Production and performance analysis of biodiesel from algae

Energy is of vital importance to the society and human life. The world is entering into a period of declining non-renewable energy resources. Bio-diesel seems to be a good remedy for this problem. Microalgae is a potential source for the continuous production of biodiesel. Moreover, the productivity of biodiesel from microalgae is much higher compared to other sources of biodiesel. The present study deals with the performance characteristic of the Algae biodiesel run diesel engine. For analysis, two biodiesel blends namely, B10 and B20 (10 % and 20 % algae oil respectively mixed with diesel) were selected. The study revealed that with increasing engine load, the brake thermal efficiency was enhanced for B10 blend compared to diesel. For 75 % load, the brake thermal efficiency of B10 blend was found to be around 21.8 %. Moreover, the brake specific fuel consumption of B10 blend was observed to be very less as compared to diesel and B20 blend. In addition, at 75 % load, the mechanical efficiency of B10 blend was found to be around 37.7 %