performance and emissions characteristics of alternative biodiesel

PERFORMANCE AND EMISSIONS CHARACTERISTICS OF ALTERNATIVE

BIODIESEL FUEL ON 4-STROKE MARINE DIESEL ENGINE

RIDWAN SAPUTRA BIN NURSAL

A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirement for the award of the Master of

Engineering (Mechanical)

Faculty of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering

Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia

JULY 2015

v

ABSTRACT

Alternative fuels for diesel engines have become increasingly important due to several

socioeconomic aspects, imminent depletion of fossil fuel and growing environmental

concerns. Global warming concerns due to the production of greenhouse gases (GHGs)

such as carbon dioxide (CO2) as results from internal combustion engine have seen as

one of major factor the promotion of the use of biofuels. Therefore, the use of biodiesel

fuel (BDF) as an alternative for fossil diesel (DSL) is among the effective way to reduce

the CO2 emission since it is classified as green and renewable energy. However, it is

acknowledged that the use of BDF is restricted due to loss of efficiency and long term

problems upon the engine. Hence, a study focussed on investigating the effects of BDF

derived from crude palm oil (CPO), jatropha curcas oil (JCO) and waste cooking oil

(WCO) blended with DSL at various blending ratio on engine performance and exhaust

gas emissions has been performed. This experimental test was done using a small 4-

stroke marine diesel engine which operates through engine speeds stimulated at 800,

1200, 1600 and 2000 rpm under 0, 50 and 90% dynamometer loads integrated with

emission gas analyser that attached to the exhaust pipeline. As results of experimental

investigations, the increment in performance of torque, brake power, brake thermal

efficiency (BTE) and brake mean effective pressure (BMEP) while decrease in brake

specific fuel consumption (BSFC) has been observed for CPO and JCO fuels

comparative to DSL. Meanwhile a contrariwise outcome was obtained for WCO fuels.

In conjunction, CPO and JCO promotes lower carbon monoxide (CO) emissions but

signified higher nitrogen oxides (NOx), carbon dioxide (CO2) and hydrocarbon (HC)

emissions compared to DSL. Apart, WCO promotes lower CO, CO2 and HC emissions

but signified higher NOx emissions compared to DSL. It can be concluded that BDF is

useable in diesel engines without engine modifications. The outcomes of this study is

significantly contributed as a guidence and reference to the local authority in order to

evaluate and select the suitable and optimum BDF for development of policies,

regulations and standard.

vi

ABSTRAK

Bahan api alternatif bagi enjin diesel semakin mendapat perhatian disebabkan faktor-

faktor sosioekonomi, bahanapi fosil yang semakin berkurangan dan meningkatnya

kesedaran terhadap penjagaan alam. Pemanasan global akibat penghasilan gas rumah

hijau seperti karbon dioksida (CO2) daripada enjin pembakaran dalam merupakan faktor

besar yang mendorong penggunaan bahanapi bio. Maka, penggunaan bahanapi biodiesel

(BDF) sebagai alternatif bagi diesel fosil (DSL) merupakan antara langkah efektif untuk

menurunkan CO2 kerana ia diklasifikasikan sebagai tenaga boleh baharu dan bersih.

Namun, diketahui bahawa terdapat kekangan dalam penggunaan BDF seperti hilang

kecekapan dan kesan jangka masa panjang terhadap enjin. Oleh itu, satu kajian yang

fokus kepada mengkaji kesan-kesan campuran DSL dengan BDF yang dihasilkan

daripada minyak mentah kelapa sawit (CPO), minyak pokok jarak (JCO) dan minyak

masak terpakai (WCO) pada nisbah campuran yang berbeza terhadap prestasi enjin dan

gas-gas ekzos yang terbebas telah dilaksanakan. Kajian ini telah disempurnakan

menggunakan sebuah enjin diesel marin 4-lejang kecil yang beroperasi pada kelajuan

800, 1200, 1600 dan 2000 ppm di bawah beban dinamometer pada 0, 50 dan 90% serta

telah dipasangkan sekali alat penguji gas ekzos pada paip ekzos. Hasil kajian mendapati

bahawa terdapat peningkatan terhadap prestasi enjin dari segi daya kilas, kuasa brek,

kecekapan terma brek (BTE) dan tekanan min efektif brek (BMEP) manakala berlaku

penurunan penggunaan bahan api spesifik brek (BSFC) bagi bahan api CPO dan JCO

berbanding DSL. Sementara itu, hasil yang berlawanan diperoleh bagi bahan api WCO.

Sebagai kesinambungan, penggunaan CPO dan JCO membebaskan gas karbon

monoksida (CO) yang lebih rendah tetapi pengoksidaan gas nitrogen (NOx), gas karbon

dioksida (CO2) dan hidrokarbon (HC) yang lebih tinggi berbanding DSL. Selain itu,

WCO membebasan gas CO, CO2 dan HC yang lebih rendah tetapi NOx lebih tinggi

berbanding DSL. Dapat dirumuskan bahawa BDF boleh digunakan dalam enjin diesel

tanpa sebarang modifikasi enjin. Hasil kajian ini sangat berguna sebagai panduan dan

rujukan pihak berkuasa tempatan dalam menilai dan membuat pemilihan campuran BDF

yang sesuai dan optima dalam pembangunan polisi, peraturan dan piawai.

vii

CONTENTS

TITLE i

DECLARATION ii

DEDICATION iii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iv

ABSTRACT v

ABSTRAK vi

CONTENTS vii

LIST OF TABLES xiv

LIST OF FIGURES xvi

LIST OF SYMBOLS AND ABBREVIATIONS xxv

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Background of study 1

1.2 Problem statement 3

1.3 Objectives of study 4

1.4 Scopes of study 4

1.5 Significant of study 5

1.6 Project time scale 5

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW 6

2.1 Biodiesel fuels 6

viii

2.1.1 Advantages of biodiesel as diesel fuel 8

2.1.2 Disadvantages of biodiesel as diesel fuel 8

2.2 International standard specification for biodiesel 10

2.2.1 Policy and standard adopted for biodiesel in

Malaysia

15

2.3 Overview of feedstocks for biodiesel used in the

study

18

2.3.1 Oil palm 20

2.3.1 Jatropha curcas 23

2.3.3 Waste cooking oil 24

2.4 Properties of biodiesel fuels 26

2.4.1 Reviews on properties of crude palm oil as

compared to diesel fuel

27

2.4.1.1 Evaluation of 5 to 20% biodies blend

on heavy-duty common-rail diesel

engine

27

2.4.1.2 Performance, emissions and heat

losses of palm and jatropha biodiesel

blends in a diesel engine

28

2.4.2 Reviews on properties of jatropha curcas oil

as compared to diesel fuel

30

2.4.2.1 Biodiesel production from jatropha

curcas: A review

30

2.4.2.2 Particle number and size distribution

from a diesel engine with jatropha

biodiesel fuel

31

2.4.3 Reviews on properties of waste cooking oil as

compared to diesel fuel

33

2.4.3.1 Fuel and injection characteristics for

a biodiesel type fuel from waste

cooking oil

33

2.4.3.2 Performance, emission and

combustion characteristics of diesel

engine fueled with biodiesel

produced from waste cooking oil

34

ix

2.5 Impact of biodiesel fuel on engine performance 35

2.5.1 Reviews on the effects of crude palm oil on

engine performance

38

2.5.1.1 Performance and emissions

characteristics of diesel engine

fuelled by biodiesel derived from

palm oil

38

2.5.1.2 Performance and emissions of a

diesel engine fueled by biodiesel

derived from different vegetable oils

and the characteristics of combustion

of single droplets

40

2.5.2 Reviews on the effects of jatropha curcas oil

on engine performance

42

2.5.2.1 Influence of ethanol blend addition

on compression ignition engine

performance and emissions operated

with diesel and jatropha methyl ester

42

2.5.2.2 Experimental investigations on a

jatropha oil methanol dual fuel engine

45

2.5.3 Reviews on the effects of waste cooking oil

on engine performance

51

2.5.3.1 Effects of biodiesel derived by waste

cooking oil on fuel consumption and

performance of diesel engine

51

2.5.3.2 Characteristics of output performance

& emission of diesel engine employed

common rail fueled with biodiesel

blends from wasted cooking oil

54

2.6 Impact of biodiesel fuel properties on exhaust

emissions

57

2.6.1 Reviews on the effects of crude palm oil on

exhaust emissions

59

2.6.1.1 Experimental investigation of

emissions characteristics of small

diesel engine fuelled by blended

crude palm oil

59

x

2.6.1.2 Comparative study of performance

and emission characteristics of

biodiesels from different vegetable

oils with diesel

62

2.6.2 Reviews on the effects of jatropha curcas oil

on exhaust emissions

65

2.6.2.1 Performance, emission and

combustion characteristics of

jatropha oil blends in a direct

injection CI engine

65

2.6.2.2 Investigation of diesel engine using

bio-diesel (methyl ester of jatropha

oil) for various injection timing and

injection pressure

69

2.6.3 Reviews on the effects of waste cooking oil

on exhaust emissions

73

2.6.3.1 Emissions characteristics of small

diesel engine fuelled by waste

cooking oil

73

2.6.3.2 Comparison of particulate PAH

emissions for diesel, biodiesel and

cooking oil using a heavy duty DI

diesel engine

76

2.7 Critical literature review 79

CHAPTER 3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 84

3.1 Introduction 84

3.2 Research methodology flow chart 85

3.3 Biodiesel fuels preparation 86

3.3.1 Procedure and production process of biodiesel 87

3.3.2 Procedure and blending process of biodiesel

with diesel fuel

89

3.3.3 Measuring procedure of biodiesel and

biodiesel blended fuel properties

91

3.4 Experimental approach 93

3.4.1 Tested engine 93

xi

3.4.2 Emission gas analyser 94

3.5 Experimental setup 96

CHAPTER 4 RESULT AND DISCUSSION 98

4.1 Introduction 98

4.2 Measured properties of tested biodiesel fuel 99

4.3 Analysis of engine performance, combustion

characteristics and exhaust emission of diesel engine

fuelled by crude palm biodiesel oil

100

4.3.1 Effects analysis of crude palm biodiesel oil on

engine performance with respect to the

increasing of engine speed at different load

condition

100

4.3.2 Effects analysis of crude palm biodiesel oil on

engine performance with respect to the

increasing of blending ratio at different load

condition

102

4.3.3 Combustion analysis of crude palm biodiesel

oil at different engine speed and load

condition

104

4.3.4 Effects analysis of crude palm oil on exhaust

gas emissions with respect to the increasing of

engine speed at different load condition

109

4.3.5 Effects analysis of crude palm oil on exhaust

gas emissions with respect to the increasing of

blending ratio at different load condition

111



fuelled by jatropha curcas biodiesel oil

113

4.4.1 Effects analysis of jatropha curcas biodiesel

oil on engine performance with respect to the


condition

113

4.4.2 Effects analysis of jatropha curcas biodiesel

oil on engine performance with respect to the


condition

115

xii

4.4.3 Combustion analysis of jatropha curcas

biodiesel oil at different engine speed and load

condition

117

4.4.4 Effects analysis of jatropha curcas oil on

exhaust gas emissions with respect to the


condition

121

4.4.5 Effects analysis of jatropha curcas oil on



condition

123



fuelled by waste cooking biodiesel oil

125

4.5.1 Effects analysis of waste cooking biodiesel oil

on engine performance with respect to the


condition

125

4.5.2 Effects analysis of waste cooking biodiesel oil

on engine performance with respect to the


condition

127

4.5.3 Combustion analysis of waste cooking

biodiesel oil at different load condition and

engine speed

129

4.5.4 Effects analysis of waste cooking oil on



condition

133

4.5.5 Effects analysis of waste cooking oil on



condition

135

4.6 Comprehensive analysis of engine performance and

exhaust gas emission characteristic on diesel engine

fuelled by all types of biodiesel blends

137

4.6.1 Comprehensive analysis of all biodiesel

blends on engine performance and exhaust gas

emissions during 800 rpm

137

xiii



emissions during 1200 rpm

140



emissions during 1600 rpm engine speed

143



emissions during 2000 rpm engine speed

146

4.6.5 Summary 149

CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATION 150

5.1 Conclusions 150

5.1.1 The effects of biodiesel blends fuel on fuel

characteristics

150

5.1.2 The effects of crude palm biodiesel oil blends

on engine performance and exhaust gas

emissions

151

5.1.3 The effects of jatropha curcas biodiesel oil


emissions

151

5.1.4 The effects of waste cooking biodiesel oil


emissions

152

5.2 Recommendation 152

REFERENCES 153

APPENDICES 159

xiv

LIST OF TABLES

2.1 Stoichiometric quantity of methyl alcohol (% vol.) 6

2.2 Potential feedstocks for biodiesel worldwide 7

2.3 Comparison of biodiesel production technologies 9

2.4 ASTM D6751 biodiesel fuel standard 11

2.5 ASTM standards of biodiesel and petrodiesel 11

2.6 European standard, EN 14214 for biodiesel fuel 12

2.7 Status summary of biodiesel in Asian countries 14

2.8 National Biofuel Policy (NBP): Strategic objectives 15

2.9 General applicable requirements and test methods as in

MS 2008:2008

17

2.10 Physicochemical properties of palm oil methyl ester,

PME fuels test in various ratio blends

28

2.11 Fuel properties of the tested palm biodiesel oil and

diesel blends, (PB)

29

2.12 Fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) compositions of the

tested biodiesels

29

2.13 Fuel properties of Jatropha oil, Jatropha biodiesel and

fossil diesel

30

2.14 Fatty acid composition (FFA) (%) of the seed oil of

Jatropha curcas

31

2.15 Basic physical and chemical properties of petroleum

diesel, B10, B20 and biodiesel fuels

32

2.16 Physical characteristics of the fuels 33

2.17 Comparative results for B100 34

2.18 Fuel properties of biodiesel in comparison with

conventional diesel and waste cooking oil

35

xv

2.19 Literatures summary on the fuel properties, effects on

performance and exhaust emissions of biodiesel

79

3.1 Test engine specification 94

3.2 Specification of emission gas analyser model IMR

2800-A

95

4.1 Properties of fuels tested in the experiment 99

4.2 The comprehensive variant on performance and

emissions of biodiesel in average relative to diesel fuel

149

xvi

LIST OF FIGURES

2.1 Production oil yield for various source of biodiesel

feedstocks

19

2.2 Oil palm tree and fruits 21

2.3 Fresh oil palm fruit and its longitudinal section 21

2.4 The example of palm kernel and PKO, and mesocarp

and CPO

22

2.5 Jatropha Curcas plant and seed 23

2.6 Grease content in waste cooking oil (WCO) 25

2.7 Transesterificatio reaction of triglycerides 26

2.8 Biodiesel fuel properties and their associated impact

27

2.9 Cumulative heat release at 100% engine load for a

medium-duty direct injection (DI) transportation engine

37

2.10 Effects of palm oil blending on engine performance

analysis without load conditions

38

2.11 Effects of palm oil blending and engine speed on engine

performance and emissions under medium load (50%

test load condition)

39

2.12 Engine performance and combustion characteristics

with BDF derived from palm oil, rape oil and soy oil

40

2.13 Heat release rates with gas oil and palm oil BDF 41

2.14 Variations in BSFC with blends of ethanol, diesel and

JME

42

2.15 Variations in BTE with blends of ethanol, diesel and

JME

43

2.16 Variation of cylinder pressure with crank angle for

ethanol, diesel and JME

43

xvii

2.17 Variation of cumulative heat release with crank angle

for ethanol, diesel and JME

44

2.18 Variation of rate of heat release with crank angle for

diesel and JME

45

2.19 Variation of BTE with Methanol Energy Share 46

2.20 Variation of volumetric efficiency with methanol energy

share

46

2.21 Variation of exhaust gas temperature with methanol

energy share

47

2.22 Variation of ignition delay with methanol energy share 47

2.23 Variation of peak pressure with methanol energy share 48

2.24 Variation of MRPR with methanol energy share 48

2.25 Variation of combustion duration with methanol energy

share

49

2.26 Variation of heat release rate at maximum efficiency 50

2.27 Effects of biodiesel blending ratio on engine

performance (0% load condition)

51

2.28 Effects of biodiesel blending ratio on engine

performance (100% load condition)

52

2.29 Effects of engine speed on engine performance (0% load

condition)

53

2.30 Effects of engine speed on engine performance (50%

load condition)

53

2.31 Output power of different WCO biodiesel blends at two

speeds

54

2.32 BSFC of different WCO biodiesel blends at two speeds 55

2.33 Exhaust temperatures of different WCO biodiesel blends

at two speeds

56

2.34 Direct impact and corresponding interactions of

biodiesel fuel on emissions as compared to fossil diesel

58

2.35 Engine emission during 1500 rpm using OD and

biodiesel blends (B5, B10 and B15)

59

xviii



60



61

2.38 Comparison of NOx emissions of biodiesels from

various sources with diesel

62

2.39 Comparison of CO emissions of biodiesels from various

sources with diesel

63

2.40 Comparison of HC emissions of biodiesels from various

sources with diesel

63

2.41 Comparison of soot emissions of biodiesels from

various sources with diesel

64

2.42 Comparison of CO2 emissions of Jatropha oil blend

fuelled engines

65

2.43 Comparison of CO emissions of Jatropha oil blend

fuelled engines

66

2.44 Comparison of HC emissions of Jatropha oil blend

fuelled engines

66

2.45 Comparison of oxygen content in exhaust gas of

Jatropha oil blend fuelled engines

67

2.46 Comparison of NO emissions of Jatropha oil blend

fuelled engines

67

2.47 Comparison of smoke opacity emissions of Jatropha oil

blend fuelled engines

68

2.48 Variation in NOx emission of different MEOJ blends

ratio and diesel at static injection timing in 23ºbTDC

69

2.49 Variation in NOx emission of MEOJ blends (B20 and

B80) at different injection timing

70

2.50 Variation in NOx emission of MEOJ blends (B20 and

B40) at different injection pressure

70

2.51 Variation in smoke density of different MEOJ blends

ratio and diesel at static injection timing in 23ºbTDC

71

2.52 Variation in smoke emission of MEOJ blends (B20 and

B80) at different injection timing

71

xix

2.53 Variation in smoke emission of MEOJ blends (B20 and

B40) at different injection pressure

72

2.54 Effects of WCO biodiesel blending ratio (vol %) on

different engine speed (rpm)

73

2.55 Effects of biodiesel blending with different period of

times (at 1500 rpm engine speed)

74

2.56 Effects of biodiesel blending with different period of

times (at engine speed from 2000 to 2500 rpm)

75

2.57 Gaseous specific emissions at 23kW, upstream of the

catalyst

76

2.58

Gaseous specific emissions at 23kW, downstream of the

catalyst

77

2.59 Gaseous specific emissions at 47kW, US catalyst 77

2.60 Gaseous Specific Emissions at 47kW, DS catalyst

78

3.1 Flow chart of overall research works 85

3.2 Biodiesel pilot plant in UTHM, Batu Pahat Johor 86

3.3 General flow-sheet for production of biodiesel 87

3.4 Block diagram of biodiesel production flow 88

3.5 Illustration of equipment apparatus setup for blending

process

89

3.6 Block diagram of blending process 89

3.7 Schematic diagram of biodiesel blending process 90

3.8 Kinematic viscosity tester model Hydromation Viscolite

700

91

3.9 Instrument analysis of flash point, Pensky-Martens

model PMA 4

92

3.10 Yanmar TF120-ML diesel engine 93

3.11 IMR 2800-A model gas analyser 95

3.12 Schematic of experimental setup 96

4.1 Effects of engine speed on engine performance by CPO

without load condition

101

xx


under 50% load condition

101



101

4.4 Effects of CPO blending ratio on engine performance


103



103



103

4.7 Combustion characteristic of CPO during 800 rpm

engine speed without load condition

105



106


engine speed under 50% load condition

106



107



108



108

4.13 Effects of engine speed on exhaust gas emissions by

CPO without load condition

110


CPO under 50% load condition

110


CPO under 90% load condition

110

4.16 Effects of CPO blending ratio on exhaust gas emissions


112



112



112

xxi

4.19 Effects of engine speed on engine performance by JCO


114



114



114

4.22 Effects of JCO blending ratio on engine performance


116



116



116

4.25 Combustion characteristic of JCO during 800 rpm


117



118



118



119



120



120


JCO without load condition

122


JCO under 50% load condition

122


JCO under 90% load condition

122

4.34 Effects of JCO blending ratio on exhaust gas emissions


124



124

xxii



124

4.37 Effects of engine speed on engine performance by WCO


126



126



126

4.40 Effects of WCO blending ratio on engine performance


128



128



128

4.43 Combustion characteristic of WCO during 800 rpm


129



130



130



131



132



132


WCO without load condition

134


WCO under 50% load condition

134


WCO under 90% load condition

134

4.52 Effects of WCO blending ratio on exhaust gas emissions


136

xxiii



136



136

4.55 Performance of diesel engine by all types of biodiesel

blends during 800 rpm engine speed without load

condition

138


blends during 800 rpm engine speed under 50% load

condition

138



condition

138

4.58 Emissions characteristic by all types of biodiesel blends

during 800 rpm engine speed without load condition

139


during 800 rpm engine speed under 50% load condition

139


during 800 rpm engine speed under 90% load condition

139



condition

141



condition

141



condition

141



142


during 1200 rpm engine speed under 50% load

condition

142



condition

142

xxiv



condition

144



condition

144



condition

144



145



condition

145



condition

145



condition

147



condition

147



condition

147



148



condition

148



condition

148

xxv

LIST OF SYMBOLS AND ABBREVIATIONS

% - Percentage

0C - Degree Celsius (temperature unit)

0CA - Degree crank angle

AIST - National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and

Technology, Japan

AMP - Accumulation mode particles

ANP - Agéncia Nacional de Petróleo, Brazil

ASTM - American Society for Testing and Materials

ASTM D975 - American Standards for Testing Materials for diesel fuel

ASTM D6751 - American Standards for Testing Materials for B100 biodiesel

aTDC - After top dead center

ATDC - After top dead center

B0 - 100% diesel content

B5 - 5% biodiesel blend with 95% diesel content








B100 - 100% biodiesel content

bar - Pressure unit

BDF - Biodiesel fuel

BHP - Brake horse power

BIS - Bureau of Indian Standards

BMEP - Brake mean effective pressure

BO - Bleach oil

xxvi

BSEC - Brake specific energy consumption

BSFC - Brake specific fuel consumption

bTDC - Before top dead center

BTDC - Before top dead center

BTE - Brake thermal efficiency

CA - Crank angle

cc - centimetre cubic

CHR - Cumulative heat release

CI - Compression ignition

CO - Carbon monoxide

CO2 - Carbon dioxide

CPO - Crude palm oil

CPO5 - 5% crude palm oil blends with 95% diesel




CSN - Czech Republic standard for biodiesel

D - Diesel

D-15 - 15% diesel blend with biodiesel



D2 - No. 2 diesel

DAQ - Data acquisition

DI - Direct injection

DIN 51606 - Austria standard for biodiesel

DOC - Diesel oxidation catalyst

DS - Downstream of the catalyst

Dsl - Standard diesel

DSL - Standard diesel

E-5 - 5% ethanol blend with biodiesel

ECD - Electronically controlled distributor

EN - European Nation

EN 14214 - European Committee for Standardisation of biodiesel

EU - Europe

xxvii

EURO 3 - Diesel engine model

F/W - Flywheel

FA - Fatty acid

FAME - Fatty acid methyl esters

FCO - Fresh cooking oil

FFA - Free fatty acid

g - gram

GHG - Greenhouse gases

GOM - Government of Malaysia

Hatz - Diesel engine model

HC - Hydrocarbon

HD - Heavy duty

HR - Heat release

HRR - Heat release rate

HSU - Hatridge Smoke Unit

IS 5607:2005 - India standard for biodiesel

J05 - 5% Jatropha biodiesel oil blends with 95% diesel






JB10 - Jatropha biodiesel blends 10% v/v

JB20 - Jatropha biodiesel blends 20% v/v

JCO - Jatropha Curcas oil

JCO5 - 5% Jatropha biodiesel oil blends with 95% diesel



JIS - Japan International Standard

JME-20 - 20% Jatropha methyl esters blend with diesel



JME - Jatropha methyl esters

JTME - Jatropha oil methyl ester

xxviii

kg - kilogram (mass unit)

kJ - kiloJoule

kW - kiloWatt

kWh - kilowatt hour

KOH - Potassium hydroxide

LHV - Latent heat of vaporization

Ltd - Limited

m - meter (length unit)

m3 - meter cube (volume unit)

mm2 - millimetre square (area unit)

MEOJ - Methyl ester of Jatropha oil

mg - milligram (mass unit)

MJ - mega Joule

MPa - Mega Pascal (pressure unit)

MPIC - Ministry of Plantation Industry and Commodities

MPOB - Malaysian Palm Oil Board

MRPR - Mmaximum rate of pressure rise

MS 123:2005 - Malaysia standard for diesel

MS 2008:2008 - Malaysia standard for biodiesel

MT - Tonne matric (volume unit)

NA - Naturally aspirated

NBP - National Biofuel Policy

NMP - Nucleation mode particles

NO - Nitric oxide

NO2 - Nitrogen dioxide

NOx - Oxides of nitrogen

O2 - Oxygen

OD - Ordinary diesel or standard diesel

ON - Austria standard for biodiesel

P5 - 5% crude palm biodiesel oil blends with 95% diesel



PAH - Particulate emission

PAME - Palm oil methyl ester

xxix

PB - Palm base biodiesel and diesel blends

PB10 - Palm biodiesel blends 10% v/v

PB20 - Palm biodiesel blends 20% v/v

PD - Typical diesel fuel/standard diesel

PKO - Crude palm kernel oil

PM - Particulate matter

PMC - Premixed combustion

PME - Palm methyl ester

ppm - part per million

PUME - Pungam oil methyl ester

PUO - Politeknik Ungku Omar

R&D - Research and development

r/min - Revolution per minute

RBME - Rice bran methyl ester

RPM or rpm - Revolution per minute

s - Seconds

SCADA - Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition system

SOF - Soluble organic fraction

SO2 - Sulphur dioxide

SOx - Sulphur oxide

STD or Std - Standard diesel

SUME - Sunflower oil methyl ester

THC - Total hydrocarbon

TPN - Total particle number

UHC - Unburnt hydrocarbon

UK - United Kingdom

US - Uupstream of the catalyst

US ASTM - United State ASTM Standard

USA - United State of America

UTHM - Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia

v/v - Biodiesel volume by diesel volume

VE - Mechanical distributor

WCO - Waste cooking oil

WCO5 - 5% waste cooking biodiesel oil blends with 95% diesel

xxx



WCOB - Waste cooking oil biodiesel

WCOB100 - 100% Waste cooking oil biodiesel

WCO-ME - Waste cooking oil methyl ester

WCME - Waste cooking oil methyl ester

xxxi

LIST OF APPENDICES

A Project time scale 160

B Experimental data 161

C Variant relative to diesel throughout range of speeds 173

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of study

Alternative fuels for diesel engines have become increasingly important due to several

socioeconomic aspects and increased environmental concerns. Global warming concerns

due to the production of greenhouse gases (GHGs) have seen as one of major factor the

promotion of the use of biofuels. Carbon dioxide (CO2) from fuel combustion is a major

contributor to GHGs and caused a shift in the climate system. Yet the use of biodiesel as

an alternative fuel for petroleum-diesel fuel operates in compression ignition (CI) diesel

engines is very effective for the reduction of CO2 emission since it is classified as green

and renewable energy derived from renewable biomass resources such as vegetable oils

and animal fats.

The search for an alternative fuel for diesel engines has intensified in recent years

with the imminent depletion of fossil fuel in the future. Other key factors contributing to

this include growing environmental concerns and volatile crude oil prices. Among

alternative fuel options, biodiesel is currently favoured in the land and sea transportation

sector due to the availability of current production technology, and compatibility with

existing infrastructure of conventional diesel fuel. The announcement of the mandatory

use of biodiesel was made in October 2008 by the Prime Minister of Malaysia. The

Malaysia Biofuel Industry Act was gazette on November 1st, 2008, to regulate and

ensure the orderly development of the Malaysian biofuel industry (Oguma, Lee, & Goto,

2011). Owing to a combination of these factors and encouraging measures adopted by

policy makers in the form of mandatory blending, biodiesel standards and emission

legislations, biodiesel has seen a rapid annual increment in its worldwide production.

Nowadays, the ease of resources and use crude palm oil (CPO) in Malaysia

makes it possible for research and development to be conducted. CPO is obtained from

the seeds of the oil palm tree (Elaeis guineensis). CPO is considered a prospective

2

biodiesel source in Malaysia and other parts of South East Asia owing to its large scale

cultivation. Furthermore, crude palm biodiesel oil can be used in diesel engine directly

without major modification. From the previous studies state that crude palm biodiesel

has been proven to be a good solution to help address the problem of global warming.

Comparing to palm oil biodiesel industry, biodiesel produced from Jatropha is

still in its nascent state in Malaysia even though considerable interest has been shown by

the government and private sectors. Jatropha oil (JCO) is obtained from the seeds of

Jatropha Curcas. Jatropha is non edible and one of the advantages of Jatropha is that it

can be cultivated on waste land and thus does not compete with food crops. Jatropha

crops do not require much fertilizer and water, yet lead to the reductions of plantation

cost which render the price of biodiesel produced from JCO extremely competitive with

diesel from fossil fuels (Suryanarayanan, Janakiraman, & Rao, 2008). It is also reported

that Jatropha biodiesel blend with petroleum diesel could provide optimum performance

without any engine modification nor preheating.

Waste cooking oil (WCO) can be identifying alternative sources of raw material

due to the lower price compared with other fuel sources. WCO refers to oil that has been

hydrogenated after cooking. WCO offers significant potential as an alternative low cost

biodiesel because it does need production cost compare to other type of biodiesel.

Conversion of used cooking not only provides an alternate fuel but also to the disposal

of WCO. The waste cooking biodiesel oil is produced by transesterification from WCO.

WCO provide a viable alternative to diesel, as they are abundantly available especially

in Malaysia (Khalid, Mudin, et al., 2014). It might be the most practical alternative of

all sources due to its availability.

In this sense, research and development (R&D) on biodiesel fuels on these three

types of biodiesel sources i.e. WCO, CPO and JCO are very important to be performed

in promising alternative to conventional diesel fuel in Malaysia and for further

comprehensive improvements as well.

3

1.2 Problems statement

Biodiesel fuel has a potential to be used as an alternative fuel that can reduce the total

emission of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from the internal engine whereby the bio-

fuel in this study are made from waste cooking oil (WCO), crude palm oil (CPO) and

Jatropha oil (JCO). Biofuels based on vegetable oils offer the advantage being a

sustainable, annually renewable source of diesel engine fuel and yet receiving a lot of

attention nowadays. Source of biodiesel from vegetable oils such as crude palm oil,

soybean oil, raw rapeseed oil, waste cooking oil and etc. have become the main actor in

producing biodiesel rather than biodiesel from animal fat. The usage of this vegetable oil

is due to the great fuel properties such as flash point and acid value that comparable to

the petroleum-diesel fuel.

The capability of CPO to be used as biodiesel due to the higher level of molecular

saturation of it contains, which means a lower number of double bonds in the molecules.

This leads to a higher ignition quality in compression ignition (CI) engine. However, this

also leads to a higher cloud point which makes them difficult to be used in cold weather

unless certain cold flow additives are being added. As JCO is found to contain as much

as 34 wt.% of saturated fatty acids, Jatropha based biodiesel is expected to exhibit poor

operability at low temperature (Lim & Teong, 2010).

Despite years of improvement attempts, the key issue in using waste cooking oil

(WCO) based fuel is oxidation stability, stoichiometric point, bio-fuel composition,

antioxidants on the degradation and much oxygen with comparing to conventional diesel

fuel (Khalid, Anuar, Ishak, et al., 2014). Even though the application of WCO in the

diesel engines offer cheaper fuel in term of cost but it also creates the problems of higher

emissions as compared to petroleum based diesel especially on the emission of sulphur

oxide (SOx). Meanwhile the important issue is the emission exhausted from diesel

engines fuelled by biodiesel is required to meet the future stringent emission regulations.

As summary, most of biodiesel fuels have faced problems where the fuels are not

operating effectively in cold weather and some of them may lead the increasing of

emissions due to instable fuel properties or inappropriate blending ratio.

4

1.3 Objectives of study

The objectives of the study are:

(i) To investigate the effect of various biodiesel blending ratios on performance and

emissions of small marine diesel engine.

(ii) To recommend the biodiesel blending ratio that optimizes the engine

performance and lower exhaust emissions.

1.4 Scopes of study

The scopes of work in performing the research are:

(i) The fuels test will be carried out using a small marine diesel engine: Yanmar

Motor Diesel, Model TF120-ML, 0.638 litre capacity, 1-cylinder, horizontal,

water cooled, 4-cycle engine.

(ii) The fuels will be tested were standard diesel (DSL) fuel and biodiesel blends

with DSL. The ordinary gas oil of standard diesel (DSL) designated as a

reference standard fuel.

(iii) Using three types of biodiesel fuel: crude palm oil (CPO) based, Jatropha oil

(JCO) based and waste cooking oil (WCO) based with various blended rates i.e.

5%, 10% and 15% by volume (additional of 20% for CPO).

(iv) The test will be carried out with four difference engine speed at 800 rpm, 1200

rpm, 1600 rpm and 2000 rpm as well as various load conditions applied of 0%,

50% and 90%.

5

1.5 Significant of study

This study is based on the analysis of biodiesel fuel derived from three types of

feedstocks i.e. waste cooking oil (WCO), crude palm oil (CPO) and Jatropha oil (JCO).

The blending proportions of these fuels with diesel fuels by volume as per stated below:

(i) CPO5 (5% crude palm biodiesel oil, 95% standard diesel);

(ii) CPO10 (10% crude palm biodiesel oil, 90% standard diesel);

(iii) CPO15 (15% crude palm biodiesel oil, 85% standard diesel);

(iv) JCO5 (5% Jatropha biodiesel oil, 95% standard diesel);

(v) JCO10 (10% Jatropha biodiesel oil, 90% standard diesel);

(vi) JCO15 (15% Jatropha biodiesel oil, 85% standard diesel);

(vii) WCO5 (5% waste cooking biodiesel oil, 95% standard diesel);

(viii) WCO10 (10% waste cooking biodiesel oil, 90% standard diesel); and

(ix) WCO15 (15% waste cooking biodiesel oil, 85% standard diesel).

From the biodiesel fuels productions and mixtures, one of the most important

characteristic of biodiesel fuels i.e. fuel viscosity will be analysed because it significantly

control the combustion quality during fuel-air premixing at the early stage of combustion

process which resulting either shorten or prolong ignition delay.

The outcome of this research are very important for future research and

development as a direction to establish alternative fuels that signified lower emissions

yet less dependence on fossil fuels.

1.6 Project time scale

The planning schedule for the overall research works on Master Project 1 and 2 is

represented in a Gantt chart table in Appendix A.

CHAPTER 2

LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Biodiesel fuels

Biodiesel is a clean-burning fuel produced from grease, vegetable oils, or animal fats.

Biodiesel is produced by transesterification of oils with short-chain alcohols or by the

esterification of fatty acids. The transesterification reaction consists of transforming

triglycerides into fatty acid alkyl esters, in the presence of an alcohol, such as methanol

or ethanol, and a catalyst, such as an alkali or acid, with glycerol as a by-product. Since

biodiesel is made entirely from vegetable oil or animal fats, it is renewable and

biodegradable. The majority of biodiesel today is produced by alkali-catalysed

transesterification with methanol, which results in a relatively short reaction time.

However, the vegetable oil and alcohol must be substantially anhydrous and have a low

free fatty acid (FFA) content, because the presence of water or FFA or both may

promotes soap formation (Vasudevan & Briggs, 2008). Table 2.1 shows the

stoichiometric quantity of methyl alcohol to be used which is usually said to be around

12.5% by volume.

Table 2.1: Stoichiometric quantity of methyl alcohol (% vol.)

(Rosca, Rakosi, & Manolache, 2005)

Owing to dwindling petroleum reserves and the deleterious environmental

consequences of exhaust gases from petroleum diesel, there has been renewed interest in

the use of vegetable oils for making biodiesel due to its less polluting and renewable

nature as opposed to conventional diesel, which is a fossil fuel that can be depleted

7

(Ghadge & Raheman, 2006). Moreover, biodiesel is an alternative liquid fuel that can be

used in any diesel engine without modification.

Biodiesel fuels produce slightly lower power and torque and consume more fuel

than No. 2 diesel (D2) fuel. Biodiesel is better than diesel fuel in terms of sulphur content,

flash point, aromatic content, and biodegradability (Bala, 2005). The cost of biodiesels

varies depending on the base stock, geographic area, variability in crop production from

season to season, the price of crude petroleum, and other factors. Biodiesel is more than

twice as expensive as petroleum diesel. The high price of biodiesel is in large part due to

the high price of the feedstocks. However, biodiesel can be made from various feedstocks

whereby the resources dominant at particular country as presented in Table 2.2.

Table 2.2: Potential feedstocks for biodiesel worldwide

(Atabani et al., 2012)

8

2.1.1 Advantages of biodiesel as diesel fuel

The biggest advantage of biodiesel is environmentally friendliness that it has over

gasoline and petroleum diesel. The advantages of biodiesel as a diesel fuel are its

portability, ready availability, renewability, higher combustion efficiency, lower sulphur

and aromatic content (Ma & Hanna, 1999; Knothe, Sharp, & Ryan, 2006), higher cetane

number, and higher biodegradability (Mudge & Pereira, 1999; Speidel, Lightner, &

Ahmed, 2000; Zhang, Dub, McLean, & Kates, 2003). The main advantages of biodiesel

given in the literature include its domestic origin, its potential for reducing a given

economy’s dependency on imported petroleum, biodegradability, high flash point, and

inherent lubricity in the neat form (Mittelbach & Remschmidt, 2004). Apart from those

advantages, Malaysia as the leading producer of biodiesel in the world will bring many

advantages to the country such as economic strengthened by exportations, job

opportunities, environment quality as well as preparations towards the status of

developed country (Lim & Teong, 2010).

2.1.2 Disadvantages of biodiesel as diesel fuel

The major disadvantages of biodiesel are its higher viscosity, lower energy content,

higher cloud point and pour point, higher nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions, lower engine

speed and power, injector coking, engine compatibility, high price, and higher engine

wear. Important operating disadvantages of biodiesel in comparison with commercial

diesel fuel are cold start problems as well as not operating effectively in cold weather,

lower energy content, higher copper strip corrosion, and fuel pumping difficulty from

higher viscosity (Dunn, 2001). This increases fuel consumption when biodiesel is used

instead of pure commercial diesel fuel, in proportion to the share of biodiesel content.

Taking into account the higher production value of biodiesel as compared to commercial

diesel, this increase in fuel consumption raises in addition the overall cost of application

of biodiesel as an alternative to petroleum diesel. Neat biodiesel and biodiesel blends

increase nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions compared with petroleum-based diesel fuel

used in an unmodified diesel engine (EPA, 2002).

Furthermore, biodiesels on average decrease power by 5% compared to diesel at

rated loads (Demirbas, 2005). Peak torque is lower for biodiesel than petroleum diesel

but occurs at lower engine speed and generally the torque curves are flatter. Peak torque

9

applies less to biodiesel fuels than it does to No. 2 diesel fuel but occurs at lower engine

speed and generally its torque curves are flatter (Demirbas, 2005). The effective

efficiency and effective pressure values of commercial diesel fuel are greater than those

of biodiesel (Canakci, Erdil, & Arcaklioglu, 2006). Fuel consumption at full load

condition and low speeds generally is high. Fuel consumption first decreases and then

increases with increasing speed. The reason is that, the produced power in low speeds is

low and the main part of fuel is consumed to overcome the engine friction (Ozkan,

Ergenc, & Deniz, 2005). Another advantages and disadvantages of biodiesel are

summarized in Table 2.3 as a comparison of main biodiesel production technologies.

Table 2.3: Comparison of biodiesel production technologies

(Atabani et al., 2012)

10

2.2 International standard specification for biodiesel

Since biodiesel is produced from differently sources, techniques, scaled plants of varying

origins and qualities, it is important to fit a standardization of fuel quality in order to

guarantee the fuels resulting the better emissions to the environment as well as the engine

performance. Austria was the first country in the world to define and approve the

standards for rapeseed oil methyl esters as a biofuel. Currently, there are two main

international biodiesel standard specifications in determining the properties and qualities

of biodiesel. These specifications include the American Standards for Testing Materials,

ASTM D6751 (ASTM, 2012) and the European Committee for Standardization, EN

14214 (European Standard, 2008) for biodiesel fuel.

The properties of biodiesel are characterized by physicochemical properties.

These properties include; caloric value (MJ/kg), cetane number, density (kg/m3),

viscosity (mm2/s), cloud and pour points (◦C), flash point (◦C), acid value (mg KOH/g-

oil), ash content (%), copper corrosion, carbon residue, water content and sediment,

distillation range, sulphur content, glycerine (% m/m), phosphorus (mg/kg) and

oxidation stability. The physical and chemical fuel properties of biodiesel basically

depend on the type of feedstocks and its fatty acids composition (Atabani et al., 2012;

Demirbas, 2009; Kinoshita, Myo, & Hamasaki, 2006; Knothe, 2010).

The ASTM D6751 standard is for B100 (usually produced from soy and waste

cooking oil in USA). There is no separate specification for blended biodiesel/diesel fuel

except that the petroleum diesel used in blending should meet ASTM D975 standard.

ASTM D6751 is used for standardizing blends up to B20 (Moser, 2009). Table 2.4 shows

the ASTM D6751 biodiesel fuel standard while Table 2.5 depicts the comparison of

standards between ASTM D975 (petrodiesel) and D6751 (biodiesel).

The European Committee for Standardization, EN 14214 is more stringent than

the US standard. In the European Union, biodiesel must be satisfactory according to EN

14214 before inclusion petrodiesel, as mandated by EN 590 (Moser, 2009). The

European EN 14214 standard is for B100 blend stock biodiesel. But, it is used also for

standardizing the blends up to B30 for their use in captive engines. However, the

specifications for blends above B5 are required (Cahill, 2007). Table 2.6 represents the

European standard, EN 14214 for biodiesel fuel.

11

Table 2.4: ASTM D6751 biodiesel fuel standard

(ASTM, 2012; Tyagi, Atray, Kumar, & Datta, 2010)

Table 2.5: ASTM standards of biodiesel and petrodiesel

(Demirbas, 2008)

12

Table 2.6: European standard, EN 14214 for biodiesel fuel

(Cahill, 2007; European Standard, 2008)

The guidelines for standards and the quality of biodiesel have also been defined

in other countries such as in Germany, Italy, France, the Czech Republic, Brazil, Canada,

Australia, Philippines, China, Malaysia, Taiwan (Chinese Taipei), New Zealand,

Thailand, United States and West European countries (Meher, Vidya, & Naik, 2006;

Tyagi et al., 2010).

In Brazil, the biodiesel standard produced by ANP (Agéncia Nacional de

Petróleo, Brazil) i.e. ANP Act. No. 42 which enacted in the year 2004 is more flexible

than the European or American standard. It recognizes biodiesel itself as a blend

(mixture) of some fatty acids methyl esters (FAME) whose properties may not comply

with the standard. Hence, like the blending operations for diesel in a petroleum refinery,

the composition of biodiesel too may have to be tailored to meet all performance

requirements of an engine (Tyagi et al., 2010). This Brazilian approach appears to be

reasonable when different raw materials with diverse compositions have to be utilized in

13

the production of biodiesel for meeting the demand of biodiesel in a particular region.

There are another various standards available in western countries such as in Germany

(DIN 51606), Austria (ON) and Czech republic (CSN) (Lin, Cunshan, et al., 2011). Apart

from that, Japan has a national standard JIS K2390 for B100 biodiesel. The National

Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Tsukuba, Japan is

working to improve this standards with an objective to improve the low-temperature

performance and oxidation stability of biodiesel fuel (Tyagi et al., 2010). In India,

Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has produced an Indian Standard IS 15607:2005 for

B100 biodiesel (FAME) which derived mainly from the European standard EN 14214

and partly from US standard ASTM D6751.

Meanwhile in eastern region, the status summary of biodiesel in Asian countries

as depicted in the following Table 2.7 also clarify the own standard been used in those

countries. However, the development of standard for any country basically adopting

either ASTM or EN standard in part or full.

14

Table 2.7: Status summary of biodiesel in Asian countries

(Oguma et al., 2011)

15

2.2.1 Policy and standard adopted for biodiesel in Malaysia

The National Biofuel Policy (NBP) was formulated in 2005 following stakeholder

consultations, and was based on earlier research findings by the Malaysian Palm Oil

Board (MPOB) (Chin, 2011). The NBP envisions that biofuel will be one of the five

energy sources for Malaysia, enhancing the nation’s prosperity and well-being. The

policy is primarily aimed at reducing the country’s dependence on depleting fossil fuels,

promoting the demand for palm oil as well as stabilising its prices at a remunerative level

(MPIC, 2006). The Policy is underpinned by five strategic thrusts as depicts in Table 2.8.

Table 2.8: National Biofuel Policy (NBP): strategic objectives

(Lopez & Laan, 2008; MPIC, 2006)

The policy was expected to bring the following main benefits:

(i) reduce dependency on fossil fuels;

(ii) mobilise local resources for biofuels;

(iii) exploit local technology for biofuel production;

(iv) create new demand for palm oil;

(v) stabilise the CPO price; and

(vi) mitigate climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

16

The quality standards for Malaysian biodiesel are developed comprehensively to

specify the minimum requirements of the biodiesel properties for diesel engine

operations. The evaluation of fuel quality is based on a standardised benchmark to ensure

the biodiesel been used may overcome the worldwide environment focused issue i.e.

CO2 emissions and greenhouse gases (GHGs) yet raises public confidence in accepting

the fuel as an alternative to fossil diesel. Hence, testing are conducted by the MPOB on

Malaysian biodiesel and yet certified that it met international biodiesel standards i.e. US

ASTM and EU Standard (Lopez & Laan, 2008).

As part of the goals of the National Biofuel Policy, quality standards for Palm

Methyl Ester (PME) biofuels were to be established by SIRIM Bhd. The quality standard

for 100% biodiesel (B100) in Malaysia, MS 2008:2008 was published in 2008, majorly

based on European standard EN 14214, with some minor modifications. For blended

biodiesel, on the other hand, the quality standard is MS 123:2005, which is essentially a

quality standard for Euro diesel (Chin, 2011). The Malaysia standard developed, MS

2008:2008 (Automotive fuels - Palm Methyl Esters (PME) for diesel engines –

Requirements and test methods) for biodiesel is shows in Table 2.9. However, the

adherence to the published Malaysian biodiesel standards at the moment is still voluntary

and they are mostly used in research and development (R&D) as well as a business to

business tool.

The local implementation of the B5 program by the government of Malaysia

(GOM) was started on February 3, 2009. Even though, there is no biodiesel limit set for

diesel fuel. (Oguma et al., 2011). Yet the GOM has implemented the B5 mandate to be

fulfilled immediately, with the product available throughout Malaysia by the end of

2013. GOM will then introduce B10, a blend of 10 percent PME and 90 % petroleum

based diesel, in mid-2014. The Ministry of Plantation Industry and Commodities (MPIC)

is reportedly working with automotive manufacturers to develop fuel standards to ease

acceptance of B10 biodiesel. In addition to the GOM support provided to develop

marketing infrastructure, the MPOB is backing a consortium to mobilize the private

sector. Despite the government support, it is unlikely that the B10 mandate will be able

to be implemented until mid-2015 (Wahab, 2014). Nevertheless, the R&D and

improvements will keep continuing in order to lead the greatest solution to the standard

specification as well as the regulatory upon the implementation of biodiesel as an

alternative diesel fuel in Malaysia for the future excellence.

17

Table 2.9: General applicable requirements and test methods as in MS 2008:2008

(Department of Standards Malaysia, 2008)

18

Table 2.9 (continued)

2.3 Overview of feedstocks for biodiesel used in the study

By an overview of feedstocks for biodiesel, there are more than 350 types of

crops identified as potential sources for production of bio-oil. The wide range of

available sources of feedstocks signifies one of the most important factors of producing

biodiesel. As the availability of the feedstocks is concerned for biodiesel production

purposes, the feedstocks should fulfill two main requirements i.e. low production costs

and large production scale. Figure 2.1 shows the oil yield of various oil sources for

biodiesel feedstocks (Karmakar, Karmakar, & Mukherjee, 2010). The availability of

feedstocks for producing biodiesel depends on the regional climate, geographical

locations, local soil conditions and agricultural practices of any country.

19

Figure 2.1: Production oil yield for various source of biodiesel feedstocks

(Karmakar, Karmakar, & Mukherjee, 2010)

In general, biodiesel feedstocks can be divided into four main categories as below

(Ahmad, Mat Yasin, Derek, & Lim, 2011; Demirbas, 2008; Masjuki, 2010):

(i) Edible vegetable oil: rapeseed, soybean, sunflower, palm and coconut oil

(ii) Non-edible vegetable oil: jatropha, karanja, sea mango, algae and halophytes

(iii) Animal fats: tallow, yellow grease, chicken fat and by-products from fish oil

(iv) Waste or recycled oil.

Edible oils resources such as soybeans, palm oil, sunflower, safflower, rapeseed,

coconut and peanut are considered as the first generation of biodiesel feedstocks because

they were the first crops to be used for biodiesel production. Their plantations have been

well established in many countries around the world such as Malaysia, USA and

Germany. Currently, more than 95% of the world biodiesel is produced from edible oils

such as rapeseed (84%), sunflower oil (13%), palm oil (1%), soybean oil and others

(2%). However, the use of such edible oils to produce biodiesel is not feasible in the long

term because of the growing gap between demand and supply of such oils in many

countries.

Meanwhile non-edible oils resources are gaining worldwide attention because

they are easily available in many parts of the world especially wastelands that are not

suitable for food crops, eliminate competition for food, reduce deforestation rate, more

efficient, more environmentally friendly, produce useful by-products and they are very

economical comparable to edible oils. The main sources for biodiesel production from

20

non-edible oils are jatropha or ratanjyote or seemaikattamankku (Jatropha curcas),

karanja or honge (Pongamia pinnata), Aleurites moluccana, Pachira glabra nagchampa

(Calophyllum inophyllum), rubber seed tree (Hevca brasiliensis), Desert date (Balanites

aegyptiaca), Croton megalocarpus, Rice bran, Sea mango (Cerbera odollam),

Terminalia belerica, neem (Azadirachta indica), Koroch seed oil (Pongamia glabra

vent.), mahua (Madhuca indica and Madhuca longifolia), Tobacco seed (Nicotiana

tabacum L.), Chinese tallow, silk cotton tree (Ceiba pentandra), jojoba (Simmondsia

chinensis), babassu tree and Euphorbia tirucalli. Non-edible oils are regarded as the

second generation of biodiesel feedstocks (Atabani et al., 2012).

In this study, three types of biodiesel which produced from different type of

feedstocks sources has been selected to perform the performance and emissions test on

compression ignition (CI) engine specifically a small marine diesel engine:

(i) Crude palm oil (CPO);

(ii) Jatropha Curcas oil (JCO); and

(iii) Waste cooking oil (WCO).

However, only two types of those biofuel are freshly produced from vegetables

feedstocks sources while another one is made from waste cooking oil whereby originally

based from vegetables as well. Deeper brief of the biodiesel used in the research and its

feedstocks will be explained in the following topics.

2.3.1 Oil palm

The oil palm is botanical classification as Elaeis guineensis and native to the West Africa

where it was growing wild and later developed into an agricultural crop, widely in south

East Asia. The oil palm tree is contributes in releasing a large quantity of O2 to the

atmosphere than other annual crops and absorbed a lot CO2 during photosynthesis. The

economics life span of oil palm is 25–30 years of total 200 years (Lim & Teong, 2010;

Ong, Mahlia, Masjuki, & Norhasyima, 2011). The fleshy orange reddish coloured fruits

grow in large and tight female bunches each fruit weight as much as 10–40 kg and

contain up to 2000 fruitlets as shown in Figure 2.2. The fruitlet consists of a fibrous

mesoscarp layer and the endocarp (shell) containing the kernel which contains oil and

carbohydrate as shown in Figure 2.3 (Ong et al., 2011). Oil palm plants is well-known

with highest yield of vegetable oil. It produce on average about 4–5 tonnes of oil/ha

annually (Lim & Teong, 2010; Ong et al., 2011).

21

Figure 2.2: Oil palm tree and fruits

Figure 2.3: Fresh oil palm fruit and its longitudinal section

(Ong et al., 2011)

There are two types of oil produced by the oil palm fruit i.e. crude palm oil (CPO)

and crude palm kernel oil (PKO). CPO is obtained from the palm mesocarp which

contains about 49% of palm oil, while PKO is obtained from the endosperm (kernel)

which contains about 50% of kernel oil (Ong et al., 2011). Figure 2.4 illustrates both of

the crude palm oil and palm mesocarp as well as palm kernel oil and the palm kernel.

There are great differences between CPO and PKO with respect to physical and chemical

characteristics. The CPO contains mainly palmitic (16:0) and oleic (18:1) acids, the two

common fatty acids, and 50% saturated fat, while PKO contains mainly lauric acid (12:0)

and more than 89% saturated fat (Demirbas, 2009).

22

Figure 2.4: The example of palm kernel and PKO, and mesocarp and CPO

(Choo, Puah, & Wahid, 2007)

Located in the tropical South East Asia, air temperature in Malaysia barely

changes as the country enjoys an equatorial climate, the geographical location and annual

precipitation make the country perfect for oil palm growth (Hossein, Ashnani, Johari, &

Hashim, 2014). The oil palm plantations in Malaysia are planted with a density of 148

palms per hectare makes a total 4.5 million hectares of land is occupied under oil palm

cultivation (Ong et al., 2011). Malaysia is currently the world’s largest exporter and the

second largest producer of CPO with the production of 17.6 million tonnes in 2009 as

reported (Chin, 2011). 90% of the palm oil produced is used for food and the remaining

10% for non-food consumption, such as oleo-chemicals. Biodiesel produced from palm

oil has also proven to be of higher quality in several attributes as fuel than another

vegetable oil. The differences arise due to the fact that palm oil biodiesel contains higher

level of molecular saturation, which means lower number of double bonds in the

molecules. This leads to a higher ignition quality in CI engine. Production of biodiesel

from palm oil has also sparked several controversial issues notably the fuel versus food

debate and clearance of indigenous rainforests. The strong demand in other countries

especially in Europe one of the implementation reason for transportation usage, yet will

drive a more vibrant exportation and production of palm oil biodiesel in Malaysia

(Demirbas, 2009; Lim & Teong, 2010).

23

2.3.2 Jatropha curcas

Jatropha Curcas is a drought-resistant tree belongs to the Euphorbiaceae family, which

is cultivated in Central and South America, South-east Asia, India and Africa. It is easy

to establish, grows almost everywhere even on gravelly, sandy and saline soils. It

produces seeds after 12 months, can live 30-50 years and reaches its maximum

productivity by 5 years with a high oil content of about 37% or more. The oil from the

seeds has valuable properties such as a low acidity, good stability as compared to

soybean oil, low viscosity as compared to castor oil and better cold properties as

compared to palm oil. Besides, Jatropha Curcas oil (JCO) has higher a cetane number

compared to diesel which makes it a good alternative fuel with no modifications required

in the engine (Atabani, Silitonga, Ong, Mahlia, & Masjuki, 2013; Koh, Idaty, & Ghazi,

2011; Ong et al., 2011). The optimum combination for reducing the free fatty acids

(FFA) of Jatropha curcas oil ensuring an average yield of biodiesel is more than 99%

(Vasudevan & Briggs, 2008). Fresh Jatropha is a slow drying, odourless and colourless

oil and become yellow after aging as shown in Figure 2.5.

Figure 2.5: Jatropha Curcas plant and seed

Jatropha curcas may not necessarily resolve the conflict between biofuels, food

production and the environment. The focused on environmental impacts and some

socioeconomic issues, that jatropha plantations could have overall favourable benefits

for sustainable development, subject to the proviso that only wastelands or degraded

lands were used (Lopez & Laan, 2008).

Comparing to palm oil biodiesel industry, biodiesel produced from Jatropha is

still in its nascent state in Malaysia. Interest has been shown lately by both the

24

government and private sectors due to its lower plantation cost can be significantly

reduced to render the price of biodiesel produced extremely competitive with diesel from

fossil fuels without government subsidies. Therefore, Jatropha Curcas in Malaysia is

widely regarded as a supplementary feedstocks for biodiesel production instead of an

alternative especially during high crude palm oil rises when producing biodiesel from

palm oil will incur profit losses (Lim & Teong, 2010).

2.3.3 Waste cooking oil

Waste cooking oil (WCO) also known as restaurant waste oil refers to oil that has been

hydrogenated after cooking. Cooking oils, used for frying food, have a limited life in

food production due to their contamination with debris from food and due to fatty acids

formation. As a result, waste cooking oil can be seen as a “near to waste” byproduct of

food production industry (Rosca et al., 2005). WCO offers economic advantages and

significant potential as an alternative low cost biodiesel because it does need production

cost compare to other type of biodiesel. By using of WCO as biodiesel, it can solve the

environment pollution problems either to avoid WCO dumped in the river or to avoid

the purification of the main drainage water system water (Atabani et al., 2013; Demirbas,

2009; Khalid, Mudin, et al., 2014; Payri, Macián, Arrègle, Tormos, & Martínez, 2005).

WCO blends promotes the reduction of NOx and CO2 emission due to more

oxygen present during combustion, thus the combustion will become more complete and

in oxygenated fuel (Khalid, Anuar, Ishak, et al., 2014). The use WCO biodiesel as an

alternative fuel also has advantages in term of carbon monoxide (CO) and hydrocarbons

(HC) emissions in the exhaust gas (Khalid, Mudin, et al., 2014). It has been reported that

the cetane number of used frying oil methyl ester is potential to replace diesel. Also has

been found that the properties of WCO are closed to the ordinary diesel. (Demirbas,

2009; Khalid, Mudin, et al., 2014).

However, issue arise due to kinematic viscosity of the WCO is ten times higher

than diesel, and it is estimated that the spray characteristics get significantly worse with

increasing WCO addition (Yoshimoto, Onodera, & Tamaki, 1999). WCO is known as

yellow greases as viewed in Figure 2.6, even the free fatty acids (FFA) level is less than

15 wt.% , due to greatest abundance it can be considered similar to brown greases (FFA

content is in excess of 15 wt.%).

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Documents

performance and emissions characteristics of alternative biodiesel