Vegetable Oil Case Study

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B. Properties of vegetable oil: Biodiesel is a better fuel than diesel fuel in terms of sulphur content, flash point, and aromatic content. The fuel characteristics of biodiesel are close to diesel fuels, and therefore biodieselbecomes a strong alternative to replace the diesel fuels. The conversion of triglycerides into methyl or ethyl esters through the transesterifcation process reduces the molecular weight to one-third that of the triglyceride reduces the viscosity by a factor of about eight and increases the volatility marginally. These esters contain 10 to 11% oxygen by weight, which may improve combustion as compared to hydrocarbon based diesel fuels in an engine. The cetane number of biodiesel is around 50 which are higher than diesel. The use of tertiary fatty amines and amides can be effective in enhancing the ignition quality of the diesel fuel without having any negative effect on its cold flow properties. Since the volatility increases marginally, the starting problem persists in cold conditions. Biodiesel has lower volumetric heating values (about 12%) than diesel fuels but has a high cetane number and flash point. Some of the desirable fuel properties of biodiesel derived from different vegetable oils are presented in Table 1. Table1. Property of vegetable oil and diesel fuel Properties Diesel Mahua oil …show more content…

The performance characteristics of the engine with pure diesel a blended diesel fuel have been compared. From the results obtained, it is understood that the thermal efficiency is slightly less with biodiesel when compared with pure Diesel. This is due to addition of oxygen atoms with increase in value of blending. And specific fuel consumption is slightly higher with bio-diesel when compared with pure diesel due to the lower calorific value of the biodiesel. It is concluded that the biodiesel can be used as alternative fuel in the Diesel engine without any engine

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