Newcastle University

Dr Adam Harvey and Dr Jon Lee, with PhD students Rabitah Zakaria and Khairizal Mahat, are investigating methods of producing biodiesel from oilseed crops in the minimum number of process steps. This should lead to relatively inexpensive process plants that lend themselves to business models such as distributed production, via the design of small portable plants that could be situated on-farm.

One of the main elements of the research is investigating direct conversion of oilseeds to biodiesel, rather than separately crushing to oil (a very capital and running cost-intensive process) and then converting to biodiesel. So far this research has mostly been concerned with rapeseed oil, as this is the main oil feedstock in Europe, but in India there is particular interest in using non-edible oilseeds (jatropha and pongamia) that can be grown on marginal land, as there is considerable debate about the possibility of future conflicts between growing fuel and growing food. Over the next three years, following a successful bid to UKIERI, we will be extending the research to look at these non-edible oilseed crops, in collaboration with the Indian Institute of Petroleum, Dehradun. This will involve exchanges of staff and students between the 2 institutions every year.

Dr Harvey and Dr Lee's research was recently reported in The Times Higher Education: