Abstract
Biodiesel is one of the more recent green fuel products in the world. It can be produced from several raw materials such as straight vegetable oils, animal fats, tallow, and waste cooking oils, and blended with diesel. Properties of biodiesel are different compared to fossil diesel in terms of production methods and emission levels released after combustion in an internal combustion engine. Kuwait consumes a huge amount of energy which is almost 8% to meet the increasing demand for electricity and water. Moreover, the use of electricity in the production of biodiesel increases energy use and cost of production. Kuwait is receiving an amount of solar irradiation ranging from 2050 kWh/m2 to 2100 kWh/m2. The present study is concerned with the evaluation of the potential to use solar energy to produce biodiesel from sheep fat waste as a raw material. An experimental test rig was set up for a single cylinder diesel engine in the laboratory, where a solar power system was used to assist the production process of biodiesel from tallow waste. The biodiesel is then blended with diesel at different volume percentages, such as graded as B20, B50, B75 and B100, respectively. The exhaust gases such as oxygen, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, nitric oxide and nitric dioxide where also analyzed. An optimum decrease in values of nitric oxide levels was observed at the load of 51%, 68%, 85% and 93% during the operation at blend of biodiesel B20, B50, B75 and B100, respectively. Nitric dioxide was decreased at the load of 51%, 68% and 85% during the operation using B20, B50 and B75, respectively. Optimum SFC was achieved at B20, B50 and B75 during high loads of 85% and 93%. It can be concluded that sheep tallow biodiesel shows a promising result in terms of fuel consumption and environmental emissions of greenhouse gases.
Highlights
Energy is a very important factor for human endeavors
This is due to their respective chemical constructions; all biodiesels have invariably the same amount of excessive O2 compared with diesel fuel
The produced biodiesel was blended in different ratios and comparisons were carried out with the conventional diesel fuels
Summary
Energy is a very important factor for human endeavors. It is needed for economic growth and basic human needs such as food and health [1]. Most of the world’s energy sources are from coal, petrochemical and natural gases [5] These sources have been reported to be finite and will be depleted shortly due to the current rate of consumption [6]. These situations have led to the search for environmental and sustainable sources of energy Sustainable energy sources such as solar, biomass, geothermal, wind and hydro are renewable and readily available, and can be obtained at an affordable cost with less impact on the environment. These energy sources can adversely lead to long-term sustainable development [7]. This study investigated the development of solar energy powered biodiesel production using animal fat wastes from sheep tallow to analyze and characterize the properties of biodiesel produced from sheep tallow and to determine the effect of solar energy on the performance of a biodiesel reactor
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