Effects of Alumina Nanoparticles in

Waste Chicken Fat Biodiesel on the

Operating Characteristics of a CI Engine

Nareshkumar Gurusala, Arul Mozhi Selvan V

Department of Mechanical Engineering,

National Institute of Technology:Tiruchirpalli, INDIA

Introduction The use of bio-fuels is an alternate to fossil fuels because; it is

renewable, non-toxic, biological origin and its green properties. It

contains no aromatics, no-sulphur content and oxygen content of 10-

12% by weight.

The biodiesel is produced mainly from vegetable oils such as castor

oil, sunflower oil, olive oil, pomace oil, soybean oil, cotton oil,

hazelnut oil, rubber seed oil, mahua oil, jojoba oil, tobacco seed oil,

rapeseed oil, palm oil, tall oil and waste cooking oil etc.

Cost of the Biodiesel Depends on the Feedstock

Major Cost of the

Biodiesel Depends on

the Feedstock Cost

http://www.everythingbiodiesel.blogspot.in/

IntroductionLow Cost Feed Stocks

Waste Oils

Used Oils

Refined Animal Fat

Algae Oil

Sugar Cane Oil

Crude oil prices have a strong

relationship with global economic

activity since 2000http://businesstoday.intoday.in/story/crude-oil-prices-to-continue-governing-indian-economy-growth/1/189387.html

Waste Chicken

As per the Government of India statistics,

approximately 700,000 ton of chicken meat is

consumed every year.

The feather meat contains fat which varies from 2% to

12%

Hence, about 77,000 ton of chicken fat is available

The poultry industry in India

Poultry Meat Turns into Valuable Bio-Diesel SourceDr. John Abraham, a research scholar in the Veterinary College and Research Institute (VC&RI), here has

developed processes that can extract bio-diesel from poultry carcases in a cost-effective manner. The project

for his Ph.D. Won four gold medals. According to statistics available with the Tamil Nadu Veterinary and

Animal Sciences University, the daily average mortality rate of egg laying chicken is 0.03 per cent. “On an

average about 4,000 birds die everyday. About 90 per cent of them are disposed of under

unhygienic conditions (thrown in the open),” Dr. Abraham noted. Unscientific methods of disposal

of carcases leads to pollution of ground and surface water, obnoxious odour and health

hazards through indiscriminate breeding of micro organisms and house flies. There are many

incidents of conflicts between the poultry farmers and residents over open disposal of dead birds.

Calculating the annual mortality rate at 12 lakh birds in this district, he realised the opportunity in

the form of extracting fat of dead birds and producing bio-diesel from two different methods. While each

bird weighs about 1.5 kg, fat constitutes 14.5 per cent of the bird’s weight. “Of the two methods,

solvent extraction method makes it possible to extract 97 per cent of the bird’s fat and needs six birds for

extracting a litre of diesel. Sixty-three per cent fat extraction is possible through centrifugal method and

requires 16 birds for producing the same quantity of diesel,” he noted. “The cost of producing a litre of

diesel using centrifugal method is Rs. 35.68 per litre, against the solvent extraction method where it is only

Rs. 22 per litre. Every year, two lakh litres of bio-diesel could be produced with layer birds that die in

poultry farms in Namakkal through solvent extraction. Establishing a solvent extraction plant costs Rs. 2.5

crore, which is more than establishing a centrifugal plant,” he said. Dr. Abraham added that the bio-diesel

could be used as a low-cost blend with diesel at 20 per cent with 80 per cent of diesel, which has been

successfully tested and put to use. The quality assessment of bio-diesel from poultry carcass was done at the

Center of Excellence in Bio-Fuel at the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University. TANUVAS has applied for a

patent for the processes. Head of the Department of Livestock Production and Management, VC&RI,

Ramesh Saravanakumar, who was the guide for the project, said that waste such as fat collected from

chicken stalls could also be used for producing bio-diesel. “These wastes have a better conversion rate as fat

is directly available and could be of use for large-scale chicken meat processing units by making disposal of

wastes easier,” he added.

Biodiesel Production

The selection of catalyst depends on FFA content of oil.

The FFA (free fatty acid) content can be determined by using titration

method.

FFA < 1% Base catalyst is preferred(One Stage Process)

FFA > 1% Acid catalyst is preferred (Two Stage process)

FFA content of WCF was found to be 13.8%.

Methanol and ethanol are the alcohols most frequently used in

transesterification process. Methanol was preferred for the study for its

low cost and higher reactivity compared to ethanol.

C

0HR

O

+ NaOH C

NaO R

O

+O

HH

(Free Fatty Acid) (Soap) (Water)(Sodium Hydroxide)

Pre-Treatment Process

C

OHR

O

(Free Fatty Acid)

+ R' OH

(Alcohol)

C

O R

O

R' O

HH

(Water)(Monoester)

+

The level of FFA is reduced to desirable (less than 1 percent) in the

presents of catalyst, which is called as pre-treatment process

Homogeneous Catalyst

• Sulfuric

• Sulfonic

• Hydrochloric acids

• Problem of waste disposal

• Loss of catalyst

• Corrosive nature

Heterogeneous Catalyst

• Ferric sulphate

• Sulfated zirconia

• Ferric silica etc.

• High activity

• Low cost

• Environment Friendly

Photographic View of Steps Involved in Biodiesel Production Process

Properties of Fuel

S.No Properties Standard Limits Diesel WCF WCFME

1Density(kg/m3)

ASTM

D1298860-900 828.1 932 849

2 Kinematic Viscosity

@ 40°C, cSt

ASTM

D4451.90-6.00 2.41 5.9820 2.6623

3Cloud Point, °C

ASTM

D2500-15 to 5C 0 -5

4Flash Point, °C

ASTM

D93>130 50 315 170

5Fire Point, °C

ASTM

D93- 56 320 192

6Pour point, °C

ASTM

D97-15 to 10 -6 -6

7 Net calorific value,

MJ/kg

ASTM

D240- 40.456 37.91124 37.642

Properties of Fuel

S.No Properties Standard Limits Diesel WCF WCFME

8 Acid value, mg

KOH/g

ASTM

D664≤0.80 0.07 0.8976 0.25

9 Saponification

value, mg KOH/g

ASTM

D5558- 55.8756 251.23

10 Copper Strip

Corrosion 100°C,

3hr

ASTM

D130Class 3 1(a) 1(b) 1(b)

11Cetane Index

ASTM

D976≥47 56# 61#

12Conradson carbon

residue (% wt)

ASTM

D1890.2 0.002 0.015 0.002

13 Ash contents

w/w%ISO 6884 <0.02 0.028 0.022

Cost Analysis

Process Amount Rs.

Production of Waste

Chicken Fat

Waste Chicken (2kg) 5

Electrical Charge 3

Pre-Treatment Methanol 16

Catalyst 1.5

Electric Charge 1.5

Transesterification Methanol 9

Catalyst 2

Electric Charge 1.5

Purification & Man

Power Charge

Distillation, Washing, etc. 5

Total 45

Diesel (approx) 58

Nanoparticle Additives

It is commonly proposed to reduce the emissions from the diesel engines by adopting various methods such as exhaust gas recirculation, alternation of fuel injection systems (injection pressure, split injection, injection timing etc.), after exhaust gas treatment etc.

Among the various techniques the use of fuel-borne catalyst is currently focused due to the advantage of increase in the fuel efficiency while reducing harmful greenhouse gas emissions.

The addition of nanoparticles in the fuel increases the surface-area-to-volume ratio which enables rapid oxidation process

Engine Setup and Measurements

1. Fuel Tank 2. Fuel Flow Sensors 3.Control Panel

4. Computer 5.Data Capture Card 6. CR Lever

7. Pressure Sensor 8. Crank Angle Encoder 9.Speed Sensor

10.Eddy Current Dynamometer 11. Loading Cell 12. Turbine Flow Sensor

13. Exhaust Gas Tank 14. Air Flow Sensor 15.Air Tank

16. Gas Analyzer 17. Smoke Meter

Uncertainty AnalysisQuantity Measuring Range Accuracy

AVL Gas Analyzer

NOx 0-5000 ppm ± 10% of ind. val.

HC 0-20000 ppm ± 10 ppm vol.

CO 0-10 vol. % ± 0.03% vol.

CO2 0-20 vol. % ± 0.5% vol.

AVL Smoke Meter 0-100% ± 0.1%

Thermocouple −200 °C to 1350 °C ± 1°C

Crank Angle Encoder - ± 0.5CA

In Cylinder Pressure 0-110bar ± 0.5 bar

Calculated Uncertainty

Fuel Flow rate =0.59%

BSFC =1.25%

BTE =1.2%

Overall Uncertainty = 1.91

Brake Mean Effective Pressure (MPa)

0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6

Bra

ke

Sp

ecif

ic F

uel

Co

nsu

mpti

on (

kg/k

Wh)

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6Diesel

B20+25 Al

B20+50 Al

B40+25 Al

B40+50 Al

Brake Specific Fuel Consumption

Brake Mean Effective Pressure (MPa)

0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6

Bra

ke

Ther

mal

Eff

icie

ncy

(%

)

10

20

30

Diesel

B20+25 Al

B20+50 Al

B40+25 Al

B40+50 Al

Brake Thermal Efficiency

Crank Angle (Deg)

-60 -40 -20 0 20 40 60

Cy

lin

der

Gas

Pre

ssu

re (

Mp

a)

10

20

30

40

50

60

Diesel

B20+25 Al

B20+50 Al

B40+25 Al

B40+50 Al

Cylinder Gas Pressure

Crank Angle (Deg)

-100 -50 0 50 100

Hea

t Rel

ease

(J/

Deg

)

-10

0

10

20

30

40

Diesel

B20+25 Al

B20+50 Al

B40+25 Al

B40+50 Al

Heat Release Rate

Brake Mean Effective Pressure (MPa)

0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6

Car

bo

n M

ono

xid

e (%

Vo

l.)

0.08

0.10

0.12

0.14

0.16

0.18 Diesel

B20+25 Al

B20+50 Al

B40+25 Al

B40+50 Al

Carbon Monoxide Emissions

Brake Mean Effective Pressure (MPa)

0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6

Hydro

carb

on E

mis

sio

ns

(ppm

)

20

30

40

50

60

Diesel

B20+25 Al

B20+50 Al

B40+25 Al

B40+50 Al

Hydrocarbon Emissions

Brake Mean Effective Pressure (MPa)

0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6

Nit

rogen

Oxid

e (p

pm

)

200

400

600

Diesel

B20+25 Al

B20+50 Al

B40+25 Al

B40+50 Al

Nitrogen Oxide Emissions

Brake Mean Effective Pressure (MPa)

0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6

Sm

oke

Opac

ity (

%)

20

40

60

80

100Diesel

B20+25 Al

B20+50 Al

B40+25 Al

B40+50 Al

Smoke Emissions

Conclusions•The bsfc for all the WCFME-diesel fuel blends are higher

compared to the neat diesel because of its lower calorific value. The

bsfc decreases and also the brake thermal efficiency increases when

the increase in alumina nanoparticles concentration in the fuel blend.

•The peak cylinder pressure is increasing with alumina

concentration, but a shift in the peak cylinder pressure after TDC is

observed. The heat release rate decreased with the alumina

concentration.

•The carbon monoxide and hydrocarbon emission for the diesel is

more compared to the all nanoparticle blended WCFME-diesel fuel.

•The NO emissions are slightly increased with increasing the

alumina concentration and the smoke emissions decreased about the

65% using the nanoparticles.

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