Emission characteristics of sunflower oil based bio-compatible blends of 2T oil

Abstract

Environmental concerns have increased the interest in bio-lubricants which causes many manufacturers to reconsider vegetable oils as base stocks. In this work, the sunflower methyl ester formation by means of transesterification was studied. Taguchi’s methodology (L subscript 9 orthogonal array) was chosen for the optimisation of the most important variables (molar ratio, catalyst concentration and stirrer speed) in transesterfication process. Maximum yield (90%) of sunflower methyl ester (SFME) percentage was obtained for the base oil-methanol molar ratio of 10:3 with 0.5% by weight of sodium hydroxide (NaOH) stirred at 1100 rpm. Lubricant properties of SFME were tested and emission test was performed in two stroke petrol engine with different blends of SFME and commercial 2T oil. Results showed that 20% SFME blend reduces nitrogen oxide (NOx) and unburned hydro carbon (HC).