Experimental Investigation of Biodiesel Production from Waste Mustard Oil

The demand for petroleum is increasing with each passing day. This may be attributed to the limited resources of petroleum crude. Hence there is an urgent need of developing alternative energy sources to meet the ever increasing energy demand. Biofuels are currently being considered from multidimensional perspectives, i.e. depleting fossil fuels, resources, environmental health, energy security and agricultural economy. The two most common types of biofuels are ethanol and biodiesel [1]. Biodiesel is a promising alternative fuel to replace petroleum-based diesel that is produced primarily from vegetable oil, animal fat and waste mustard oil. The vegetable oils which are rich in oxygen can be used as future alternate fuels for the operation of diesel engine [2]. Biodiesel is produced from wasted mustard oil through alkali catalyzed transesterification process. Biodiesel is simple to use, biodegradable, non-toxic and essentially free of sulfur and aromatics. Physical properties like density, flash point, kinematic viscosity, cloud point and pour point were found out for biodiesel produced from waste mustard oil. The same characteristic study was also carried out for conventional diesel fuel and used as a baseline for comparison. The values obtained from waste mustard oil ethyl ester (biodiesel) is closely matched with the conventional diesel fuel and it can be used in diesel engine without any modification. Biodiesel can be used in pure form (B100) or may be blended with petroleum diesel at any concentration in most injection pump diesel engines. Biodiesel is its capacity to lower greenhouse gas emissions compared to those of fossil fuels. There is an appreciable decrease in HC and CO2 emissions while the decrease in CO emission is marginal. However, emission of NOx is increased. Biodiesel is liquid which varies in color between golden and dark brown depending upon the production feedstock. It is immiscible with water, has a high boiling point and low vapor pressure. Typical ethyl ester biodiesel has a flash point of about 130ºC, biodiesel has a density of about 0.88 gm/cm3, less than that of water. Biodiesel has very good lubricating properties, significantly better than standard diesel which can prolong engine's life.