Experimental Research on the Macroscopic and Microscopic Spray Characteristics of Diesel-PODE3-4 Blends

Polyoxymethylene dimethyl ether (PODE) is a low-viscosity oxygenated fuel that can improve the volatility of blended fuels. In this work, the macroscopic and microscopic spray characteristics of diesel-PODE3-4 under different ambient temperatures and injection pressures (IP) are studied. The studied blends consisted of pure diesel (P0), two diesel blend fuels of 20% (P20) and 50% (P50) by volume fraction of PODE3-4. The Mie scattering and Schlieren imaging techniques are used in the experiment. The results show that with the increase in IP, the vapor phase penetration distance and the average cone angle of the three fuels increased, and the Sauter mean diameter (SMD) of the three fuels decreased. When the ambient temperature increased, the vapor phase projection area and the average vapor phase cone angle of P20 and P50 increased, and the SMD decreased, but the vapor phase projection area of pure diesel did not change significantly. The results indicate that the blended fuel with PODE3-4 has better spray characteristics than P0 at low temperature, and the SMD hierarchy between the three fuels is P0 > P20 > P50. Through the visualization experiment, it is helpful to further understand the evaporation characteristics of different fuel properties and develop appropriate alternative diesel fuel.

Production and Characterization of Biodiesel from Aphanamixis polystachya Seed Oil

The present study focuses on the utilization of non-edible Aphanamixis polystachya seed oil as a potential feedstock for the production of biodiesel. The extracted oil from non-edible seed could not be directly exploited for biodiesel production owing to its high free fatty acid (FFA) content of 5.785%, so acid catalyzed esterification was applied to reduce FFA of oil to zero followed by base-catalyzed transesterification to convert esterified product to its mono-esters. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) revealed that the mass percentage corresponding to biodiesel under optimum conditions was 74.38%. The conversion of the triglycerides in the oil into biodiesel through transesterification was confirmed using FT-IR spectroscopy. The elemental analysis of the produced biodiesel was studied. The produced biodiesel had properties which were comparable with biodiesel standards and could be utilized as an alternative diesel fuel without any hardware modifications. Dhaka Univ. J. Sci. 68(2): 129-136, 2020 (July)

Potential Investigation of B3 Waste (Used Oil) of Motorcycle as Alternative Diesel Fuel

The waste or used engine oil is categorized as a Hazardous and Toxic Wastes (bahan berbahaya dan beracun/B3). However, it may have a great potential such as the alternative fuel. This study is proposed to investigate the potential of waste/used oils of motorcycle for diesel fuel. This research used Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) analysis and Quality Function Deployment (QFD) methods to investigate the potential of the used oils of motorcycle. From analysis result based the SWOT and QFD this was revealed the waste or used oil of motorcycle having an opportunity for alternative diesel engine fuel, which it has a positive impact both in economic and environmental terms. Based the test result of fuel consumption between diesel and waste or used oil in terms of costs obtained Rp. 2,532.00/KW for diesel fuel consumption and Rp.787.00/KW for waste or used oil. Therefore, the waste or used oil of motorcycle has potential become diesel fuel. However, it need further research to investigate the efficiency of the diesel engine performances.

Emission and Combustion Characteristics of Diesel Engine Fumigated With Ammonia

It is well known that ammonia (NH3) combustion does not produce carbon dioxide (CO2) causing global warming. Therefore, NH3 has received much attention as an alternative diesel fuel for internal combustion engines. On the other hand, it has been reported that the exhaust gas of diesel engine fumigated with NH3 contains unburned NH3 with toxicity for humans and nitrous oxide (N2O) with strong global warming effect. Hence the NH3 and N2O emissions should be reduced to prevent the human health damage and global warming. The aim of this study was to develop the combustion strategies for reducing the unburned NH3 and N2O emissions on diesel engine fumigated with NH3. The experimental results indicated that the higher temperature combustion of NH3 prevents the N2O production and allows itself to react well. From the numerical simulation results, hydrocarbon combustion decomposes NH3 and N2O in ignition processes.

Effect of Cerbera Manghas Biodiesel on Diesel Engine Performance

In order to reduce the use of fossil fuel without interfering the availability of food crop, Cerbera manghas biodiesel has been studied as potential renewable fuel. This study investigated Cerbera manghas biodiesel as a replacement for pure petro-diesel and palm oil biodiesel produced in Indonesia. The investigation result indicates that Cerbera manghas biodiesel fuel has a lower density, kinematic viscosity, sulfur content, color (lighter), water content, distillation point compared to pure petro-diesel and palm oil biodiesel. Higher flash point and cetane index value in Cerbera manghas biodiesel were also discovered. The study investigated further the effect of biodiesel derived from Cerbera manghas biodiesel compared with pure petro-diesel and palm oil biodiesel in a single cylinder diesel engine. The study suggested that Cerbera manghas biodiesel has better engine performance (fuel consumption, brake mean effective pressure, thermal efficiency, torque, and power) compared to pure petro-diesel and palm oil biodiesel. The utilization of Cerbera manghas biodiesel gave better engine performance output compared to pure petro-diesel and palm oil biodiesel. This study supported the viability of Cerbera manghas biodiesel to be implemented as an alternative diesel fuel without interfering food resources or requiring additional modification to the existing diesel engine.

Esterifikasi asam lemak bebas dalam minyak sawit mentah untuk produksi metilester

Methyl esters are one of alkyl esters compound that used as alternative diesel fuel became popular. Methyl esters have similarities on physical and chemical properties with the diesel fuel produced from fossil oil; however it has less combustion and environmental emissions. As fossil oil become rare to be exploited, and the rapid environmental issues, the efforts to develop methyl esters as alternative diesel fuel become a prospective one. One method to produce methyl esters from free fatty acids of crude palm oil (CPO) is the two step esterification-transesterification reaction, each step produce the same final product, however differs in the side product. Esterification produce water and transesterfication produce glycerin. The reaction uses alcohol as main reactant beside the free fatty acids, it can be conducted in batch or continuous production. In this research, the investigation is only emphasized in the first step that is the esterification step to produce methyl esters from free fatty acids contained in crude palm oil. Methanol and sulfuric acid are used as reactant and catalyst respectively. Methyl esters produced by esterification is affected by reaction temperature, amounts of catalyst, and methanol volume. The increase in temperature improved esterification conversion from 19% in 50C to 98% in 60C. While the usage of the highest amount of catalyst, 5 ml/1-CPO, led to produced the highest conversion relative to the conversion from 1 and 3 ml/1-CPO catalyst. Furthermore, 10% amount of methanol per volume CPO produced higher yield than 8%.Keywords : Biodiesel, CPO Free Fatty Acid Esterification, Methyl Ester ConversionAbstrak Metil ester merupakan suatu senyawa alkil ester yang dapat digunakan sebagai bahan bakar alternatif. Metil ester memiliki sifat fisik dan kimia yang hampir sam a dengan minyak diesel yang dihasilkan dari minyak bumi tetapi emisi pembakaran dari penggunaan ester metal lebih rendah dari pada emisi hasil penggunaan minyak solar. Seiring dengan semakin langkanya sumber minyak bumi dan semakin gencarnya isu lingkungan hidup, pengembangan ester metil sebagai bahan bakar pengganti minyak solar semakin prospektif. Pembuatan ester metil dari asam lemak bebas minyak sawit mentah (crude palm oil) dapat dilakukan dengan beberapa cara antara lain dengan reaksi esterifikasi dan transesterifikasi menggunakan alkohol. Reaksi-reaksi ini dapat dilaksanakan secara batch maupun kontinu. Pada penelitian yang telah dilakukan, pembuatan ester metil dari asam lemak bebas minyak sawit mentah dilakukan dengan reaksi esterifikasi secara batch, dengan reaktan berupa minyak sawit mentah dan metanol. Katalis yang digunakan adalah H2SO4. Konversi ester metil yang dihasilkan dipengaruhi oleh temperatur reaksi, konsentrasi katalis dan konsentrasi metanol. Kenaikan temperatur reaksi akan meningkatkan konversi dari 19% pada 50oC menjadi 98% pada 60oC. Dengan menggunakan konsentrasi katalis tertinggi 5ml/l CPO memicu konversi tertinggi relatif dibandingkan nilai konversi dari 1 dan 3 ml/l CPO. 10% metanol menghasilkan perolehan tinggi dibanding 8%.Kata Kunci: Biodiesel, EsterifikasiAsam Lemak Bebas CPO, Konversi Ester Metil