Production optimization of Vateria Indica biodiesel and performance evaluation of its blends on compression ignition engine

Abstract

The rapid depletion of fossil fuels and the increasing levels of exhaust gas emissions have paved the way for researchers to focus their attention on alternative fuels. One such potential alternative source of fuel is biodiesel. In the light of the search for newer fuels, the present work focuses on Vateria Indica biodiesel that is found widely in Western Ghats of India and Srilanka. The work reports on the extraction of Vateria Indica oil, preparation of its biodiesel and performance testing of biodiesel blends on compression ignition engine (diesel engine). The oil and biodiesel yields have been optimized by Response Surface Methodology (RSM) and are found to be 23% and 85% respectively. The performance test results of Vateria Indica biodiesel blends on diesel engine have indicated that the brake thermal efficiency (BTE) was found to be lower and the brake specific fuel consumption (BSFC) was found to be higher for B10 (90% diesel+10% biodiesel), B20 (80% diesel+20% biodiesel) and B30 (70% diesel+30% biodiesel) blends compared to neat diesel. The performance characteristics of B10 blend were very close to neat diesel. The combustion characteristics of biodiesel blends were found to be superior compared to neat diesel. The B30 blend has better combustion characteristics compared to B10 and B20 blends. The emissions of unburnt hydrocarbons (UBHC), carbon monoxide (CO) and smoke were lower, and oxides of nitrogen (NOX) were higher for all the blends of biodiesel compared to neat diesel.