Search Results

Due to high energy demand and limited availability of fossil fuels, the energy necessity becomes a point of apprehension as it results in hike of fuel prices. It is essential to develop renewable energy resources while considering the impact on environment. In the last decade, demand of alternative fuels has increased a lot. Therefore, researchers have already started working on the aim of developing a green fuel to overcome the future energy demand. And as we know that the biodiesel is generally prepared from the non-edible and renewable resources thus, it can be among the competitive alternative future fuels. Besides that, it does not require any prior engine modifications for its usual advantage among other alternative fuels while using it within certain boundaries. However, the process biodiesel production is in itself time consuming which increases the cost of production while decreasing the yield.

For the last decade, the lubricant industry has been trying to formulate biodegradable lubricants with technical characteristics superior to those based on petroleum. A renewable resource, mahua oil, is good alternative to mineral oil because of its environmentally friendly, non toxic and readily biodegradable nature. The triacylglycerol structure of mahua oil is amphiphilic in character that makes it an excellent candidate as lubricant and functional fluid. It is also very attractive for industrial applications that have potential for environmental contact through accidental leakage, dripping or generates large quantities of after-use waste materials requiring costly disposal. Vegetable oil in its natural form has limited use as industrial fluids due to poor thermo-oxidation stability, low temperature behavior and other tribochemical degrading processes.

The diesel engine has for many decades now assumed a leading role in both the medium and medium-large transport sector due to their high efficiency and ability to produce high torque at low RPM. Furthermore, energy diversification and petroleum independence are also required by each country. In response to this, biodiesel is being considered as a promising solution due to its high calorific value and lubricity conventional petroleum diesel. However, commercial use of biodiesel has been limited because of some drawbacks including corrosivity, instability of fuel properties, higher viscosity, etc. Biodiesel are known for lower CO, HC and PM emissions. But, on the flip side they produce higher NOx emissions. The addition of alcohol to biodiesel diesel blend can help in reducing high NOx produced by the biodiesel while improving some physical fuel properties.

Gasoline has been the major fuel in transportation, its good calorific value and high volatility have made it suitable for use in different injection methods. The drastic increase in use of carbon based fuels has led to increase in harmful emissions, thus resulting in implementation of stricter emissions norms. These harmful emissions include carbon monoxide and NOx. To meet the new norms and reduce the harmful emissions, better techniques have to be implemented to achieve better combustion of gasoline and reduce the amount of carbon monoxide in the exhaust. One such way of doing this is by enriching gasoline with hydrogen. Due to its low activation energy and high calorific value, the high energy released from hydrogen can be used to achieve complete combustion of gasoline fuel. However, there are certain drawbacks to the use of hydrogen in spark ignition engine, knocking and overheating of engine parts being the major problems.

The continued reliance on fossil fuel energy resources is not sufficient to cater to the current energy demands. The excessive and continuous use of crude oil is now recognized as unviable due to its depleting supplies and elevating environmental degradation by increased emissions from automobile exhaust. There is an urgent need for a renewable and cleaner source of energy to meet the stringent emission norms. Hythane is a mixture of 20% hydrogen and 80% methane. It has benefits of low capital and operating costs and is a cleaner alternative than crude oil. It significantly reduces tailpipe emissions and is the cheapest way to meet new emission standards that is BS-IV. Hythane produces low carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO2) and hydrocarbons (HC) on combustion than crude oil and helps in reduction of greenhouse gases.

Worldwide, research is going on numerous types of engines that practice green and alternative energy such as natural gas engines, hydrogen engines, and electric engines. One of the possible alternatives is the air powered car. Air is abundantly available and can be effortlessly compressed to higher pressure at a very low cost. After the successful development of Compressed Air Engines, engineers shifted their focus in making this technology cost effective and feasible. This led to advancement in the field of pneumatics that is advanced Compressed Air Engine Kit (used for conversion of a small-two stroke SI engine to Compressed Air Engine) where its frugality and compatibility is kept at high priority. This research is in continuation with our previous project of development of an advanced Compressed Air Engine kit and optimisation of injection angle and injector nozzle area for maximum performance.

Non-edible vegetable oils have a huge potential for biodiesel production and also known as second generation feedstock’s. Biodiesel can be obtained from edible, non-edible, waste cooking oil and from animal fats also. This paper focuses on production of biodiesel obtained from mixture of sesame (Sesamum indicum L.) oil and neem (Azadirachta indica) oil which are easily accessible in India and other parts of world. Neem oil has higher FFA content than sesame oil. Biodiesel production from neem oil requires pretreatment neutralization procedure before alkali catalyzed Trans esterification process also it takes large reaction time to achieve biodiesel of feasible yield. Neem oil which has very high FFA and sesame oil which has low FFA content are mixed and this mixture is Trans esterified with no pre-treatment process using molar ratio of 6:1.Fuel properties of methyl ester were close to diesel fuel and satisfied ASTM 6751 and EN 14214 standards.

The present study was carried to explore the potential suitability of biodiesel as an extender of Kerosene in an off road dual fuel (gasoline start, kerosene run) generator set and results were compared with kerosene base line data. The biodiesel was blended with kerosene in two different proportions; 2.5% and 5% by volume. Physico-chemical properties of blends were also found to be comparable with kerosene. Engine tests were performed on three test fuels namely K100 (Kerosene 100%), KB 2.5 (Kerosene 97.5% + Biodiesel 2.5%) and KB5 (Kerosene 95% + Biodiesel 5%). It was found that brake thermal efficiency [BTE] increases up to 3.9% while brake specific energy consumption [BSEC] decreases up to 2.2% with increasing 5% volume fraction of biodiesel in kerosene. The exhaust temperature for blends was lower than kerosene. The test engine emitted reduced Carbon monoxide [CO] emission was 7.4 % less than using neat kerosene as compared to kerosene-biodiesel blends.

The use of alternative fuel has many advantages and the main ones are its renewability, biodegradability with better quality exhaust gas emission, which do not contribute to raise the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. The use of non-edible vegetables oils as an alternative fuels for diesel engine is accelerated by the energy crisis due to depletion of resources and increase in environmental problems. In Asian countries like India, great need of edible oil as a food so cannot use these oils as alternative fuels for diesel engine. However there are many issues related to the use of vegetable oils in diesel engine that is high viscosity, low calorific value, high self-ignition temperature etc. Jatropha curcas has been promoted in India as a sustainable substitute to diesel fuel. This research prepared micro emulsions of ethanol and Jatropha vegetable oil in different ratio and find out the physico-chemical parameters to compare with mineral diesel oil.

Exploring and enhancement of biodiesel production from feedstock like non-edible vegetable oil is one of the powerful method to resolve inadequate amount of conventional raw materials and their high prices. The main aim of this study is to optimize the biodiesel production process parameters of a biodiesel obtained from non-edible feedstocks, namely Neem (Azadirachta indica) oil and Sesame (Sesamum indicum L.) oil, with response surface methodology using Doehlert’s experimental design. Based on the results, the optimum operating parameters for transesterification of the mixture A50S50 oil mixture at 51.045° C over a period of 45 minutes are as follows: methanol-to-oil ratio: 8.45, and catalyst concentration: 1.933 wt.%. These optimum operating parameters give the highest yield for the A50S50 biodiesel with a value of 95.24%.

Dependency and increase in use of fossil fuels is leading to its depletion and raises serious environmental concerns. There are international obligations to reduce emissions and requirements to strengthen security of fuel supply which is pressuring the automobile industry to use cleaner and more sustainable fuels. Hydrogen fits these criteria as it is not just an abundant alternative but also a clean propellant and Hydrogen engines represent an economic alternative to fuel cells. In the present investigation, EGR has been used on hydrogen boosted SI engine running on gasoline-methanol and ethanol-gasoline blends to determine the additional advantages of the same compared to pure gasoline operation and gasoline-methanol and ethanol-gasoline blends without EGR.

As petroleum prices are rising continuously biodiesel production has been receiving worldwide awareness. Thus for its production the requirement for non-edible and unidentified feedstocks has risen. This research presents the production and process optimization of biodiesel obtained from non-edible feedstock namely cedar wood(Cedrus deodara) oil, with response surface methodology using statistical software minitab 18.0. Cedar Wood (Cedrus deodara) is a tree accessible in different parts of the world like India and Nepal. In Indian context, these are available in abundance especially in the forests of Himalayan region as a non-edible feedstock. Methyl ester of Cedar Wood Oil is prepared by process known as Transesterification. The FFA content of cedar wood oil was 0.5% which is below the 2% suggested for the application of the one step alkaline transesterification method.

Globally, transportation is the second largest energy consuming sector after the industrial sector and is completely dependent on petroleum products and alternative technologies. So, fossil fuel consumption for energy requirement is a primary concern and can be addressed with the fuel consumption reduction technologies. Transportation sector is mainly using diesel engines because of production of high thermal efficiency and higher torque at lower RPM. Therefore, diesel consumption should be targeted for future energy security and this can be primarily controlled by the petroleum fuel substitution techniques for existing diesel engines. Some of the fuel, which includes biodiesel, alcohol-diesel emulsions and diesel water emulsions etc. Among which the diesel water emulsion (DWE) is found to be most suitable fuel due to reduction in particulate matter and NOx emission, besides that it also improves the brake thermal efficiency.

Diesel Engines are widely used in transportation, industrial and agriculture sectors worldwide due to their versatility and ruggedness. However, they also emit harmful emissions detrimental to human health and environment. Apart from environmental degradation, the perturbation in international crude oil prices is also mandating use of renewable fuels. In this context, vegetable oils such as Jatropha Curcas due to their carbon neutral nature and widespread availability, seems to present a promising alternative to the mineral diesel. Straight vegetable oils (SVO) are not recommended for direct diesel engine application due to their higher viscosity, poor volatility etc. and dilution of straight vegetable oil may effectively enable its direct application in unmodified diesel engines. In the present study, Jatropha oil was diluted with n-Butanol to improve the fuel properties of the blend.

The increasing rate of fossil fuel depletion and large scale debasement of the environment has been a serious concern across the globe. This twin problem of energy crises has caused researchers to look for a variety of solutions in the field of internal combustion engines. In this current scenario the issue of fuel availability has increased the use alternative fuels, especially alcohol derived fuels. Alcohol-diesel blends can be been seen as a prominent fuel for CI engine in the near future. Previous research on the use of alcohol as an alternative fuel in CI engines is restricted to short branch alcohols, such as methanol and ethanol. Despite their comparable combustion properties longer chain alcohols, such as butanol, isobutanol and pentanol have been barely investigated. In the present study performance and emission characteristics of an isobutanol-diesel blend was studied. One of the major problems encountered by isobutanol in CI engines is its low cetane rating.

Ever increasing consumption of fossil fuel and large scale deterioration of environment are mandating employment of renewable fuels. Researchers all over the world are experimenting on variety of alternative fuels for meeting future energy demands. Biodiesel is one of the most promising alternative fuels due to lower CO, HC and PM emissions. However, NOx emissions are increased in case of biodiesel in CI engine. The present study focuses on evaluation of performance and emission characteristics of a medium capacity diesel engine on blends of fish oil biodiesel and diesel blends employing EGR. Fish oil was transesterified with methyl alcohol to produce methyl ester. B20 blend of biodiesel was used since it balances the property differences with conventional diesel, e.g., performance, emission benefits and cost. Further, B20 blend can be used in automotive engines with no major modification. NOx formation takes place when combustion temperature is more than 2000K.

Ever increasing consumption of petroleum derived fuels has been a matter of grave concern due to rapidly depleting global reserves and alarming levels of emissions leading to global warming and climate change. Exhaustive research has been carried out globally to evaluate the suitability of variety of renewable fuels for internal combustion engine applications. Amongst them, vegetable oil methyl esters or biodiesel seem to be a promising alternative for diesel in vital sectors such as transportation, industrial and rural agriculture. For quite some time, the focus for production of biodiesel has shifted towards non-edible oil feedstock from the edible ones, mostly due to food security issues. One such non-edible oil, locally known as Mahua in Indian subcontinent, is a very promising feed stock for biodiesel production. In the present investigation, 5%, 10%, 15% and 20% (v/v %) blends of mahua oil methyl ester (MOME) and diesel were prepared.

This paper presents a CFD analysis for drag reduction of a Class 8 Tractor-Trailer arrangement. A three dimensional bluff body model of the truck is simulated for a zero degree yaw angle at a speed of 50 miles per hour for a Reynolds Number of 3.3 million. In this paper, the role of vortex generators is investigated for overall drag reduction of the body. The key areas of interest for lowering the drag coefficient are the tractor-trailer gap and the trailer end. The designing of the body was done on DS SolidWorks whereas the CFD simulations were performed on commercial software Ansys Fluent. The Standard k-ε turbulence model was chosen for the simulation while the convergence criterion for the residuals was set at 10−6. The simple bluff body showed a drag coefficient of 1.654. The first design iteration involved increasing the tractor frontal area which resulted in a reduction of 4% in the drag coefficient.

Biodiesel (fatty acid methyl ester, or FAME) can be used as an alternative fuel for diesel engines which is produced by the chemical reaction of vegetable oil or animal fat with an alcohol such as ethanol or methanol in the presence of a catalyst. The growing interest in biodiesel is because of the similarity in its properties when compared with the diesel fuel as well as various benefits it provides such as lower soot emissions, less dependency on crude oil, etc. The optimization of experimental parameters, such as catalyst concentration, molar ratio of alcohol to oil, and reaction time, on the transesterification for the production of deodar methyl ester was performed in this article. Optimization of the transesterification process of deodar oil was achieved by a three-factorial central composite design (CCD) using response surface methodology (RSM) in 20 experimental runs. The RSM was performed to determine the optimum operating conditions and to optimize the biodiesel yield.

Rapid depletion of fossil fuels is urgently demanding an extensive research work to find out the viable alternative fuel for meeting sustainable energy demand without any environmental impact. In the future, our energy systems will need to be renewable, sustainable, efficient, cost-effective, convenient and safe. Therefore, researchers has shown interest towards alternative fuels like vegetable oils, alcohols, LPG, CNG, Producer gas, biogas in order to substitute conventional fuel i.e. diesel used in compression ignition (CI) engine. However, studies have suggested that trans-esterified vegetable oils retain quite similar physico-chemical properties comparable to diesel. Besides having several advantages, its use is restricted due to higher emissions i.e. NOx, CO, HC and deposits due to improper combustion. Hence, there is a need of cleaner fuel for diesel engines for the forthcoming stringent emissions norms and the fossil depletion.