Bio-diesel: Bio-degradable Alternative Fuel for Diesel Engines

by Dr. Gadepalli Ravi Kiran Sastry

This is a well known fact that the resources of mineral oils are depleting day-by-day, and the cost of exploration of the remaining reserves is bound to escalate. Moreover, the burning of fossil fuels increases the level of carbon-dioxide in the atmosphere causing the 'Green House' effect.

In this context, available and sustainable alternative fuel is necessary to cater to a large fleet of automobiles across the world. The advent of biodiesel has come to the rescue in such a warranting situation. Efforts are being made to streamline the systems to produce biodiesels at economically viable rates and apply them in running the diesel engines in lieu of petro-diesel. And the present study is an attempt in this direction.

It seeks to exploit non-edible oil plants, especially Jatropha, mahua and palm, to replace diesel oil usage in the conventional diesel engines. Providing certification procedure for all the three non-edible oils, it deals with the heat release rate calculations based on the pressure data collected in the combustion chamber. It also extends discussion on the instrumentation and experimentation, as well as the results of the findings.