Palm Fatty Acid Distillate based biodiesel: characterization and Emission analysis

Abstract

<span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family: " times="" new="" roman","serif";mso-fareast-font-family:"times="" roman";mso-bidi-font-family:="" mangal;mso-ansi-language:en-gb;mso-fareast-language:en-us;mso-bidi-language:="" hi;mso-bidi-font-style:italic"="" lang="EN-GB">Biodiesel obtained from the acid catalyzed esterification and trans-esterification of palm fatty acid distillate (PFAD) was characterized using gas chromatographic and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopic analyses. Physico-chemical and thermal properties of the biodiesel were evaluated and compared in relation to that of conventional petro-diesel following ASTM and Indian standards. The PFAD-biodiesel blended with different proportion of petro-diesel was also subjected to performance and emission tests at varying loads in order to evaluate its actual performance, when used in a four stroke diesel engine. <span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:" times="" new="" roman","serif";mso-fareast-font-family:="" "times="" roman";mso-bidi-font-family:mangal;mso-ansi-language:en-gb;="" mso-fareast-language:en-us;mso-bidi-language:hi"="" lang="EN-GB">Exhaust gas analysis showed appreciable reduction of CO₂ and hydrocarbons as against the unblended petrodiesel, although reduction of CO was marginal.</span></span>