expert said.

Nwakaire, who has already won a star award with the breakthrough in a competion held in Kenya recently, narrated at the weekend how it all began: "When I wanted to do the project for my B.Eng, I had decided to do engine design, but Prof. A.P. Onwualu in the Department of Agricultural and Bio-Resourse Engineering suggested that I do cutting-edge research, using vegetable oil to drive diesel engine. I was wondering how possible that was, but he gave me the challenge. I started the research and found that it is possible to drive diesel engine on vegetable oil.

"Rudolf Diesel, the manufacturer of the diesel engine in 1912 used peanut oil to run diesel engine; but the problem with using the common vegetable oil is the viscocity and clogging of the injector. So we thought about modification. When I brought my report about the use of vegetable oil as an alternative fuel for diesel engine, I told Prof. Onwualu about the problems I encountered.

"He suggested that since this problem stopped scientist Rudolf Diesel from using peanut oil, I should find modifications. I went into research again and I was able to change the vegetable oil, with some reactants into what is called methyl estal which is called bio-diesel.This was done through the verification process."

According to the young inventor, who currently drives his diesel engine Triumph car with the bio-fuel produced by him, the goal of his degree (B.Eng) project was to produce the bio- diesel without using a complicated system but by just using a stove, cooking pot and the right temperature to produce diesel. And it worked.

Studying the oil refineries in Nigeria, he came up with the Flow System refining process, did more research on this system and arrived at a new system called the Floater. With this system, he had to fabricate a vegetable oil tank, the reactant tank, a reactor and a separator. The separator separates the methyl estal which is the bio-diesel from the glycerine.

"I also thought about the heating system because in the process, you need heat input. I thought about mixing and separation. In most of the systems examined, I saw that they used a lot of mechanical systems, but I needed to design an affordable system. So, I designed one that uses only one pump. The pump will do the mixing, and after reaction, it will transfer the mixture, so it does mixing and transferring.

"But this is time-dependent. So, while the reaction finishes, the pump now tranfers the material into a separator. The pump is not idle after this, this system starts again to initiate another reaction while the separation is going on. There is no time the system is dormant. After looking at the flow chart and engineering principles in design and construction, and taking into consideration every system requirement like temperature, pressure and time, we had a good system to do the refining," he explained.

The project at the pilot stage was funded by the Raw Materials Research and Development Centre (RMRD).

"In engineering, what we do about plants at the pilot stage is scaling up and that is why we are going into awareness creation. Individually as researchers in the university, we see that other stakeholders must be involved and that is why we are creating the awareness. If these stakeholders, especially the government and relevant agencies, can buy into the project, and the scaling up of this production plant, we can produce the bio-fuel in commercial quantity," he said.

Nwakaire added that the production plants could be built within the resources available to the nation, thereby avoiding the construction of huge refineries that could not be maintained by experts within the country. "We don't want to build a plant that is too huge to be maintained in Nigeria."

He assured that in getting the raw materials for the production, that is, non-consumable vegetables such as Jatropha and Algae, a home-grown technology that would be affordable to farmers would be used, with UNN providing extension services and trainings to farmers. This, he said, is affordable because even the invention did not cost a fortune.

"RMRDC did not spend huge millions of naira on the project, it was within thousands," he said.

He said: "We had an experiment in UNN where we ran a stiff engine on fossil diesel, it had problem starting, we then cleaned out the fuel and injected the bio-diesel, the engine started fast and it ran smoothly within 15 minutes. Again, the engine smoked heavily with the fossil diesel but it did not with the bio-diesel.

"I drive my car with the oil, I can repeat this demonstration over and over again. I produce the fuel I use in my car and it gives a very interesting feeling. The department will organise extention programmes for farmers to arrange how the project can start on a bigger scale with the planting of the raw materials - vegetables", he said.

Director-General of RMRDC, Prof. Peter Onwualu, who initiated the sponsorship for the project, said at a ceremony in Abuja at the weekend that the bio-diesel did not necessarily have to use edible vegetables but that oil-bearing plants like Jatropha could be used.

He assured that the process would not compete with food production as there were crops that could be used for the production without affecting food production.

"Even if we have to use consumable vegetables, we have a programme called boosting, we can encourage farmers to plant more of the particular vegetable by giving them improved varieties, management practices and other technical inputs that will enable the farmer increase his yield per hectare. That way, we can produce bio-diesel without affecting our food security.

"I feel happy to be sponsoring the project on behalf of the government through RMRDC, this is a little contribution we are making, government gives us the fund and we administer it to the citizens. Nigerians can actually do these things if they are well empowered. If we didn't give this grant to this young man, somebody may sit by the side and say Nigerian young men and women are lazy.

"Somebody may say that people in the universities are not performing, but the little grant we gave the young man has enabled him to achieve this feat - which means if we do more, more people will begin to perform better and our economy will be driven by science and technology," he said.

Is it possible to invent what has already been "invented" ? ugh!!

You dey ask me?. He invented it first in Africa.

Nigerian wins African Union science competition


A Nigerian scientist, Mr Joel Nwakire, has won the first prize in a science competition organised by a network of international bodies under the auspices of the African Union (AU).



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The award was announced in Abuja in a Federal Ministry of Science and Technology statement signed by Mr Abdulganiyu Aminu, Head, Press and Public Communications.

The statement said Nwakire, an Agricultural Engineering lecturer, won the Young Professionals in Science Prize in the competition with his research in the fabrication of bio-diesel continuous production plant.

It quoted the ministry’s Acting Permanent Secretary Wahab Jimoh, who received Nwakire in his office, as saying ``the ministry will ensure that your research work is taken to the next level of commercialisation.

``Nwakire has not only brought honour to the ministry but also to Nigeria as a whole and I appeal to you not to rest on your oars but to continue to break new grounds in science and technology innovation.’’

Jimoh gave assurance that the ministry would continue to fund research proposals relevant to the needs and developmental aspirations of the country.

He applauded the management of the Raw Materials Research and Development Council (RMRDC) for exhibiting sound judgment in sponsoring a viable research work and recognising the talent and potential in Nwakire.

The statement also quoted Prof. Peter Onwualu, the RMRDC Director-General, as saying ``the council was encouraged to fund the fabrication of the bio-diesel continuous production plant made by Nwakire because it is a novel invention and germane to the development needs of Nigerians at the grassroots.’’

Onwualu said the council was already working to upgrade and make the plant automated for possible commercialisation in the near future.

The award was presented to Nwakire at the AU Summit of African Ministers of Agriculture in Addis Ababa.

Kobojunkie:

Is it possible to invent what has already been "invented" ? ugh!!

Why would the US bother going to the Space since the Russians were the first to have gone to the space, to hell with your semantic nonsense, you should be looking at the bigger picture Low IQ slowpoke. I don't really see anything that shows you are an engineer as you claimed.

@9-5,
Haba, why all the insults over this simple story?

Maybe the dude invented a low cost process of extraction but definitely not what the headline suggests. Well done to the young engineer though cos by no means it's an easy job to venture into the world of unknown. With little empowernment maybe just maybe we can finally realise our dreams as a nation.

I remember back in 'em days when I was also cracking my head with the relatively new world of broadband technology.

While many will appreciate the availability of bio-diesel from a local source in Nigeria, my preference for fueling my cars and  private jet is still PRAYER, which, when applied in strict accordance with the anointed procedure specified by Pastor Eunuch Adeboye in a recent Newsweek article, is far more economical and efficient than any liquid or gaseous fuel, since I require only enough phone credit to call heaven for my fuel allocation.

Praise the Lord !

Jakumo:

While many will appreciate the availability of bio-diesel from a local source in Nigeria, my preference for fueling my cars and private jet is still PRAYER, which, when applied in strict accordance with the anointed procedure specified by Pastor Eunuch Adeboye in a recent Newsweek article, is far more economical and efficient than any liquid or gaseous fuel, since I require only enough phone credit to call heaven for my fuel allocation.

Praise the Lord !

People are riding on cars and private jets, boy I need to come home to Nigeria and do like my people. I must be wasting my time in oyinbo country.

People are riding on cars and private jets, boy I need to come home to Nigeria and do like my people. I must be wasting my time in oyinbo country

oh boy. yes, you are missing. Go home.

I do not understand some people on this forum!!.Instead of saying the insults over this  story, we have to realise that it is an opportunity for Nigeria to start a cars productions Made in Nigeria for bio-diesel.

I congratulate the young engineer Mr. Nwakaire Joel  for breaking with the Nigerian tradition, where young science undergraduates just pass exams and then sit behind an airconditioned desk in a bank, oil company, government agency or other administrative functions.  We need more people like him who can channel the creative and physical energy of of their youth to inventions and technological breakthroughs that will help the country.

Having said that, I think we over celebrate little achievements. Making biodiesel from vegetable oil or any other organic oil is not a technological breakthrough, It is a simple esterification process and it has been done for decades. In fact the first biofuel car to run on groundnut oil was demonstrated in 1900 in France.  It is a simple chemical process. Anybody with a little knowledge of G.C.E level chemistry can Google biodiesel and with some motivation, time and money, can produce biodiesel from his backyard.

"Rudolf Diesel, the manufacturer of the diesel engine in 1912 used peanut oil to run diesel engine; but the problem with using the common vegetable oil is the viscocity and clogging of the injector. So we thought about modification. When I brought my report about the use of vegetable oil as an alternative fuel for diesel engine, I told Prof. Onwualu about the problems I encountered.

"He suggested that since this problem stopped scientist Rudolf Diesel from using peanut oil, I should find modifications. I went into research again and I was able to change the vegetable oil, with some reactants into what is called methyl estal which is called bio-diesel.This was done through the verification process."

This statement is false, in fact Rudolf Diesel invented his first engines to run on biofuel because petroleum was  not available then, and had to modify his engines to utilize petroldiesel when petroleum became readily available and cheaper.

He not only had the task of designing a refining process that is functional, he also had to design one that can be replicated easily at minimal cost; and most importantly, one that is affordable, easy to construct, environmentally and that is climate-friendly.

Biodiesel cannot meet all the following criteria in the foreseeable future. Bio-groundnut oil  is very expensive, a litre of groundnut oil is about N500, so how much will it go for after refining. Also you cannot compare the effect on the environment of manufacturing bio groundnut oil to that of extracting and refining petroleum. With groundnut oil, you have to clear large hectres of land for farming, harvest and transport the groundnut to the refinery (using fuels of course), go through additional process of processing the groundnut oil before esterification and refining. With petroleum you just extract, transport and refine.

According to the young inventor, who currently drives his diesel engine Triumph car with the bio-fuel produced by him, the goal of his degree (B.Eng) project was to produce the bio- diesel without using a complicated system but by just using a stove, cooking pot and the right temperature to produce diesel. And it worked.

Joke of the century, someone is calling a system that uses a stove and cooking pot as a complicated system that the industrialized countries of the world who spends billions of dollar on research have not been able to find out.

As i said, it is good that this young man is doing something good by researching, but biodiesel cannot replace petroleum even if it becomes $200 per barrel

The young man did a wonderful invention but of what use is converting gold to iron?1 litre of vegetable oil is as high as 400 naira while diesel goes for less than 100 naira.

Rulers of Nigeria don't like this sort of progress or invention because to them it takes time to see some dollars comes out of it.
To them why waste your time growing groundnut that takes time to grow and harvest, process it to get the oil and do the research on how to extract the bio petrol from it, when they can run down to the South East/South South dip pipe into the ground, get the the black oil by 12 pm, sell it by 1pm and bank it in Switzerland by 2pm. Easy!! pizzie!!

And you want them to waste their time talking about vegetable oil.

Who can forget the car our newspapers proclaimed was ''invented'' by Ezekiel Izuogu? 

Let's not let foreigners see this joke of an article.

^^ English is not a strong point of certain writers in the Nigerian media. Or, it could have been a ploy to generate interest and newspaper sale.

Eziachi:

Rulers of Nigeria don't like this sort of progress or invention because to them it takes time to see some dollars comes out of it.
To them why waste your time growing groundnut that takes time to grow and harvest, process it to get the oil and do the research on how to extract the bio petrol from it, when they can run down to the South East/South South dip pipe into the ground, get the the black oil by 12 pm, sell it by 1pm and bank it in Switzerland by 2pm. Easy!! pizzie!!

And you want them to waste their time talking about vegetable oil.

Turning Vegetable oil into bio-diesel is not an economical viable project on a large scale according to today's economic climate. When we cannot even grow and process enough vegetable oils to eat, how do you think we can grow enough to fill our fuel stations. If vegetable oil now sells for between 400 - 500 naira per litre, how much will it be when we start processing the little we have for fuel?. We have not even researched on how to utilize our huge gas reserves which need little or no processing at all for our energy needs and you are talking of very expensive and non available vegetable oil.

Finally, the main reason why biofuels are not practical now is that it will put too much strain on food production in terms of land, manpower and capital, and its it the teeming masses who need cheap food that will suffer.

NINETOFIVE:

Why would the US bother going to the Space since the Russians were the first to have gone to the space, to hell with your semantic nonsense, you should be looking at the bigger picture Low IQ slowpoke. I don't really see anything that shows you are an engineer as you claimed.

For one your post above proved one thing to me! You have no clue how to think, let along understand what it means to be an Engineer. Are you sure I am the one LOW IQ slowpoke here? The MOON RACE race was not to INVENT anything knew, it was simply a RACE, as in FIRST TO GET TO THE MOON, goon! Roflmao!!!

Kobojunkie, You dey on fire from last night and today, 

PS
I saw the original post, before you edited it!

These goons push you sometimes with their meaningless retorts. Some are too blind to see past their fears of the western world. Imagine asking a simple question and boom, the guy is already bringing US and Russia into this without even checking to see if there is a connection between the two cases! Sometimes you feel they need a swap across the back of the head or something to wake em up!! roflmao!!

There's something really entertaining about the new, aggressive Kobojunkie. I got a kick out of being called 'supposedly intelligent' the other day .

4 Play:

Who can forget the car our newspapers proclaimed was ''invented'' by Ezekiel Izuogu?

Let's not let foreigners see this joke of an article.

EXACTLY!!
Sad thing is, someone will bring this up someday on Nairaland as an example of how Nigeria does not reward 'inventors'. There are still many people here who stubbornly defend that charlatan who claimed he could cure AIDS.

wirinet:

I congratulate the young engineer Mr. Nwakaire Joel for breaking with the Nigerian tradition, where young science undergraduates just pass exams and then sit behind an airconditioned desk in a bank, oil company, government agency or other administrative functions. We need more people like him who can channel the creative and physical energy of of their youth to inventions and technological breakthroughs that will help the country.

Working in offices also helps the country. You think bank workers aren't doing their bit to boost the economy? Abeg no belittle those of us wey dey work o!

Taking up this challenge, which has defied solution for about 100 years, Joel from the department of Agricultural and Bio-resource Engineering used non- consumable vegetables such as Jatropha and algae, to produce what may emerge as Nigeria's first bio-diesel

.

First, i would like to say well done to the young man who has taken the step to do a proper research and come up with this commendable effort!
That aside,i would like to state categorically that this production of Bio-diesel has not defied solution in upgrading it for 100yrs as claimed by the media.
In fact, its has been the major concern of countries like Australia, the UK, Canada, Germany and the Us among others who want to fight over dependence on crude oil. And there has been major break through in that aspect for years now. The major challenge they have had is its sustainability and economic cost.
But its a good effort as it is showing that poor as our research culture is , we are positioning our self globally and hopefully will be able to take steps to secure our future

He not only had the task of designing a refining process that is functional, he also had to design one that can be replicated easily at minimal cost; and most importantly, one that is affordable, easy to construct, environmentally and that is climate-friendly

.

Now this is the area i am interested in and not the so called "Invention".
What were the costs compared against to state it minimal, did it include the full production cost from the farm to bio diesel or what?
Is it really sustainable? Will it compete with food? Is it actually environmentally friendly and the length of time taken to produce a barrel
The capacity at which his plant ran will give impression of how viable the project is or if Nigeria may even have to consider getting this Biodiesel from Pyrolysis of wood, because the yield for that process is actually greater!
Nice effort though, more to be done.

[size=5pt]And can our media get a life pls!! Invention indeed[/size]

Experts say that if this project is adopted by the Nigerian government and other stakeholders, the country may have as well found an alternative to crude oil, spelling an advancement in science and technology and ensuring less importation of fossil fuel

.

Good.

texazzpete:

There's something really entertaining about the new, aggressive Kobojunkie. I got a kick out of being called 'supposedly intelligent' the other day .


Working in offices also helps the country. You think bank workers aren't doing their bit to boost the economy? Abeg no belittle those of us wey dey work o!

I am not trying to underestimate the importance of bank workers, admin worker and service providers as a whole. What i am quarreling with is where the best technical and scientific brains go into banks and administrative jobs, so most of the time we have to import technicians and scientists from abroad to handle technological challenges. We are therefore doomed technologically as a nation, and no nation can develop without technology - indigenous technology.

I have seen chemical engineering, computer engineering, electronic engineering, agic engineering and a host of other science graduate working in the banks and other admin jobs to the detriment of the technical sector.

In normal situations banks and co are supposed to support the technical and innovative sectors of the country, but in Nigeria it is the reverse.

I have nothing against lawyers, accountants, sociologists, business admins, etc working in the banks.

@wirinet
Yeah, but you threw in oil companies etc along with banks as an example of 'administrative work'. That's wrong.

Vegetable oil is more expensive than fuel, so while I applaud this achievement, it's not too helpful.

texazzpete:

@wirinet
Yeah, but you threw in oil companies etc along with banks as an example of 'administrative work'. That's wrong.

Yes, I threw in oil companies because most of the science and technical graduates employed by them are put into administrative duties. Majority of the Technical jobs are handled by foreigners. that is why after over 40 yrs of oil exploitation in Nigeria, we cannot handle the technical side of the oil industry, we are still heavily dependent on foreigners.

Seun:

Vegetable oil is more expensive than fuel, so while I applaud this achievement, it's not too helpful.

Turning Organic oil into bio-diesel in not a major achievement, use google and you will have enough information in 20 mins.

Bio-diesel is a clean burning eco-friendly fuel,though it might be more expensive than petrol,it's far more better for the ever burning up environment. And coming from a country that every thing seems to be by the grace of god or allah,it is quite a commendable achievement and it should be followed up but as always,our blind leaders won't see the need

One of the key solution to african problem is technicality,we gonna have to learn to add up and assemble. We haven't started our industrial age yet,so guys like this are nothing but pioneers,that should be respected.

Nice response tubabie

The article 'over-hypes' this non-original but newsworthy achievement. It is not a 'technological breakthrough' since it has been achieved by others for years now. Given the paucity of funds and the limited technology available to him, it is a laudable achievement. His aptitude for research and ability to improvise and create solutions to problems with available resources should be harnessed.

The talk of 'replacing oil and gas' is simply that - talk. Anyone with a clue to the volumes of oil and gas consumed daily would realise the gargantuan cultivation of seeds that would be required to achieve petrol replacement.

However, I found this portion particularly interesting

Studying the oil refineries in Nigeria, he came up with the Flow System refining process, did more research on this system and arrived at a[b] new system called the Floater. [/b]With this system, he had to fabricate a vegetable oil tank, the reactant tank, a reactor and a separator. The separator separates the methyl estal which is the bio-diesel from the glycerine.

"I also thought about the heating system because in the process, you need heat input. I thought about mixing and separation. In most of the systems examined, I saw that they used[b] a lot of mechanical systems[/b], but I needed to design an affordable system. So, I designed one that uses only[b] one pump.[/b] The pump will do the mixing, and after reaction, it will transfer the mixture, so it does mixing and transferring.

"But this is time-dependent. So, while the reaction finishes, the pump now tranfers the material into a separator. The pump is not idle after this, this system starts again to initiate another reaction while the separation is going on. There is no time the system is dormant. After looking at the flow chart and engineering principles in design and construction, and taking into consideration every system requirement like temperature, pressure and time, we had a good system to do the refining," he explained.

He has a bright future in chemical process design and analysis if he is given opportunities to develop his skills. I would suggest that he engages in further research at the Masters/PhD level to further improve his innate ability.

Calling all Nigerians who would like to be labelled PIONEERS!! Google some recipe, make sure you are within the shores of Nigeria, prepare the product and call the media to announce you just invented something new!!  You might get an award from Yar adua himself for your ingenuity. WOOHOO!!

If thid guy wants to improve his ability and skill he better leaves nigeria.

.

Calling all Nigerians who would like to be labelled PIONEERS!! Google some recipe, make sure you are within the shores of Nigeria, prepare the product and call the media to announce you just invented something new!!  You might get an award from Yar adua himself for your ingenuity. WOOHOO!!

Yaradua is yet to recognose the woman that invented kwulikwuli.

If thid guy wants to improve his ability and skill he better leaves nigeria.

Are we not good enough to take credit for any invention?. I suggest he stays put at home in case something big comes up from his research so that Nigeria can take full credit. I also heard that one guy is doing things to better the new fuel cell technology in this our obodo Nigeria and not obodo oyibo.