Eco Friendly Fuels

Abstract

Eco Friendly Fuels civil project report Depleting reserves of fossil fuel and increasing effects of environment pollution from these fuels demands eco-friendly alternatives. Methyl esters of fatty acids or biodiesel have several outstanding advantages among other non-renewable and clean engine fuel alternatives and can be used in any diesel engine without any modification.

It can be made from any biological sources such as vegetable oils and animal fats. Jatropha curcas is a renewable non-edible plant belonging to Euphorbiace family, zero waste perennial plant. Biodiesels offer a very promising alternative to diesel oil since they are renewable and have similar properties with fossil Diesel. The effect of use of biodiesel fuel on engine power, fuel consumption and thermal efficiency are collected and analyzed with that of conventional diesel fuel.

Depleting fossil fuel reserves and increasing environmental pollution from these fuels demands eco-friendly alternatives. Methyl esters of fatty acids or biodiesel have several outstanding advantages among other non-renewable and clean engine fuel alternatives and can be used in any diesel engine without modification. It can be made from any biological source such as vegetable oils and animal fats. Jatropha curcas is a renewable non-edible plant belonging to the Euphorbiace family, zero perennial waste plant.

Conclusion

Eco Friendly Fuels civil project report The problems with substituting vegetable oil for diesel fuels are mostly associated with their high viscosities, and low volatilities. The viscosity of vegetable oils can be reduced by transesterification. Transesterification is the most common method and leads to mono alkyl esters of vegetable oils and fats, known as bio-diesel. The production of biodiesel from vegetable oil is very simple.

In the production of biodiesel it is observed that the base catalyst performs better than acid catalysts and enzymes. The biodiesel and their blends have similar fuel properties as that of diesel. It is also observed that biodiesel has similar combustion characteristics as diesel. Biodiesel engines offer acceptable engine performance compared to conventional diesel fueled engines.