Citrullus colocynthis - an experimental investigation with enzymatic lipase based methyl esterified biodiesel

Abstract

The intensification of energy claim and inadequate fossil fuel wealth instruct the way to renewable-based energy development that is to say vegetable oils, seed oils, plants oil and animal fats and etc. The experimental study investigated the significance of biodiesel replaced for diesel. The biodiesel is obtained by two intrinsic methods from Citrullus colocynthis, one with methyl ester and other with enzymatic lipase-based methyl ester transesterification process. The process involves Fe3O4+ thermomyces lanuginosus lipase as a catalyst for transesterification. The fuel extruded from these methods is tested with a single cylinder four stroke DI diesel engine to investigate the performance emission and combustion parameters. Initially, Novel immobilization-based lipase transesterification method was involved in the extrusion of oil from Citrullus colocynthis seed and a yield of 90% with a time frame of 0 to 73 h, the extrusion was also escalated with conventional transesterification. The investigation shows that the fuel undergoes good combustion and the performance parameters were improved which in turns reflects the reduction of emission. The brake thermal efficiency of lipase immobilized biodiesel (Blend-L) is 29.86% at full load condition which is fairly less than diesel (31.33%) followed by a value of 28.93% at full load condition for conventional transesterified biodiesel. When the fuels are combusted the heat release rate and peak pressure is quite less than diesel fuel for Blend-L. The emission parameters such as PM and NOx are comparatively high than diesel and the remaining emission showed significantly reduced values.