L.M. Das
Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi, India
Title: Biodiesel production from non-edible feed stocks and its potential application as a low emission fuel for urban and rural sectors
Biography
Biography: L.M. Das
Abstract
It is well known that several important sectors of present lifestyle both in urban and rural sector has been very badly hit from two major crises arising out of fossil fuel depletion and rapid environmental degradation due to combustion of conventional fuels.
The present work describes the production of biodiesel from a variety of typical non-edible Indian feedstocks which can be grown under adverse situations. The yield of Biodiesel obtained from Methanolysis was more than 97 per cent by having oil to Methanol molar ratio 12:1. Various blends of diesel and biodiesel were prepared, and long-term storage stability consideration was investigated using antioxidants at various concentrations. Amongst several antioxidants, Propyl Gallate(PrG)was observed to be very effective. The oxidative stability showed an increasing trend with a higher concentration of antioxidant level.
Blends of various proportions were tested in the engine and B20(20% by volume of biodiesel added to 8o% by volume of petrodiesel), Subsequently, exhaustive engine tests were carried out with a B20 fuel blend. Performance characteristics and exhaust emission characteristics were evaluated over a wide range of engine operating conditions. The brake thermal efficiency (BTE) of the engine showed improvement in the biodiesel-blended fuel (B20) as compared with neat diesel operation. Brake specific fuel consumption was also lower for B20 operation. There were no symptoms of any undesirable combustion phenomena during the entire range of engine operation.
After carrying out long term endurance tests in the typical engines used in genet’s and vehicles, a field test was successfully carried out on prototypes. Long term vehicle tests established the feasibility of biodiesel as a regular low- emission substitute to conventional diesel fuels for transport, power, agriculture and several other applications.