Studies on Sustainability of Microalgae as a Feedstock for Biodiesel in Indian Context

Abstract

Self-sustainable energy sources are likely to hold the key to sustainable economic development of India in future. India should not depend on others to meet its ever growing energy needs. Indian efforts for renewable fuels are guided by its effort to reduce import dependence on petro fuels and meeting its commitment towards the environment. High production rate with high oil contents, without competing with food resources, make the microalgae sourced biodiesel a right contestant for supplementing of petroleum fuel. newlineBiodiesel is indentified as an important replacement fuel for the transport sector. To start with, biodiesel blends with petro diesel can be used without modification in existing CI engine. Literature suggests that there are insufficient studies on use of microalgae biodiesel in Indian context. It has been also observed that there are insufficient studies in technical feasibility on the on the usage of algae biodiesel blending with petro diesel in existing diesel engine. The main objective of this study is to determine the sustainability of microalgae as a feedstock for biodiesel in Indian context and exploring its potential to implement microalgae-biodiesel as commercial transportation fuel. newlineMajor findings of technical evaluation in present research work are as follows newline(a) Transesterification process for conversion of algae oil to biodiesel is observed to be simple, cost-effective and efficient method. newline(b) Up to 5% blending no significant performance variation observed on engine performance. Thus 5% blending of algae biodiesel can be safely taken up as suggested in India biofuel policy 2018. newline(c) Up to 20% blend, no significant performance variation is observed at comparable compression ratio for existing diesel engine. newlineOn environment sustainability, the findings are: newline(a) The value of exhaust CO is also lower with blending of 20% algae biodiesel under higher load conditions. newline(b) For 20% blend, NOx emissions are lower at lower load and are higher under higher load range. Under full load conditions, NOx