Experimental Investigations of Hybrid Microemulsion Biofuel on CI Engine

Abstract

In recent years the detrimental environmental impacts and concerns of emissions from ever-increasing locomotives have motivated the scientific community to search for alternative fuels based on renewable lipids, such as microemulsion based hybrid biofuels (MHBF). The basic objective of this thesis work was to develop a non-technical process for biofuel production from non-edible vegetable oil and used cooking oil readily useful for farmers. Accordingly, objectives were set after due deliberation of literature review, to develop and demonstrate methods of hybrid microemulsion biofuel preparation process using definite amounts of surfactants and cetane improver, their application on a CI engine as diesel replacement, combustion and performance analysis and cost estimation. The Microemulsification technique is also popularly named as a viscosity reduction technique. It involves blending of two immiscible liquids, a viscosity modifier (lower molecular weight alcohols), and vegetable oil, biodiesel, or vegetable oil/biodiesel-petrodiesel mixture. Surfactant and a co-surfactant are used to minimize the interfacial tension in-between these two liquid films and to form a stable emulsion. In brief, microemulsions are an anisotropic, transparent and thermodynamically stable mixture of oil in water (O/W) or water in oil (W/O) stabilized with the help of surface-active agents (surfactants/co-surfactants). The entire thesis is divided into five chapters. Brief inclusions in each of the chapters are as illustrated under: newlineChapter 1 illustrates the various routes for biofuel formation and brief introduction about the emulsification or hybrid biofuel formulation process. It is one of the simplest among the other biofuel production processes that do not require any chemical reaction or complex chemical handling process. Post-production neither requires a special vessel for storage nor any engine modification during combustion and actual application. newlinev newlineMicroemulsion-based hybrid fuel can be formulated from vegetable oil