Biodiesel from Coconut Oil: A Renewable Alternative Fuel for Diesel Engine

Authors: Md A. Hossain, Shabab M. Chowdhury, Yamin Rekhu, Khandakar S. Faraz, Monzur Ul Islam

Abstract:

With the growth of modern civilization and industrialization in worldwide, the demand for energy is increasing day by day. Majority of the world-s energy needs are met through fossil fuels and natural gas. As a result the amount of fossil fuels is on diminishing from year to year. Since the fossil fuel is nonrenewable, so fuel price is gouging as a consequence of spiraling demand and diminishing supply. At present the power generation of our country is mainly depends on imported fossil fuels. To reduce the dependency on imported fuel, the use of renewable sources has become more popular. In Bangladesh coconut is widely growing tree. Especially in the southern part of the country a large area will be found where coconut tree is considered as natural asset. So, our endeavor was to use the coconut oil as a renewable and alternative fuel. This article shows the prospect of coconut oil as a renewable and alternative fuel of diesel fuel. Since diesel engine has a versatile uses including small electricity generation, an experimental set up is then made to study the performance of a small diesel engine using different blends of bio diesel converted from coconut oil. It is found that bio diesel has slightly different properties than diesel. With biodiesel the engine is capable of running without difficulty. Different blends of bio diesel (i.e. B80, B60, and B 50 etc.) have been used to avoid complicated modification of the engine or the fuel supply system. Finally, a comparison of engine performance for different blends of biodiesel has been carried out to determine the optimum blend for different operating conditions.

Keywords: Biodiesel, Bio-fuel, Renewable Energy, Transesterification

Digital Object Identifier (DOI): doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1057937

References:

[1] Peterson C.L., Cruz R.O., Perkings L., Korus R., Auld D.L., Transesterification of vegetable oil for use as diesel fuel: A progress report., ASAE Paper 1990, No. 90-610.
[2] Graboski M.S., McCormick R.L., Combustion of fat and vegetable oil derived fuels in diesel engines. Prog. Energy Combust. Sc., 1998, 24, p. 125-164.
[3] Al Widyan M.I., Al Shyoukh A.O., Experimental evaluation of the transesterification of waste palm oil into biodiesel, Bioresources Technology, 2002, 85(3), p. 253-256.
[4] Lang X., Dalai A.K., Bakhshi N.N., Reaney M.J., Hert P.B., Preparation and characterization of biodiesels from various biooils, Bioresces Technology, 2001, 80, p. 53-62.
[5] Ramadhas A.S., Jayaraj S. and Muraleedharan C., Biodiesel production from high FFA rubber seed oil. Fuel, 2005, 84, p. 335-340.
[6] Felizardo P., Correira M.J.N., Raposo I., Mendes J.F., Berke-Meier R., Bordado J., Production of biodiesel from waste frying oil., Waste Management, 2006, 26, p. 487-494.
[7] Yong W., Ou S., Liu P., Zhang Z., Preparation of biodiesel from waste cooking oil via two-step catalyzed process, Energy Conversion Management., 2007, 48, p. 184-188.
[8] Alamu O.J, Waheed M.A., Jekayinfa S.O., Biodiesel Production from Nigerian Palm Kernel Oil: Effect of KOH Concentration on Yield", Energy for Sustainable Development, 2007, XI(3), p. 77-82.
[9] Munack A., Schroder O., Krahl J., Bunger J., Comparison of relevant exhaust gas emissions from biodiesel and fossil diesel fuel. Agricultural Engineering International: the CIGR Journal of Scientific Research and Development. Manuscript EE 01 001 Vol. III, 2001.
[10] Ajav E.A., Akingbehin A.O., A study of some fuel properties of local ethanol blended with diesel fuel. Agricultural Engineering International: the CIGR Journal of Scientific Research and Development. Manuscript EE01 003 Vol. IV, 2002.
[11] Y.Yosimoto, M.Onoodera and H.Tamaki "Production and Emmision Charecteristics of Diesel Engine Fuelled by Vegetable Oils " The Society of Automotive Engineers, No.2001-01-1807,2001.
[12] Y Rekhu, S M Chowdhury2011 " Production of biodiesel as an alternative fuel "PI-209, 1st International Conference on Mechanical Engineering & Renewable Energy (ICMERE-20 11), CUET, Chittagong.
[13] Kavitha P.L., Studies on transesterified mahua oil as an alternative fuel for diesel engines. M.Sc. thesis: Anna University, Chennal-600 025. India,(2003).
[14] Van Gerpen J., Biodiesel processing and production. Fuel Processing Technolngy, 2004, XX, p.1-11.
[15] Chitra P., Venkatachalam P., Sampathrajan A., Optimisation of experimental conditions for biodiesel production from alkali-catalysed transesterification of Jatropha curcus oil. Energy for Sustainable Development, 2005, IX(3), p. 13-18.
[16] Alcantara R., Amores J., Canoira L., Fidalgo E., Franco M.J., Navarro A. Catalytic production of biodiesel from soybean oil, used frying oil and tallow. Biomass and Bio energy, 2000, p. 515-527.