Feasibility Study of Biodiesel Synthesis from Waste Ayurvedic Oil: Its Evaluation of Engine Performance, Emission and Combustion Characteristics

The idea of transforming waste into a useful energy source is gaining reputation in recent years. The present work is intended to analyze the feasibility of using waste ayurvedic oil (WAO) biodiesel as diesel engine fuel which would reduce the environmental issues caused by the disposal of WAO over the ground. An ultrasound-assisted transesterification process was implemented for the synthesis of WAO biodiesel. The performance, emission and combustion characteristics of direct injection, single-cylinder diesel engine fueled with diesel, blends of diesel and WAO biodiesel with the concentrations of 10% (WAO10), 15% (WAO15) and 20% (WAO20) by volume were investigated at three different fuel injection pressures of 180, 200 and 220 bar. At full load conditions and a rated injection pressure of 200 bar, the maximum brake thermal efficiency was attained by 36.61%, 33.18%, 34.14% and 36.27%, respectively, for diesel, WAO10, WAO15 and WAO20. Emission results showed that carbon monoxide, hydrocarbon and smoke opacity were noted to have been reduced by 4%, 33.3% and 8.9%, respectively, for WAO20 than that of diesel, while the NO_x emission was found elevated by about 4.5%.