Production and Comparison of Fuel Properties for Various Biodiesels

Abstract

The improvement of an automobile industry, growth in population and development of the world causes energy demand. At the same time, depletion of fossil fuels and increased environmental issues like the greenhouse effect and emissions from automated vehicles create a major demand for the search of alternative fuels. So, it is important to select an alternative fuel that can be obtained from vegetable oils, biodiesel, alcohol, etc., as renewable resources. Production of biodiesel from edible oil is a very good alternate, but in future food, shortage problems may occur. Due to this, non-edible vegetable oils are considered potential substitutes of edible food crops for biodiesel production. Azadirachta indica (neem), cottonseed, Calophyllum inophyllum (polanga), Jatropha curcas (jatropha), Linum usitatissimum (linseed), Madhuca indica (mahua), Nicotianna tabacum (tobacco) and Pongamia pinnata (karanja) are few non-edible oils. Thermophysical properties, production and characteristics of A. indica (neem), cottonseed and sesame oils are studied in detail in this paper. The real difficulty with an alternate fuel is that its higher viscosity value which increments concerning time, thus prompts cylinder staying, gum formation and fuel atomization issues. Mainly this problem is resolved with the help of transesterification process. So, initially, the basic properties are estimated and tabulated in this paper. From the three different fuels such as neem oil, cottonseed feedstock and sesame oil, properties are estimated, and it is found that the values are very close to base diesel fuel.