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Indian Journal of Chemical Technology, Vol.26, No.5, 381-395, 2019
Optimized production of biodiesel by fresh water algae oils derived from Chlorella wild stuff and performance characteristics of engine system by employing integration of chemical sciences and engineering technologies
Microalgae have been recognized as most eventual feedstock for biodiesel production owing to its significant lipid contents and they are found to be simple with respect to its cultivation. The imperative factor is that, the algae can extenuating carbon dioxide emission and can mount-up lipids at highest level. The current study has been focussed on production of biodiesel from the freshwater algae, Chlorella vulgaris which is one of the plentiful reserves and explicitly collected from its own natural habitat as wild stuff. The algal material then subjected for processes by employing the integration of bio-engineering technologies, the maximum lipid content is explored from C. vulgaris even it is fully fledged at its natural habitat condition. The fatty acid profile indicates that, the average polyunsaturated fatty acids (71.6%) and the oil proportion from lipid fractions of C. vulgaris are found to significantly higher as compared to other algal types depicted in the literature. The specific correlation between oils of algae and the vegetable oils reveals that, the algal oil found to be highly viscous, ranging from 10-20 times. Subsequently, the transesterification of the algal oils to its analogous fatty ester is the most promising elucidation to the quandary of high viscosity. The optimum biodiesel yield of 89.65 % is achieved at 70th minute with the formation of 8.6 % glycerol and 2.4% soap, the reaction conditions are simplified and standardized to facilitate a single step extraction from wild culture of C.vulgaris and the quantitative conversion of triglycerides into biodiesel is achieved at the optimum level. In the characterization, the algal diesel show higher Heating value of C. vulgaris (34.5MJ/kg), Gross Calorific value (42.3KJ/Kg), Cetane value (55.56) and the significant out-put is noticed. Further, the parameters on performance and combustion are analyzed with internal combustion (CI) engine system using the different blends of algae esterified oil and petro-diesel at variable loads. The results of AB20 (20% algae oil + 80% pure diesel fuel) blend reveals that, preferred brake thermal efficiency (eta B), brake power (BP), Engine power and higher brake specific fuel consumption (BSFC) are considerably higher due to momentous heating value compared to pure petro-fuel. The enviable characteristics for emissions is recorded for AB20 fuel blend ratio such as, smoke density (SD), lower carbon monoxide (CO), hydrocarbons (HCs) and smoke respectively. Interestingly, the oxides of nitrogen (NOx) emissions are reduced with increasing load as compared to the base engine piston. The results finally show that; AB20 are found to be most promising blend ratio and considerably noteworthy in the naturally grown C. vulgaris with respect to all the parameters. In addition, the exploitation of this algae oil for the existing engine system does not require any modification and hence, this can be a most potential alternative source for biodiesel production for sustainable development.
Keywords:Algae oil;Methyl esters;Algal biodiesel;Chlorella vulgaris-wild culture;IC Engine system;Performance;Emission properties;Sustainable development