A study into Biodiesel as an alternative fuel

Except for hydroelectricity and nuclear vital force, the majority of the present-day worlds energy needs argon fulfilled by fossil burn downs such as petrochemical fuels, coal and motley natural gases. These fossil fuels sources are finite and judging from the current usage rates are in danger of depleting shortly.Also the two re rawable sources used currently i.e. hydroelectricity and nuclear energy cannot be used as fuels in transport vehicles majority of which are draw out using fossil fuels. Be have of the large and increasing levels of energy requirement demands in both the industrial and domestic sector, as well as the increased contamination problems because of using fossil fuels have made it necessary to develop renewable energy sources that would last limitlessly and would cause less harm to the environment than the traditional fossil fuels.This requirement has fueled the interest in alternative sources to petroleum-based fuels. One such alternative is to use oils of p lant origin which is known as biodiesel. Biodiesel is a biodegradable and non-toxic fuel and has low emission profiles as compared to petroleum diesel (Meher, Vidyasagar & Naik, 2004249-250).Using converted vegetable oils and animal fats as an alternative to Petrol-Diesel fuel has been around for decades. In fact the use vegetable oil for diesel engines is nigh as old as the diesel engine itself. The original Diesel engine was designed to run on cheap vegetable oils.The engine was commonly demonstrated running on peanut oil. closely of the present day diesel engines can in fact run on biodiesel without using some(prenominal) special equipment. The importance of biodiesel as an attractive fuel is increasing due to the depletion of fossil fuel resources (Knothe, Dunn & Bagby, n.d1).This oratory is a train into the use of biodiesel as an alternative to petroleum-based fuels by focusing on the various aspects of biodiesel and its use.The discover will focus on understanding the va rious reasons for going in for alternative fuels in detail, study the engine performance using biodiesel fuels, assess the compatibility of biodiesel and fossil fuels, study the production process of biodiesel in detail, conk out the emission levels using biodiesel as fuel, and study the advantages and limitations of using biodiesel.What is Biodiesel?Biofuels can be defined as liquid state fuels produced from biomass for either transport or burning purposes. They can be produced from agricultural and forest products, and biodegradable raft of industrial and municipal waste.It is generally held that biofuels offer many benefits, including sustainability, reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, and security of supply. unhomogeneous scenarios have led to the conclusion that biofuels will be in widespread use in the emerging energy systems. Biofuels can be converted into liquid and gaseous fuels through thermo-chemical and biologic methods.Hence, a classification of fuels can be p roduced from biomass resources including liquid fuels such as methanol, biodiesel and Fischer-Tropsch diesel, and gaseous fuels such as hydrogen and methane. Biofuels are primarily use din vehicles but can also be used in engines or fuels cells for electricity generation. The design below shows the types of biofuels.DefinitionsThe term biodiesel is a combination of two terms the Greek formulate for life bio and diesel from the last name of the inventor Rudolf Diesel. The term refers to the diesel equivalent, processed fuel derived from biological sources. It is a cleaner-burning diesel replacement fuel made from natural and renewable sources such as new and used vegetable oils and animal fats. Biodiesel is the name for a variety of ester-based oxygenated fuels from renewable biological sources. It can be made from processed organic oils and fats.Chemically, biodiesel is defined as the monoalkyl esters of long-chain fatty acids derived from renewable biolipids. In general terms, bi odiesel whitethorn be defined as a domestic, renewable fuel for diesel engines derived from natural oils like soja bean oil that meets the specifications of ASTM (American Society for Testing & Materials) D 6751.While in technical terms, biodiesel is a diesel engine fuel comprised of monoalkyl esters of long-chain fatty acids derived from vegetable oils or animal fats, designated B100 and meeting the requirements of ASTM D 6751 (Demirbas, 2008114 Shrivastava & Jain published in Kumar & Nehar 200732).Properties of BiodieselBiodiesel is a clear amber-yellow colored liquid with a viscosity similar to that of petrodiesel. Biodiesel is non-inflammable and in contrast to petrodiesel is non-explosive, with a jazzy point of 423K for biodiesel as compared to 337K for petrodiesel. Unlike, petrodiesel, biodiesel is biodegradable and non-toxic and also significantly reduces toxic and other emissions when burned in a fuel.However, it is more expensive than petrodiesel, which appears to be the primary factor in preventing its more widespread use (Demirbas, 2008115). The figure below shows the main technical properties of biodiesel.