Author : Sarthak Sinha 1
Date of Publication :22nd February 2018
Abstract: Energy is the main input in the technological, socio-economical, and industrial development of any country. Petroleum-derived Fuels are the major source of energy throughout the world. However, these fuels are not only limited but also pollute the environment. In India, the diesel fuel is extensively used in transportation, agriculture, and industrial sector and the consumption of diesel is four to five times that of gasoline. However, diesel engines are the main contributor to environmental degradation. Due to growing awareness about climate change and depletion of fossil origin fuels, exhaustive research is carried all around the globe to evaluate the suitability of the variety of alternative fuels. Biodiesel, which is carried all around the globe to evaluate the suitability of the variety of alternative fuels. Biodiesel, which is produced from the variety of vegetable oils and animal fat through transesterification, has a lot of technical advantages over fossil fuels such as lower overall exhaust emission and toxicity, biodegradability, derivation from the renewable and domestic feedstock, negligible sulfur content. Biodiesel has a comparable energy density, cetane number, heat of vaporization and stoichiometric air-fuel ratio with that of the diesel fuel. Non-edible oil derived from Kusum (Schleichera Oleosa), an oil-bearing plant, is a potential feedstock for biodiesel production. In the present study, various physio-chemical parameters of the Kusum oil have been studied to evaluate its suitability as a potential feedstock for biodiesel production. The fatty acids are 40% whereas saturated fatty acids are around 53%. In the light of the exhaustive study, it can be that Kusum oil is a promising feedstock for biodiesel production for use as a fuel to improve its commercial viability.
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