Biodiesel

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Today the world needs power from the source that never ends. Biodiesel is the only way to get power without damaging the environment. Biodiesel can be produced by various methods. It can be produced from vegetable oil and animal fats also. Biodiesel is a fuel that can be produced from vegetable waste also. Biodiesel helps in reducing the air pollution.

Biodiesel is a way to reduce the dependancy on diesel and petrol. Now a day, every country wants to get a new source of energy, without hampering the environment. In this regard, many researchers have almost predicted that the biodiesel derived from different sources has potential that it can be used in IC engines without alteration of the previous design parameters.

Needs of Biodiesel - Biodiesel fullfill the crisis of energy. Biodiesel is a fuel that can be easily produced from renewable sources. Emissions from road vehicles are major contributors of air pollution, which is very sensitive issue in Delhi and China. Biodiesel helps to run the engine with less production of air pollutants. It helps to reduce the air pollution. The engine optimization is achieved with biodiesel as it emits less carbon dioxide as compared to the engine running with diesel. The most promising nature of biofuel is that it can be utilised in the existing design of diesel engine without alteration. Biodiesel is very friendly to the diesel engine as it is not easy to remove engine hardware frequently.

Definition of Biodiesel - Biodiesel is basically polymer of ester. It is basically a well-defined long chain of fatty acid. It is better than the previous existing fuels. In the esterification process, firstly the triglycerides changes into di-glycerides, and then from diglycerides the mono-glycerides is obtained. In last step, mono-glycerides comes out with glycerin.

Triglycerides + Alcohol = Esters + Glycerin

Basically Esterification process helps to reduce the viscosity present in the biodiesel that is produced from vegetable oil and renewable resources. If the biodiesel is directly used in the diesel engine, it may damage the internal part of the engine because it has high viscosity. Due to viscosity, the internal parts of the diesel engine may slip or collapse while it is running.

Methods used for Production of Biodiesel -

1. Conventional Mechanical Stirring Method - The mechanical stirring method is used to mix the methanol and catalyst properly. This method is the cheapest way to get biodiesel.

The mechanical stirring machine consists of three major components : temperature controller, speed controller and magnetic stirrer. The temperature controller is used for maintaining the suitable temperature inside the beaker. The speed controller is used to control the speed of rotation of solution inside the beaker. The magnetic stirrer is the component which helps to mix the methanol and oil nicely by stirring the solution inside the beaker. The one should use induction heater to heat the solution inside the beaker.

Steps involed in production of the biodiesel-

1) Take sesame oil in beaker.

2) Take methanol and add catalyst in it.

3) Then mix it properly.

4) Put the solution on mechanical stirring machine.

5) Collect the biodiesel after stirring and settling process.

2 . Ultrasonic Cavitation Method- It is used nowadays as it produces more biodiesel from the oil. This method is costly method for biodiesel production, but less time consuming method.

There are many important parts of Ultrasonic horn type processor, such as start button, transducer horn and supporting tray. The start button is used for starting the machine. Supporting tray with sliding motion is used to support the beaker for stirring process. The main part of horn type processor is transducer horn. It helps to mix the solution of methanol and oil properly for extracting the biodiesel.

Steps involved in the production of the biodiesel -

1) The first step to produce the biodiesel is to mix oil with alcohol.

2) Mix the catalyst with the solution.

3) Put the solution in beaker.

4) Start the horn type ultrasonic machine.

5) Collect the biodiesel after the process of stirring and settling.

3. Soxhlet Extractor Method- It is very expensive method to produce the biodiesel from the vegetable waste. This method is very costly method for biodiesel manufacturing and is time consuming method also. Precautions should be taken while handling the apparatus. Soxhlet Extractor of mainly three components which are as follows; boiling flask, extraction chamber and last condenser. For heating purpose, the heating mantle is used.

Diagram of Soxhlet Extractor

The application of the apparatus with Hexane should be handled properly, otherwise it will cause accident.

Experimental procedure required for biodiesel production -

1) Firstly arrange the sesame seeds or any other plant seeds from market.

2) Then grind the seed properly by grinder.

3) Take a white cloth.

4) Put the grinded seed properly on the cloth, tie it.

5) Place the cloth containing seed above the boiling flask.

6) Start the heating mantle. The heating should be able to get biodiesel.

7) The biodiesel is collected by extractor chamber.

Biodiesel can be used as the fuel in vehicle, if it has following properties -

Biodiesel are used as fuel in vehicle nowadays. Fuel in vehicle must have some qualities. It should fulfill some parameters.

1) Availability of the fuel.

2) Cost of the fuel.

3) Exhaust gas should release less harmful gases.

4) It should run with the engine nicely.

Today the world needs the fuel that will not end. The biodiesel is the appropriate option because it can be produced by the plants. Biodiesel can be blended with the diesel and can be used as a fuel in engine. The engine running with the blended biodiesel gives the required result. B20 is the mixture of 20% biodiesel and 80% diesel. This B20 blend gives the appropriate result similar to the result of the diesel. The engine running with the biodiesel fulfill the requirement.

Description of the different types of blends of biodiesel-

Types of blends	amount of biodiesel	diesel
Diesel	0	1000
B20	200	800
B40	400	600
B60	600	400
B80	800	200
B100	1000	0

There are the various changes that are required for the biodiesel performance test. There should be a engine that is consist of the one cylinder and four stroke diesel engine. They should be connected to the Eddy current type dynamometer for loading and water cooling jacket also should be there. The setup should also consists of the stand-alone panel box and air box, fuel and oil tank, manometer, fuel measuring unit, transmitter for air and the fuel flow measurement.

There should be Piezo sensor and there should be crank angle sensor also. The load sensor, load indicator and temperature sensor should be there in the setup. The enginesoft is the software that is used for analysing the performance of the engine.

The diesel can be used as the fuel. There are two types of emission measuring equipment. First one is the smoke metre and second one is the exhaust gas analyser. Both can be used for measuring, calculating and analysing the information of exhaust products of the engine.

For more details about the biodiesel, please click here on the link,

Topic - Biodiesel used as fuel in vehicle

: https://www.connectclue.com/article/details/BLUR0071622208458675/data

Advantages of biodiesel -

1) The biodiesel is collected from various types of plant seeds.

2) When vehicle uses the biodiesel as fuel, it generates less carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide.

3) It is argued that biodiesel can be produced by renewable resources, therefore Biodiesel is easily accessible and available.

Disadvantages of biodiesel -

1) The biodiesel produces more nitrogen dioxide than diesel.

2) The work efficiency of the engine is lesser than the engine working with diesel.

The parts of the engine gets lubricated due to the use of the biodiesel.

The main remarkable facts about the biodiesel is that it can be used in engine without any modifications of internal parts of the engine. The decrease in the magnitude of efficiency of the engine working with the biodiesel, causes the research to pay attention on the engine optimization. The optimization of engine is determined by considering the load provided to vichecle and the efficiency of the engine.