biodiesel

AUTHORS:

D.KRANTIKUMAR A.S.LALITHA PAVANI

Dept. of Mechanical Engineering (3/4),

J.B.I.E.T,

Moinabad.

Email:kranti_kumar2123@yahoo.com

ABSTRACT

BioDiesel, an alternative fuel, can be produced from vegetable oils. BioDiesel has many advantages. They
are cheap and renewable, they disperse profits and are safe to store (due to high flash point). They need
nothing new to be invented to run the present form of C .I. engines, are kinder on the engines, have a long
shelf life, are biodegradable and have an eco-friendly exhaust. The engines running on this fuel give
equally good performance. The plants which can be cultivated for this purpose are Neem, Karanja, Kusum,
Palm, Linseed, Jatropha, and Pongamia. The efficacy of BioDiesel as an automotive fuel is well recognized.
Several countries including U.S.A. are substituting the conventional mineral diesel by BioDiesel to address
the issues of air quality and energy security. The availability of wastelands, presence of a variety of non-
edible oil seeds and plants, prospects of development of rural economy, biodegradability and emission
benefits are some of the positive attributes which qualify BioDiesel especially its blends to be a prominent
contender for substituting mineral diesel in India . Moreover, the technological requirements for process
and production of BioDiesel being comparatively less cumbersome and its ability to fuel an existing diesel
vehicle with no or minor modifications also make it a promising alternate fuel .

BIODIESEL ON ROAD TO FUELING THE FUTURE

INTRODUCTION :

“There is no Virtue like NECESSITY” . For the very existence of human beings today transportation is
become a basic necessity. The rate at which the conventional fuels are depleting gives perfect evidence to
this fact. If consumption of these fuels continues to increase past the year 2020, it will take only another
twenty one years to consume an amount of oil consumed in the entire twentieth century. The estimate is
approximately nine hundred billion barrels out of which transportation will alone consume sixty percent.

“What cannot be cured must be endured”. The present situation of the conventional fuels can neither be
cured nor endured. This leads us to the pursuit of alternate fuels which has already begun. Research in this
field is in progress. Many alternatives like hydrogen fuel are being examined to replace the existing fuels.
BioDiesel (derived from vegetable and animal oils) is one such promising greener alternative. We have
concentrated on few such oils which can be used in a compression ignition engine and our experiments are
in progress.

BIODIESEL:

DEFINATION GENERAL: BioDiesel is the name of a clean burning alternative fuel, produced from domestic,
renewable resources. BioDiesel contains no petroleum, but it can be blended at any level with petroleum
diesel to create a BioDiesel blend.

DEFINATION TEC HNIC AL: BioDiesel is mono-alkyl ester of long chain fatty acids derived from vegetable
oils and animal fats. It refers to pure fuel before blending with diesel fuels.

BioDiesel is not the same thing as raw vegetable oil. Fuel-grade BioDiesel must be produced to strict
industry specifications, in order to ensure proper performance. BioDiesel is the only alternative fuel to
have completed the health effects testing requirements of the 1990 C lean Air Act Amendments. BioDiesel
is better for the environment because it has lower emission compared to petroleum diesel. Since BioDiesel
is made from renewable resource, our dependence on the non-renewable sources decreases drastically.

The need for special handling and storage dose not pose a problem as standard storage and handling
procedures used for petroleum diesel can be used.

Vegetable oils undergo a process called Transesterification to give BioDiesel as a product. Experiments
have shown that BioDiesel derived from non-edible oil seeds can be used in the existing designs of the
diesel vehicles without any substantial modification of the engine.

A blend of BioDiesel with mineral diesel (mixed by percentage volume) can be directly used in the
compression ignition or diesel engine. Major automobile manufacturers have approved the use of 10-20%
blend of BioDiesel (10-20% of BioDiesel mixed with remaining amount of petroleum diesel) in their
vehicles. In an experiment conducted for a long run performance of a multi cylinder diesel engine run on
BioDiesel blend gave satisfactory results.

The plants which can be cultivated for this purpose are Neem, Karanja, Kusum, Palm, Linseed, Jatropha,
Pongamia, etc. Some of these plants, especially Jatropha, can be grown in areas with low availability of
water and even in deserts. It is for this reason that the Planning C ommission is also thinking of starting a
National Mission on Jatropha C urcas, which includes large scale plantation, collection of seed and setting up
of Transesterification plants for production of BioDiesel.

WHY BIODIESEL:

BioDiesel is an oxygenate. Hence it helps in complete combustion and hence reduces the by-products of
combustion like carbon-mono-oxide, hydrocarbons, etc. Jatropha is characterized by particularly favorable
ignition properties.

A Pongamia tree yields 9 to 90 kilograms of seed per year. One kilo of seed produced gives one fourth a
kilo of oil. One kilo liter of oil can produce three units of electricity.

Last year India imported about two thirds of the total petroleum consumed and it coasted an estimated cost
of Rs.80,000 crores. A replacement of five percent of BioDiesel would have cut the bill by Rs.4000 crores.
According to Economic Survey of India, about 175 million hectares of land is classified as waste and
degraded land. This land can be very well used to produce BioDiesel.

POTENTIAL BIODIESELS ON CARDS

Jatropha and Pongamia oils are two major kinds of BioDiesel on which research work is going on. Jatropha
is a drought resistant plant, living up to fifty years and growing on marginal soils. The seeds of Pongamia
Pinnata yield Pongam oil, a bitter, red brown, thick, non-drying, non-edible oil, 27-36% by weight. It is a
hardy tree which mines its water from a depth of ten meters, without competing with other crops.

The first trial run of a train using diesel blended with natural, non-edible oil took place on Dec 31, 2002 .
The Shatabdi between Delhi and Amritsar used a 5% blend of Jatropha oil with diesel. The run was
satisfactory and the Railways are now planning for a ‘full-fledged', high profile run. This is a major
breakthrough because India 's largest consumer of diesel can save about Rs.150 crores in their annual fuel
bill. This estimate is only when a blend of 5% is used. The railways are planning to plant Jatropha plants
along the tracks (in an estimated area of about 500 hectares) as they are shrubs and therefore do not
block view.

In a conference at New Delhi on “Ethanol and BioDiesel” the deputy Prime Minister and the Minister for
Petroleum announced that the Government of India has decided to spend Rs.20,000 crores (equivalent to 4
billion United States Dollars) in the next five years to promote the research and development in this fields.

The inexpensive pre-combustion chamber diesel engine of Indian origin require only an addition of fuel
filter to be run on pure Jatropha oil, thus eliminating the need for gas-oil. At maximum load conditions, the
Jatropha oil gives even better results than gas-oil because of its oxygen content.

RECENT DEVELOPMENTS:

In recent development the State run busses of Haryana are running on BioDiesel. The future of India looks
safe and free of pollution if all the States and Union Territories of India start to run busses on BioDiesel.

Government of India has taken serious steps for development in this field. The planning commission of
India has asked State Governments to take up plantations of Jatropha and Pongamia. Public and Private
Joint Enterprises have taken up five year projects in which two plantations in different climatic conditions
are grown. The plantations grow in different climatic conditions.

Women of Self Help Groups in Karnataka are running Oil Mills costing Rs.3,50,000. They have revenue of
Rs.600 to Rs.800 a day. Similar projects are coming up in southern and costal Andhra Pradesh. In these
places, there is availability of BioDiesel which is helping these women SHGs. The Governments are helping
SHGs to come up such projects.

TRANSESTERIFICATION PROCESS

The figure shown above shows the general process of Transesterification of vegetable oils. The methyl
ester formed from the Transesterification process of the vegetable oils of animal fats is 100 % BioDiesel
that can be directly used in the compression ignition engines. Technically this kind of BioDiesel is called
B100.

EXPERIMENT:

The following are the results of an experiment conducted with BSF10 (blend of diesel 90% and sunflower oil
10% by volume) on a double cylinder compression ignition engine in the laboratory of Noor C ollege of
Engineering and Technology, Shadnagar (affiliated to J.N.T.U. Hyderabad).

PROPERTIES OF FUEL TESTED:

Calorific Value : C alorific value of a fuel is the thermal energy released per unit quantity of a fuel when
the fuel is burned completely. The calorific value can be determined by using Bomb C alorimeter.

Flash and Fire Points : Flash point of the lubricating oil is the minimum temperature of which it gives of
sufficient vapour so as to form an explosive mixture with air. If the oil is heated further a stage will reach
when it will begin to burn continuously on applying a flame on it, this temperature is called a fire point.
Flash and fire points are determined by using Ables Apparatus.

RESULTS : The following results were obtained in the test performed.

Property (Units) 100% diesel DSF10

C alorific Value
(KJ/Kg)
42,000 41,560
Flash point

(°C ) 50 41
Fire point

(°C ) 55 56

BP(KW) 0.856 1.28 1.7 2.28

Mechanical
Efficiency 0.3794 0.4604 0.5312 0.6031

GRAPH : The following is a graph showing the Mechanical Efficiency vs Brake

Power for the obtained results.

90% DIESEL + 10% SUNFLOWER OIL.

X-AXIS BRAKE POWER

Y-AXIS MEC HANIC AL EFFIC IENC Y

DISADVANTAGES:

1. The major disadvantage is that the BioDiesel is a very viscous or thick fluid and the process of
Transesterification reduces the viscosity of the fuel.
2. The initial time delay and the initial cost involved is an effecting factor. It may take two to three
years for the plantations setup to give yield.
3. In cooler places, starting of the engines running on BioDiesel can pose a problem because freezing
of waxes and gums takes place in oil. This can be over come by the process of simple heating.

CONCLUSION:

E.F.Schumacher wrote in the foreword to ‘Forest Farming, Prosperity for India ', “ Traveling through India ,
I came to the conclusion that there was no salvation to India except through trees.” In my opinion for India
to develop the use of BioDiesel can help in four ways.

Mainly India will become self sufficient in oil if we take up large scale production of BioDiesel. India need
not spend money to import oil from foreign countries. The by-products obtained after the production of
BioDiesel also bring in income.

Secondly the vehicle pollution decreases to a large extent. The toxic gases like carbon-monoxide released
into the atmosphere are reduced to a larger extent.

Thirdly afforestation can be achieved. This helps in the reduction of global warming and reduction of
carbon-di-oxide levels in the atmosphere.

Fourthly afforestation helps in the increase in the amount of rainfall.

Reference: 1. www.thehindu.com

• www.biodiesel.org

C reated by Department of C SE