Biodiesel as an Alternative Fuel for Diesel Engines

Authors: F. Halek, A. Kavousi, M. Banifatemi

Abstract:

There is growing interest in biodiesel (fatty acid methyl ester or FAME) because of the similarity in its properties when compared to those of diesel fuels. Diesel engines operated on biodiesel have lower emissions of carbon monoxide, unburned hydrocarbons, particulate matter, and air toxics than when operated on petroleum-based diesel fuel. Production of fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) from rapeseed (nonedible oil) fatty acid distillate having high free fatty acids (FFA) was investigated in this work. Conditions for esterification process of rapeseed oil were 1.8 % H2SO4 as catalyst, MeOH/oil of molar ratio 2 : 0.1 and reaction temperature 65 °C, for a period of 3h. The yield of methyl ester was > 90 % in 1 h. The amount of FFA was reduced from 93 wt % to less than 2 wt % at the end of the esterification process. The FAME was pureed by neutralization with 1 M sodium hydroxide in water solution at a reaction temperature of 62 °C. The final FAME product met with the biodiesel quality standard, and ASTM D 6751.

Keywords: Alternative Fuels, Biodiesel, Fatty Acid, MethylEster, Seed Oil, Transesterification.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI): doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1070841

References:

[1] A. S. Ramadhas, S. Jayaraj, and C. Muraleedharan, "Use of vegetable oils as I.C. engine fuel - A Rview." Renewable Energy, vol. 29, pp. 727- 742, 2004.
[2] H. Fukuda, A. Kondo, and H. Noda, "Biodiesel fuel production by transesterification of oils." Journal of Bioscience and Bioengineering, vol. 92, pp. 405-416, 2001.
[3] C. Carraretto, A. Macor, A. Mirandola, A. Stoppato, and S. Tonon, "Biodiesel as alternative fuel: experimental analysis and energetic evaluations." Energy, vol. 29, pp. 2195-2211, 2004.
[4] P. E. Dick Talley, (2004, February). "Biodiesel." Biosource Fuels Inc., Available: http://www.rendermagazine.com.
[5] G. S. Peace, Taguchi methods. 2nd ed. The United States of America: Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, 1993.
[6] A. Demirbas, "Current advances in alternative motor fuels." Energy Explor Exploit; vol. 21, pp. 475-487, 2003.
[7] A. Demirbas, "Biodiesel fuels from vegetable oils via catalytic and noncatalytic supercritical alcohol transesterifications and other methods: a survey." Energy Convers Manage, vol. 44, pp. 2093-3109, 2003.
[8] Y. Wan, S. Ou, P. Liu, F. Xue, and S. Tang, "Comparison of two different processes to synthesize biodiesel by waste cooking oil." Journal of Molecular Catalysis A: Chemical, vol. 252, pp. 107-112, 2006.
[9] P. K. Srivastava, and M. Verma, "Methyl ester of karanja oil as an alternative renewable source energy." Fuel, vol. 87, pp. 1673-1677, 2008.
[10] V. G. Shashikant, and H. Raheman, "Process optimization for biodiesel production from mahua (Madhuca indica) oil using response surface methodology." Bioresource Technology, vol. 97, pp. 379-384, 2006.
[11] V. G. Shashikant, and H. Raheman, "Biodiesel production from mahua oil having high free fatty acids." Biomass and Bioenergy, vol. 28, pp. 601-605, 2005.
[12] M. Di Serio, R. Tesser, M. Dimiccoli, F. Cammarota, M. Nastasi, and E. Santacesaria, "Synthesis of biodiesel via homogeneous Lewis acid catalyst." Journal of Molecular Catalysis A: Chemical, vol. 239, pp. 111-115, 2005.
[13] S. Zheng, M. Kates, M. A. Dube, and D. D. McLean, "Acid-catalyzed production of biodiesel from waste frying oil." Biomass and Bioenergy, vol. 30, pp. 267-272, 2006.
[14] V. B. Veljkovic, S. H. Lakicevic, O. S. Stamenkovic, Z. B. Todorovi, and M. L. Lazic, "Biodiesel production from tobacco seed oil with a high content of free fatty acids." Fuel, vol. 85, pp. 2671-2675, 2006.
[15] L. C. Meher, V. S. S. Dharmagadda, and S. N. Naik, "Optimization of alkali-catalyzed transesterification of Pongamia pinnata oil for production of biodiesel." Bioresource Technology; vol. 97, pp. 1392- 1397, 2003.
[16] Y. M. Choo and A. N. Ma, "Production technology of methyl esters from palm and palm kernel oils." PORIM Technology 18. Malaysia: Palm Oil Research Institute of Malaysia, 1996.
[17] R. Brand, "Greening of policies-policy integration and interlinkages" Networks in renewable energy policies in Germany and France Berlin conference on the human dimension of global environmental change, Berlin, 3-4 December, 2004.
[18] V. Hofman, Biodiesel Fuel, NDSU Extension Service, North Dakota State University of Agriculture, Applied Science and US Department of Agriculture cooperating, Fargo, North Dakota, 2003.
[19] G. Vicente, M. Martinez and J. Aracil, "Integrated biodiesel production: a comparison of different homogeneous catalysts systems." Bioresource Technology, vol. 92, pp. 297-305, 2004.
[20] A. S. Ramadhas, S. Jayaraj and C. Muraleedharan, "Biodiesel production from high FFA rubber seed oil." Fuel, vol. 84, pp. 335-340, 2004.