Influence of Ethanol and Di-Ethyl Ether Addition on Fuel Properties of Sunflower Oil Methyl Ester

Abstract

Ever increasing cost of petroleum products demands more research in the area of new and alternate energy including solar, wind, biofuel and hybrid energy systems. Vegetable oil methyl ester is one of the promising alternate fuels that can be used as a substitute for diesel in the countries that are cultivating more agricultural products. In the present work, the analysis of physical properties such as calorific value, viscosity, flash and fire point temperatures of Sunflower oil methyl Ester have been made. The sunflower methyl ester has been prepared by transesterification process from pure sunflower oil in the presence of methanol and NaOH. Further, property enhancement of sunflower oil methyl ester has also been made by adding different additives such as ethanol and Di-Ethyl Ether in various proportions. Sunflower oil Methyl Ester (SME) with 1%, 3%, 5% ethanol or Di-Ethyl Ether and mixture of (Ethanol and DI-Ethyl Ether) has been analysed for the fuel properties. The investigation shows that the flash and fire point temperatures and viscosity of sunflower methyl ester decrease with increasing the additives. The calorific value of 20 percent biodiesel blend (B20) of SME with 5% Ethanol additive is very close to that of diesel.