Experimental Investigation on In-Situ Biodiesel Production using Hybrid Intensification and CI Engine Testing

The Biodiesel production from non-edible oils through in-situ method is one of the effective approach to reduce production cost. In the present study, biodiesel was produced using hybrid (simultaneous ultrasound and microwave intensification) reactor from castor seeds on optimized process conditions. Properties of biodiesel and different biodieselbutanol-diesel blends (B30, B15Bu15, B20Bu20, B10Bu20 and B20Bu10) were compared with ASTM D6751 to check their compatibility to be used in diesel engine. Single cylinder four stroke diesel engine was used to analyse engine performance and emission characteristics using different blends. Brake thermal efficiency, brake specific fuel consumption and brake specific energy consumption were found to be unaffected while using biodiesel blends up to 25 %. CO and unburned hydrocarbon emission was found to be reduced with biodiesel blending while NOx emission was found to be increased which was minimised by adding n-butanol as an admixture in biodiesel blended diesel. Heat releasing rate was calculated from p-θ diagram to analyse in-cylinder combustion characteristic of the blends prepared. From preliminary experiments and analysis, B15Bu15 was found to be the most suitable blend for castor biodiesel.