Home Project-material COMPARATIVE STUDY ON THE EFFECTS OF OXYGENATES ON BIODIESEL FROM FRESH AND USED COOKING OIL

COMPARATIVE STUDY ON THE EFFECTS OF OXYGENATES ON BIODIESEL FROM FRESH AND USED COOKING OIL

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Abstract

Biodiesel is a renewable fuel that will soon be fully accepted in the commercial world but there are limitations to its use that need improvement. The use of oxygenated additives have improved the burning/fuel qualities of conventional diesel and gasoline. These oxygenates may also improve the qualities of biodiesel. This paper focuses on comparing the fuel qualities such as the density, specific gravity, heat content, flash point, and kinematic viscosity of oxygenate-biodiesel blends. The biodiesel was produced from fresh and waste cooking oil and they were characterized and compared to ASTM standards. The oxygenated additives (ethanol, methanol and diethyl ether) were blended in the percentages 10, 20, 30 and 40% with biodiesel from fresh and waste oil. The physicochemical properties such as kinematic viscosity, density, specific gravity, flash point and heat content were analyzed for the blends. The density and specific gravity values were within the range of 0.74-0.84 g/ml and 0.7

CHAPTER ONE

Introduction

The recognition of global warming and depletion of fossil fuels has led to the search for other energy options which are environmental friendly and sustainable. Emission of greenhouse gases from fossil fuels has led scientists to turn to biofuels as an alternative source. Biofuels are fuels made from different types of biomass such as cellulose, algal oil, corn, soy, sugar cane, jatropha, camelina, rapseed, animal fat, methane, paper waste and the likes. These sources create different fuels such as bioalcohols, plant based biodiesel and kerosene, biogas, solid biofuels and the likes (Webb & Coates, 2012).

1.1 Biodiesel

Biodiesel has grown quite a name for itself since its inception in the 20th century. It is a liquid biofuel composed of simple alkyl esters of fatty acids made from the trans-esterification of vegetable oils and animal fats which are renewable and nontoxic. It is known for its production of low greenhouse gases as compared to fossil fuel (Fangrui & Milford, 1999). The biodiesel produced is independent of the starting material which makes any material containing free fatty acids a suitable feedstock (Michael, Andrew, Winnie, & Thomas , 2006).

Biodiesel production has increased considerably in the last thirty years due to its properties that confirm it environmentally suitable. It is now being accepted in the commercial world as several institutions adopt its use such as businesses, governmental

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organizations, schools and the likes. This trend is expected to continue over the years to come (Michael, Andrew, Winnie, & Thomas , 2006).

1.2 Advantages of biodiesel

The advantages of biodiesel over conventional diesel have been proven to be very essential in curbing emissions of carbon dioxide, sulfur oxide, particulate matter, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons due to the fact that it has 10-11% oxygen by weight and allows for complete combustion of the fuel (Arjun, Chris, & Rafiqul, 2008). Its use comes with lower health problems which is possible since it has a reduced emission of carcinogenic substances. The environment is safer even with biofuel spill due to its high degradability and low toxicity (Romano & Sorichetti, 2011). Reports have suggested that the life cycle of carbon dioxide emissions have been cut down to 30% with the use of biodiesel as compared to conventional diesel (Gerard, Bruno, Dominique, Laurent, & Jean-Alain, 2003). As promising as biodiesel is there are limitations to it that need improvement.


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