Development of Clean Burning Fuel for Compression Ignition Engines

Abstract: Diesel engines are used for automotive application because they have lower specific fuel consumption and superior efficiency compared to S.I engines. However in spite of these advantages NOx and smoke emissions from the diesel engines cause serious environmental problems. Pure vegetable oil poses some problems when subjected to prolong use in diesel engines. The problems are attributed to its high viscosity and low volatility. These problems can be minimized by the process of transesterification. In this study the transesterification reaction of refined coconut oil carried out with methanol using potassium hydroxide as a catalyst to produce methyl ester of biodiesel. The products were evaluated by comparing physical characteristics of biodiesel to conventional diesel oil. These characteristics included specific gravity, density, viscosity, pour point, flash point, fire point, heating value, etc. The biodiesel then tested in a diesel engine to observe their actual performance and emissions.Transesterified coconut oil has exhibited performance very close to that of diesel fuel with reduction in exhaust emissions, the critical reviews conducted on the different aspects of the vegetable oil as substitute fuel for diesel engine including its properties and their effects on performance and emission characteristics