Production and Performance of Biodiesel from Palm Fatty Acid Distillate

Abstract

Abstract Nowadays exhaustion of fossil fuel, increasing fuel price and the scarcity of petroleum products exist. It promotes the interest in the growth of alternative sources for petroleum-based fuel. Biodiesel is renewable fuel obtained from vegetable oil, animal fats and algae. The biodiesel from palm oil has been considered as the most merging alternate fuel used for transportation. The esterification and transesterification process is employed to extract biodiesel from PFAD due to high FFA content. In the esterification process, 2% of H2SO4 as an acidic catalyst with 12:1 molar ratio at 60°C temperature for 60 min was used as process parameters. In the transesterification process 0.5% KOH, 8:1 molar ratio is mixed at 60°C for 60 min. The properties of oil such as density, viscosity, flash point, fire point, etc., have been analysed. The biodiesel is blended with standard diesel and tested in DI diesel engine for its performance and emissions. The performance of test fuel is plotted for the various blends of biodiesel at the different loading conditions. The performance attributes such as brake thermal efficiency, specific fuel consumption, have been calculated and compared with the diesel. Brake Thermal Efficiency comparatively low for biodiesel and it blends due to lower calorific value. The emission attributes such as carbon monoxide, hydrocarbon and smoke are found to decrease with an increase in the blending ratio of biodiesel. The NOx is found to increase for biodiesel and its blends compared to diesel due to better combustion.