Journal of Petroleum Technology and Alternative Fuels Vol. 1(1), pp.

1-9, November 2010

Available online at http://www.academicjournals.org/JPTAF
2010 Academic Journals

Full Length Research Paper

Performance test of palm fatty acid biodiesel on

compression ignition engine
Praveen K. S. Yadav1*, Onkar Singh2 and R. P. Singh1
1
Department of Oil and Paint Technology, Harcourt Butler Technological Institute, Kanpur, India.
2
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Harcourt Butler Technological Institute, Kanpur, India.
Accepted 15 September, 2010

Vegetable oil causes problem when used as fuel in compression ignition engines. This problem is due
to high viscosity and low volatility of vegetable oils, which can be minimized by the process of trans-
esterification. The relatively high cost of refined vegetable oils render the resulting fuels unable to
compete with petroleum derived fuel. To reduce the cost of biodiesel a relatively low cost palm fatty
acid which is the by- product of palm oil refinery was chosen as feed stock. A two step acid catalyzed
methanolysis process is employed for efficient conversion of palm fatty acid into palm fatty acid methyl
esters (FAME). The conversion of palm fatty acid into palm FAME was done on pilot plant. This paper
presents the results of performance of compression ignition engine fueled with different blends of high
speed diesel with biodiesel obtained from conversion of palm fatty acid. Parameters like torque, brake
specific fuel consumption and brake thermal efficiency were calculated at different loads for pure diesel
and different combinations of dual fuel. The results indicate that, in case of palm fatty acid biodiesel,
the dual fuel combination of B40 can be used in the diesel engines without making any engine
modifications.

Key words: Trans-esterification, methanolysis, palm fatty acid, fatty acid methyl esters (FAME), compression
ignition engine, triglyceride (TG).

INTRODUCTION

Energy is an essential factor for economic growth. (Prafulla et al., 2009; Ramadhas et al., 2004). Biodiesel
Building a strong base of energy resources is necessary will mitigate the vulnerability and the adverse effects of
for sustainable economic and social development of any use of fossil fuels. Several countries have introduced
country. In view of limited fossil fuel reserves and policies encouraging the use of biodiesel to replace part
environmental concerns the efforts are made to search a of their fossil fuel use and also prevent environmental
potential alternate. Moreover, the exhaust of petroleum degradation. However, production cost of biodiesel is not
diesel is the main reason for environmental pollution. economically competitive with fossil fuel due to higher
Under these circumstances it becomes necessary to look cost of lipid feedstock. The production of biodiesel can be
for some self sustainable, biodegradable and made economical by using low grade lipid feedstocks
environment friendly alternate fuels. Biodiesel, which is containing high amount of free fatty acids (FFA). Waste
fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) is biodegradable and cooking oil and non conventional oil seed oils viz.
substantially reduces the exhaust emissions, when used Tobacco seed oil with high free fatty acid content can be
in different blend ratios with petroleum diesel. Biodiesel used as substitute of conventional diesel (Wang et al.,
does not increase the level of carbon dioxide in the 2006; Zlatica and Predojevic, 2008; Veljkovic et al.,
atmosphere and therefore helps in minimizing green 2006). Lipid feedstock which are non edible in nature like
house effect. There is a growing interest in biodiesel karanja oil and Mahua oil can also be used for production
because of its similarities in properties with fossil fuel of biodiesel (Stalin and Prabhu, 2007; Ramadhas et al.,
2004; Shashikant and Raheman, 2005). However, the
limitation with non edible feedstock is its low availability.
In this study palm fatty acid (PFA) which is the by-product
*Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected]. Tel: 91- of refining of palm oil is used as feedstock for producing
9415485447. Fax: 91-512-2533812. biodiesel. Here the study has been carried out on PFA
2 J. Petroleum Technol. Altern. Fuels

feedstock with 93 wt% FFA content. The use of PFA as Production of biodiesel
feedstock for production of biodiesel has the following
The operating conditions for production of biodiesel were first
advantages: optimized at laboratory scale by studying the effect of variation of
molar ratio of PFA to MeOH from 1:1 to 1:12 keeping the wt% of
i.) It does not compete with edible grade oil bearing catalyst and temperature constant. The amount of catalyst was
seeds of food market as it is the by-product of refining of decided by varying the wt% of H2SO4 catalyst from 0.2 to 1.2% for
palm oil and is non-edible. first step and wt% of NaOH catalyst from 0.5 to 2.5% for second
ii.) It is easily available. step keeping the molar ratio of PFA to MeOH and temperature
constant. The effect of temperature was studied by varying the
iii.) Generally, the high cost of biodiesel is the major temperature from 40 to 65 C keeping other parameters constant.
obstacle for its commercialization, as the biodiesel The production of biodiesel in bulk was done at the optimized
produced from vegetable oil or animal fat is usually more conditions of molar ratio 1:10 ( PFA: MeOH), 1 wt% of H2SO4 and 2
expensive than the petroleum diesel. In view of low cost wt% of NaOH at 65C using the pilot plant in the Oil and Paint
of PFA, the biodiesel produced will be economically Technology Department, Harcourt Butler Technological Institute,
Kanpur, India. The plant mainly consists of three continuous stirred
competitive.
tank reactor, a dosing unit, a condenser, a boiler, storage tanks for
A two step process is used for the conversion of PFA raw material and finished product and pumps. A schematic flow
into FAME. The first step of the process is to reduce FFA diagram and pilot plant used for biodiesel production are shown in
content by esterification with methanol in presence of Figure 3a and b respectively. Preheated PFA and catalyst (H2SO4)
acid catalyst. In the second step, triglyceride (TG) portion in methyl alcohol solution were fed in continuous stirred tank
of the lipid reacts with methanol in presence of base reactor. After the completion of the reaction the reaction product
was transferred to separator for the separation of methyl esters
catalyst to form methyl ester and glycerol (Meher et al., under gravity. The top phase containing FAME also contained
2006; Siti Zullaikah et al., 2005; Fangrui et al., 1999; excess methanol and water formed during the reaction. Excess
Vicente et al., 2004). The acid catalyst is generally methanol was separated and purified and reused as starting
sulfuric acid and base catalyst is usually sodium or material. The FAME phase was taken off at the bottom and passed
potassium hydroxide (Vicente et al., 2004; Zheng et al., into evaporator to remove and collect the traces of methanol. The
2006; Di Serio et al., 2005; Pramanik, 2003). Product FAME still had residual PFA requiring further purification. The PFA
was neutralized with sodium hydroxide in methanol (NaOHMeOH)
from the reaction is separated into two phases under solution. Both neutralization and transesterification reactions took
gravity. The FAME portion is washed with water and place at the same time. The product obtained from the purification
dried to meet the biodiesel fuel standards. The biodiesel step was settled in a separator. The FAME phase was separated
produced from low grade lipid feedstock and its blends and washed with hot water to remove impurities. The final product
with fossil fuel can be used in diesel engines without any obtained was characterized and its comparison with petroleum
diesel is given in Table 1.
modifications of the engine. The use of biodiesel reduces
the gas emissions, improves lubricity and thus increases
the life of engine ((Pramanik, 2003; Ramadhas et al., Analysis of palm fatty acid methyl ester
2005; Mustafa Canakei et al., 2006).
The composition of biodiesel was confirmed by FT-IR spectrum
(Figure 4). Sharp band in the range of 2925.13 cm-1 is due to C-H
stretching vibrations of methyl and methylene groups. A sharp band
MATERIALS AND METHODS at 1743.67 cm-1 is attributed to C=O stretching frequency.
Absorption at 1437 and 1463.25 cm-1 is assigned to asymmetric -
CH3 or -CH2 bending vibrations. Bands at 1246.56, 1196.93 and
PFA was procured from M/s Kanpur Edibles Pvt. Ltd. Kanpur, India. 1171.19 cm-1 are due to C-O stretching of ester. The bands
The composition of the palm fatty acid was determined with the obtained at 1117.90, 1017.31 and 880.31 cm-1 are due to C-C
help of gas liquid chromatography (Figure 1). The palm fatty acid stretching.
contains 0.2% Lauric acid, 1.2% Myristic acid, 42.7% Palmitic acid,
0.1 % Palmitoleic acid, 4.5% Stearic acid, 38.9% Oleic acid, 11.5%
Linoleic acid, 0.7% Linolenic acid, 0.1% Arachdic acid and 0.1 % Calorific value of biodiesel
traces. All chemicals including methanol, sulfuric acid and sodium
hydroxide were of analytical grade. The acid value, saponification Different blends of biodiesel and conventional diesel were prepared
value and iodine value of PFA were 184, 198 and 52, respectively. and the calorific value of each sample was determined with the help
of Bomb Calorimeter and the values are given in Table 2. The
blending of FAME with petroleum diesel was done by intense
mixing of both with help of electric stirrer at room temperature on
EXPERIMENT v/v basis. For example, for making a sample B20, first 20% by
volume of FAME was taken in the beaker and further 80% by
volume of petroleum diesel was added and then it was vigorously
The process of transesterfication was used to reduce the high mixed with help of electric stirrer at room temperature.
viscosity of triglycerides. The transesterification reaction is
represented by the general equation in Figure 2. A two step
process was used for conversion of PFA into palm FAME. The first Engine test
step of the process was to convert PFA into FAME by esterification
with methanol (MeOH) in presence of acid catalyst. In the second The performance of the prepared palm FAME was studied and
step the PFA content was further reduced by reaction with MeOH in compared with the conventional diesel fuel. The tests were
presence of base catalyst (Stalin and Prabhu, 2007). performed at Mechanical Engineering Department, Harcourt Butler
 Yadav et al. 3

Figure 1. Chromatogram of palm fatty acid methyl ester.

CH2 - COOR1 CH3 - COOR1 CH2- OH

| Catalyst + |
CH - COOR2 + CH3OH CH3 - COOR2 CH- OH
| + + |
CH2 - COOR3 CH3 - COOR3 CH2- OH
Triglyceride Methanol Methyl esters Glycerol

Figure 2. General equation of transesterification.

4 J. Petroleum Technol. Altern. Fuels

Methanol Reactor Separator Methanol Neutralization

Methyl esters
Palm Fatty Acid Removal and Washing

Catalyst

Dryer
Glycerol

Finished
Biodiesel

Figure 3a. Schematic diagram for biodiesel production.

Figure 3b. Photograph of Pilot Plant used for Biodiesel production.

Table 1. Chemical and physical properties of petroleum diesel and PFA methyl ester.

Properties Petroleum diesel PFA methyl ester

Density gm/cc 0.831 0.897
Kinematic Viscosity cSt (40C) 4.223 4.951
Calorific value MJ/Kg 43.79 38.05
o
Flash Point ( C) 67 165
Acid Value mg of KOH/g - 0.42
 Yadav et al. 5

-1
Wave number cm

Figure 4. FT-IR spectrum of produced biodiesel.

Table 2. Calorific value of different blends of biodiesel and conventional

diesel.

Fuel M2 (g) M2-M1 (g) T (C) Cv(MJ/kg) % Decrease

B0 0.4944 0.3996 1.868 43.79 -
B5 0.4959 0.4011 1.854 43.26 1.2
B10 0.4964 0.4016 1.838 42.8 2.3
B20 0.4967 0.4019 1.820 42.27 3.5
B30 0.5012 0.4064 1.811 41.57 5.1
B40 0.5028 0.4080 1.796 41.01 6.3
B50 0.5048 0.4100 1.772 40.19 8.2
B60 0.5066 0.4118 1.755 39.58 9.6
B70 0.5085 0.4137 1.748 39.22 10.4
B80 0.5102 0.4155 1.736 38.74 11.5
B90 0.5116 0.4168 1.728 38.42 12.3
B100 0.5122 0.4174 1.716 38.05 13.1

Table 3. Engine specifications. Technological Institute, Kanpur, India. The engine used for this
study is a single cylinder, four strokes, water cooled vertical diesel
Make: Kirloskar India Limited engine manufactured by Kirloskar India Limited. The technical
details of the engine are given in the Table 3. Engine tests were
Number of cylinder: 1 performed at the estimated speed of 1500 rpm at varying load. The
Number of strokes: 4 tests were performed with pure diesel and different blends of dual
Rated power: 3.7 KW at 1500 rpm fuel for the study of Torque, brake specific Fuel efficiency, brake
Loading device: Eddy Current power and brake thermal efficiency. All the observations were
performed thrice to obtain the average value of each observation so
Fuel oil : High Speed Diesel, Biodiesel as to minimize the influence of measurement and observation
Bore and stroke: 80 x 110 mm errors. A three way hand operated control valve and two fuel
6 J. Petroleum Technol. Altern. Fuels

6
4
5

Figure 5. Schematic diagram of engine test set up. (1) Engine

(2) Dynamometer (3) Control unit (4) Cooling system (5) Three
way valve (6) Fuel meters.

Figure 6. Comparison of torque Vs brake power for different proportions of biodiesel in petroleum
diesel fuel.

meters were added to modify the engine fuel system as per the 40% of biodiesel is blended with conventional diesel. This could be
requirement. The schematic diagram of the experimental set up is because of higher cetane number of biodiesel and complete
shown in Figure 5. burning of fuel. In the case of dual fuel mixtures with higher
proportions of biodiesel, the torque produced is less due to lesser
energy released. This is attributed to the low calorific value of the
Effect of blending on torque palm FAME.

The variation of brake power output and the torque for different fuel
combination is depicted in Figure 6. It is observed that for all fuels Effect of blending on brake specific fuel consumption
as the brake power increases, torque increases to the maximum at
80% load and then decreases for all the fuel samples. The Figure 7 shows the effect of blending on brake specific fuel
graphical representation reveals that the torque increases for B-0 to consumption for various fuel combinations. The brake specific fuel
B-40 fuel samples and then decreases. A dual fuel B-40 means consumption is observed to decrease sharply for all fuels at higher
 Yadav et al. 7

Figure 7. Comparison of Brake specific fuel consumption Vs Brake power for different proportions of
biodiesel in petroleum diesel fuel.

Figure 8. Comparison of Brake thermal efficiency Vs Brake power for

different proportions of biodiesel in petroleum diesel fuel.

load. The main reason for this could be that percent increase in fuel proportion in the blend further this effect was negated due to the
required to operate the engine is less than the percent increase in reduced calorific value of these blends.
brake power due to relatively less portion of the heat losses at
higher load. This indicates that the compression ignition engines
run efficiently at higher load than at part load. Graphical Effect of blending on brake thermal efficiency
representation shows that for certain brake power the specific fuel
consumption is found to be lowest in case of pure diesel (B-0) and it The effect of blending on brake thermal efficiency for various fuel
increases as blending is increased from B-0 to B-100. However, at combinations is depicted in Figure 8. The brake thermal efficiency
higher load the specific fuel consumption for B-40 is lowest. The of engine was low at part load as compared to the engine running
lower fuel consumption of B-40 as compared to B-0 could be at higher load. This is due to relatively less portion of the power
because of possible synergistic effect of biodiesel with diesel as the being lost with increasing load. The variations in brake thermal
oxygen present in biodiesel might have helped in improved efficiency between various blends of fuel at higher load was less
combustion of the blend. However, on increasing the biodiesel than that at part load and is in accordance with the trend observed
8 J. Petroleum Technol. Altern. Fuels

Figure 9. (a) Comparison of nitrogen oxides Vs brake power (b) Comparison of

carbon monoxide Vs brake power. (c) Comparison of hydrocarbon Vs brake power.

for brake specific fuel consumption. At higher load the brake Emission characteristics
thermal efficiency for B-40 was nearly the same as that of B-0. It is
because of increased temperature inside the cylinder due to more Figure 9a shows the comparison of nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions
amount of fuel burning at higher load, resulting in proper of different fuel combinations with brake power. Graphical
atomization and ease of vaporization, which in turn forms a better representation shows that there is an increase in NOx emission with
oil-air mixture in the combustion chamber and yields better blends of biodiesel fuel as compared to petroleum diesel. This
combustion. occurs due to high temperature generated because of fairly
 Yadav et al. 9

complete combustion process on account of adequate availability of REFERENCES

oxygen in fuel and hence, the fuel NOx is also found along with
thermal NOx. Prafulla D, Patil, Shuguang Deng (2009). Optimization of biodiesel
Figure 9b shows the variation of carbon monoxide (CO) production from edible and non edible vegetable oils. Fuel, 88: 1302-
emissions of different fuel combinations with respect to brake 1306.
power. The graphical representation shows that with the increase of Ramadhas AS, Jayaraj S, Muraleedharan C (2004). Use of vegetable
biodiesel content in the fuel the CO emissions decrease. At low oils as I.C. engine fuel - a review. Renewable Energy, 29: 727-742.
Stalin N, Prabhu HJ (2007). Performance test of IC engine using
load the difference between the CO emission on pure diesel and B-
karanja biodiesel blending with diesel. ARPN J. Eng. Appl. Sci., 2:
40 fuel are low, which significantly increases at high load. This is 32-34.
due to the fact that fuel B-40 containing oxygen atoms leads to Ramadhas AS, Jayaraj S, Muraleedharan C (2004). Biodiesel
almost complete combustion and therefore, results in lower CO production from high FFA rubber seed oil. Fuel, 84: 335-340.
emission. Shashikant VG, Raheman H (2005). Biodiesel production from mahua
The variation of hydrocarbon (HC) emission of different fuel oil having high free fatty acids. Biomass and Bioenergy, 28(6): 601-
combinations with brake power is shown in Figure 9c. It is observed 605.
from the graphical representation that the HC emission is reduced Wang Y, Ou S, Liu P, Xue F, Tang S (2006). Comparision of two
with the increase of biodiesel content in the fuel at higher load. This different processes to synthesis biodiesel by waste cooking oil. J.
could be due to almost complete combustion of fuel because of Mol. Catalysis A: Chemical; 252: 107-112.
presence of oxygen atom. Zlatica PJ (2008). The production of biodiesel from waste frying oils: A
comparison of different purification steps. Fuel, 87: 3522-3528.
Veljkovic VB, Lakicevic SH, Stamenkovic OS, Todorovi ZB, Lazic ML
(2006). Biodiesel production from tobacco seed oil with a high
Conclusion content of free fatty acids. Fuel, 85: 2671-2675.
Meher LC, Vidyasagar D, Naik SN (2006). Technical aspects of
In the present study, biodiesel is produced from low cost biodiesel production by transesterification - a review. Renewable
PFA with high FFA using two step trans-esterification Sustain. Energy Rev., 10: 248-268.
Siti Zullaikah, Chao- Chin Lai, Shaik Ramjan Vali, Yi- Hsu Ju (2005). A
process. Various parameters viz. molar ratio, catalyst two- step acid - catalyzed process for the production of biodiesel from
concentration and temperature were optimized and then rice bran oil. Biores. Technol., 96; 1889-1896.
fuel quality biodiesel was produced from PFA at pilot Fangrui Ma, Milford A, Hanna (1999). Biodiesel production: A review.
scale using the optimized process conditions of molar Biores. Technol., 70: 1-15.
Vicente G, Martinez M, Aracil J (2004). Integrated biodiesel production:
ratio 1:10 ( PFA: MeOH ), 1 wt% of H2SO4 and 2 wt% of a comparison of different homogeneous catalysts systems. Biores.
NaOH at 65C. The final product is a light yellowish Technol., 92; 297-305.
material meeting the ASTM standards for biodiesel. A Zheng S, Kates M, Dube MA, McLean DD (2006). Acid-catalyzed
high quality product is produced in continuous stirred tank production of biodiesel from waste frying oil. Biomass Bioenergy, 30:
267-272.
reactor with low residence time, and at lower temperature Di Serio M, Tesser R, Dimiccoli M, Cammarota F, Nastasi M,
which is considered to be a more economic solution. It is Santacesaria E (2005). Synthesis of biodiesel via homogeneous
concluded that the biodiesel produced from low Lewis acid catalyst. J. Mol. Catal. A: Chem., 239 (102): 111-115.
used in diesel engines. The results obtained in the study Pramanik K (2003). Properties and use of jatropha curcas oil and diesel
fuel blends in compression ignition engine. Renewable Energy, 28:
of torque output, brake specific fuel consumption and 239-248.
brake thermal efficiency indicate that dual fuel Ramadhas AS, Jayaraj S, Muraleedharan C (2005). Performance and
combination of B-40 can be used in diesel engines emission evaluation of a diesel engine fueled with methyl esters of
without any modifications in the engines. rubber seed oil. Renewable Energy, 30:1789-1800.
Mustafa Canakei, Ahmet Erdil, Erol Arcaklioglu (2006). Performance
and exhaust emissions of a biodiesel engine. J. Appl. Energy, 83:
594-605.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Authors are thankful to all India Council for Technical

Education, New Delhi, India, for providing the financial
support for pursuing this research work at H.B.T.I.
Kanpur, U. P., India.