Abstract

A REVIEW ON PRODUCTION OF BIODIESEL FROM VARIOUS SOURCES

Dr.Kathir Viswalingam*

ABSTRACT

Biodiesel is generally is defined as the mono-alkyl esters of vegetable oils or animal fats and can be produced by transesterifying the oil or fat with an alcohol (methanol/ethanol) under mild conditions in the presence of a base catalyst. This paper mainly discusses on general production of biodiesel, production of diesel fuel from beef tallow, biodiesel from wasted cooking oil, coconut oil based hybrid fuel and characterization for use as fuel in compression engines. The use of vegetable oils as a fuel in diesel engines causes some problems due to their high viscosity compared with diesel. Various techniques and methods are used to solve the problems resulting from high viscosity. It is found from the literature that one of the techniques is the preparation of a microemulsion fuel, called a hybrid fuel. Hybrid fuels can be used successfully as an alternative fuel in diesel engines without any modifications. It was found that the engine efficiency of the hybrid fuels is similar compared to diesel and improves as the viscosity of the fuel decreases.

Keywords: biodiesel, animal fats, transesterification, ethanol, biodiesel, petro diesel, blends.