ENGINE PERFORMANCE TEST EVALUATION OF BIODIESEL BLENDS FROM CASTOR SEED OIL AT VARYING MIXTURE RATIOS AND ENGINE SPEED

Abstract

The growing global demand for energy with expected fossil fuel shortages stresses the search for alternative energy sources. Moreover, the high fossil energy consumption with its adverse impact on environment and climate changes calls for cleaner fuels. One of the most alternative fuel sources is the extraction of biofuels from Castor oil by acid-based catalysed trans- esterification process. In this study, experimental analysis was carried out to produce biodiesel from castor oil using trans- esterification process. The trans- esterification process occurs between castor oil and methanol in the presence of potassium hydroxide (KOH) as a catalyst. The biodiesel fuel produced was varied at different mixture ratios with diesel. The high viscosity and acid value of the castor oil was further reduced by two-three stage trans-esterification process to within the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) D6751 – 0.2 limits for biodiesel. The biodiesel was tested in a single cylinder diesel engine and results of gas emission, load analysis, fuel consumption rate and engine efficiency were all obtained which are close to those of diesel fuel thus confirming that it can be used as alternative fuel for diesel engines. The Brake thermal efficiency was 96% at B-20 biodiesel blend which is close to the conventional diesel engine efficiency of 95.5%.