Preparated Of Caster Oil Biodiesel And Analysed Its Properties

It is extremely urgent to research & develop sustainable renewable energy in order toalleviate the energy stress. Recently, as a kind of environmental -friendly, cleaning, renewableand green energy, biodiesel has become a research hotspot. In this paper, the biodiesel wasprepared via transesterification between castor oil and methanol in the presence of sodiumhydroxide as catalyst, and its process technological conditions were investigated in detail. Thecomposition, physicochemical property and the fuel consumption and emissioncharacteristics were studied in terms of gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy, digimaticcalorimeter, open flash point tester, single cylinder diesel, smoke intensity admeasuringapparatus and tail-gas analyzer, respectively.The optimum technological conditions were as following: the molar ratio of al cohol tocastor oil was 3.6:1, 0.6% of catalyst concentration, reaction temperature was 45 OC andreaction time was 6 hours. The yield of transesterification was higher than 96% under theoptimum technological conditions. As revealed by the gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy,the main components of castor oil-based biodiesel included ricinoleic methyl ester, methyloleate, methyl hexadecanoate, octadecenoic acid methyl ester and hexadecanoate doluted acidmethyl ester, and the contents of ricinoleic methyl ester was over 79.78%.The physicochemical properties of castor oil -based biodiesel were close to the foreignstandards for biodiesel. Its higher flash point improved the transportation safety, the loweracid value made it difficult to corrode the nozzle of engine, and the good low-temperatureflowability suggested that the castor oil -based biodiesel might be used in the cold climates.However, its higher viscosity made it difficult to spray.The physicochemical performances of biodiesel/diesel hybrid fuels were analyzed. It was found that the viscosity and denstity of hybrid fuel increased but the pour point and the cloudpoint decreased obviously with the increasing biodiesel content. It was indicated that thehybrid fuel was more favorable for the usage in the cold climates. In the case that thebiodiesel content was lower than 30%, the primary physicochemical performances of hybridfuel was the almost same as the diesel. Additionally, the incorporation of ethanol loweredeffectively the viscosity of hybrid fuel.Comparative tests were made on a diesel engine in terms of the fuel consumption andemission characteristics. The external characteristic analysis showed that the engine powertende to decrease with the increasing biodiesel content, while it was contrary to theconsumption of fuel. At the level of 20% of the biodiesel, the hybrid fuel displayed 2.75% ofthe average reduction amplitude of the power together with 5.9% of the average amplificationof fuel consumption, but the emission of HC and CO and the smoke density decreased incontrast to the increased emission of NOX. The addition of ethanol had a slight influence onthe engine power and fuel consumption, it obviously improved the smoke density and theemission of CO in the meantime, it increased the emission of CO2 and NOX. The emission ofHC increased in the lower speeds while reduced in the higher speeds.Revealed by the load-characteristic tests, in the case of the increasing of the load in thelow and high speeds, the consumption of hybrid fuel increased slightly, the emission of NOXincreased little, the smoke density reduced obviously in the high loads.