Perspectives in Science (2016) 8, 237240

Available online at www.sciencedirect.com

ScienceDirect

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/pisc

Biodiesel production from waste cotton

seed oil using low cost catalyst: Engine
performance and emission characteristics
Duple Sinha 1, S. Murugavelh

CO2 Research and Green Technologies Centre, VIT University, Vellore 632014, Tamil Nadu, India

Received 2 February 2016; accepted 11 April 2016

Available online 6 May 2016

KEYWORDS Summary Production of fatty acid methyl esters from waste cotton seed oil through trans-
WCCO; esterication was reported. The GCMS analysis of WCCO oil was studied and the major fatty
Transesterication; acids were found to be palmitic acid (27.76%) and linoleic acid (42.84%). The molecular weight
Partial purication; of the oil was 881.039 g/mol. A maximum yield of 92% biodiesel was reported when the reac-
Break thermal tion temperature, time, methanol/oil ratio and catalyst loading rate were 60 C, 50 min, 12:1
efciency; and 3% (wt.%), respectively. The calcined egg shell catalyst was prepared and characterized.
Specic fuel Partial purication of the fatty acid methyl esters was proposed for increasing the purity of the
consumption biodiesel and better engine performance. The ash point and the re point of the biodiesel
were found to be 128 C and 136 C, respectively. The Brake thermal efciency of WCCO B10
biodiesel was 26.04% for maximum load, specic fuel consumption for diesel was 0.32 kg/kW h
at maximum load. The use of biodiesel blends showed a reduction of carbon monoxide and
hydrocarbon emissions and a marginal increase in nitrogen oxides (NOx ) emissions improved
emission characteristics.
2016 Published by Elsevier GmbH. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

Introduction

Biodiesel is a mono-alkyl esters of fatty acids obtained

through transesterication reaction. Homogeneous alkaline
catalysts which are conventionally used possess drawback,
This article belongs to the special issue on Engineering and Mate-
as it is an energy intensive, produces excess amount of
water, and difcult to separate (Meher et al., 2006; Guna
rial Sciences.
Corresponding author. Tel.: +91 9843983465; fax: +91 2243092. et al., 2009). Heterogeneous catalysts consume very less
E-mail addresses: [email protected] (D. Sinha),
energy, produce less water and can be reused (Atadashi
[email protected] (S. Murugavelh). et al., 2013). CaO which presents in large quantity in nature
1 Tel.: +91 9843983465. is one of the mostly used as a catalyst due to its low cost,

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pisc.2016.04.038
2213-0209/ 2016 Published by Elsevier GmbH. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/
licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
238 D. Sinha, S. Murugavelh

and high activity during production biodiesel (Liu et al., amount of catalysts varied from (2, 3, 4 or 5 wt.%) were
2008). Waste egg shells were calcined to derived CaO which added into the round bottom ask and was preheated at
shows superior catalytic activity, alkaline property, spe- the various temperature of about (30, 40, 50, 60 or 70 C)
cial porous structure and used as a heterogeneous catalyst which was then xed with the mechanical stirrer, condenser
(Viriya-empikul et al., 2010). and the temperature measuring device. After the reaction
Biodiesel blends tested on 6-cylinder DI diesel engine is complete, a mixture was allowed to cool and then the
reported slight reduction in Brake power and torque solid catalyst was removed by ltration to get the product.
(Carraretto et al., 2004). The performance of a compres- Methyl ester and glycerol phases were allowed to stabilized
sion ignition engine supplied with biodiesel fuel can be and then separated by using a separating funnel.
improved by higher compression ratio, advance injection
timing and high injector opening pressure (Venkatraman Engine tests
and Devaradjane, 2011). Biodiesel blends result in signi-
cant reduction in particulate matters, hydrocarbons, carbon
Biodiesel obtained from used cotton cooking oil was used
dioxide, carbon monoxide emissions and there is slightly
as fuel in a CI engine. Earlier the ash point and re point
increased in nitrogen oxide emissions (Xue et al., 2011).
was measured by using Cleveland open cup apparatus. The
In the present work, developing of a highly active CaO
engine was allowed to run with the blend made with B5, B10,
catalyst from egg shells on calcination, biodiesel production
and B20. The experimental setup consisted of a four stroke,
from waste cooking oil as a cotton seed oils were reported.
single cylinder, air cooled and direct injection diesel engine
The performance of a diesel engine with the waste cooking
connected to an electrical dynamometer. The exhaust gas
oil biodiesel fuel was evaluated and emission characteristics
analyzer and diesel smoke meter were placed in the exhaust
were also studied.
manifold to measure the exhaust emission, such as CO and
unburnt hydrocarbons (HC). At the beginning engine was
Materials and methods operated with neat diesel fuel for addressing the reference
data. The fuel blends were obtained by mixing different
Materials percentages of biodiesel with pure diesel fuel.

In this study, readily available used cottonseeds cooking oil Results and discussion
was provided by a restaurant in Latur city, Maharashtra.
Egg shells were collected from a nearby bakery store Vel- Oil characterization
lore, Tamil Nadu, India. The molecular weight of the oil and
characterization of used cottonseeds oil was determined by The major fatty acids of used cottonseeds oil were found to
(GCMS). Anhydrous methanol chemical of analytical grade be palmitic acid (27.76%) and linoleic acid (42.84%).
purchased from Scientic Galaxy Center, Vellore, Tamil Nadu
was used in the transesterication reaction.
Catalyst characterization

Oil characterization and catalyst preparation SEM analysis

Fig. 1(a) shows the SEM image of the CaO catalyst of egg
The oil was characterized using GCMS. The waste egg shells shells before reaction. It resembled honey comb, porous in
were cleaned thoroughly in tap water and dried in an oven structure and possessed active sites. This indicated the cat-
at 100 C for 12 h. The dried egg shells were crushed into alyst has more surface area for reaction. Fig. 1(b) shows the
small pieces and calcined in a mufe furnace at 800 C for SEM image of the catalyst after reaction. It had fewer voids
3 h to the convert the calcium species presents in the shells because of the shear change during transesterication. The
into CaO particle. Then the CaO originated from the egg number of pores in the catalyst after reaction was found to
shells was reuxed in water at 70 C for 4 h and the cal- be reduced, it can be attributed to the fact that the active
cined egg shells particles were taken out and dried in hot sites were utilized for transesterication reaction.
air oven at 100 C for 10 h. The calcined egg shell catalyst
product was dehydrated by drying at a temperature 500 C
Effect of reaction parameters
for 5 h. The catalyst prepared through calcination was sub-
jected to scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to study the
Effect of molar ratio
microstructure and catalyst property.
The reaction was maintained at 60 C for 50 min and 3 wt.%
amount of calcined egg shell catalyst as used. Various molar
Transesterication process ratio ranging from 6:1 to 18:1 was studied. Fig. 2a depicts
the biodiesel yield with respect to different methanol to
Waste cotton cooking oil, methanol, and catalyst were used oil molar ratio. A maximum yield of 92% percentage was
for the production of biodiesel. Batch reactor for the trans- reported for 12:1 molar ratio. Subsequently it was observed
esterication was performed in a 3-necked round bottomed that the biodiesel yield increased from 78% to 92% when
ask of 500 ml capacity which was equipped with a reux methanol to oil molar ratio was stepwise increased from
condenser and magnetic stirrer. A measured volume of 6:1 to 12:1. Consequently when methanol to oil molar ratio
500 mL waste cotton cooking oil, methanol to waste cot- was achieved up to 15:1, the biodiesel yield decreased to
ton cooking oil molar ratios (6:1, 9:1, 12:1 or 15:1) and 88%. This could be because of excess amount of methanol
Performance studies of Biodiesel produced from waste cotton seed oil using low cost catalyst 239

Figure 1 SEM images of (a) and (b) egg shells as a catalyst before and after reaction, respectively.

94 93

92 92

90 91

88 90

Yield (%)
86
Yield (%)

89

84 88

82 87

80 86

78 85

76 84
6:1 9:1 12:1 15:1 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0 4.5 5.0
Methanol to Oil Molar Ratio Catalyst weight (%)
(a) (b)

Figure 2 Effect of (a) methanol to oil molar ratio and (b) catalyst loading and on FAME yield.

deceased the concentration of catalyst, and also shifted efciency at varying load for both pure diesel and biodiesel
in equilibrium to the backward direction, nally lower the mixtures. It was examined that efciency decreased with
yield of biodiesel fuel. increase of load. It was studied that brake thermal efciency
with vary blends of biodiesel mixtures was slightly less than
that of neat diesel fuel. This was due to poor air fuel mixing,
Effect of catalyst loading
higher viscosity, poor spray property, higher volatility and
The reaction was performed at 65 C for 50 min by using
lower caloric value.
12:1 methanol to oil molar ratio. Fig. 2b depicts the effect
Fig. 3(b) depicts the variation of specic fuel consump-
of catalyst loading concentration on biodiesel fuel yield
tion with respect to vary loads. It was examined that the
was examined. The catalyst loading was increased gradually
fuel consumption for the vary blends of biodiesel fuels were
from 2% to 3%. Subsequently the amount of wt.% cata-
higher as compared to neat diesel fuel. This was due to the
lyst loading concentration increased with biodiesel yield
higher density of waste cotton cooking oil based biodiesel
increased from 86% to 92% and also recorded that high-
fuels needed more quantity of fuels for the same move-
est yield of 92% was found on 3 wt.% amount of catalyst
ment of the plunger in the fuel injection pump. The specic
during transesterication process. Consequently, for 4% and
fuel consumption is reciprocal to the brake thermal ef-
5% amount of catalyst loading a minimum of 88% and 85%,
ciency. Beyond certain load the engine become overheated
respectively yield was recorded. At higher concentration of
and a resulted in a slightly specic fuel consumption for the
catalyst loading, the triglycerides produced more soap dur-
biodiesel blends mixtures.
ing the transesterication reaction than ester formation.
Fig. 4(a) depicts the hydrocarbon emissions with respect
Experiments were conducted at lower wt.% of catalyst load-
to different engine loads decreased with increased in the
ing concentration ranging from 0.2% to 0.5% but the results
biodiesel blend fuels. It was due to the proper combustion
were insignicant.
of biodiesel blends which resulted in decreased hydro car-
bon emissions. The decrease in HC emission with biodiesel
Engine performance and emission studies blends fuel can be attributed to longer length of carbon
chain, advance injection timing, lower saturation level of
The engine performance and emission characteristics were biodiesels and combustion of biodiesel blends.
performed by using air cooled Kirloskar engine. The ash Fig. 4(b) depicts the carbon monoxide emissions with
point and re point of the biodiesel was found to be 128 C respect to different engine loads decreased with increased
and 136 C, respectively. The engine was operated for the in the amount of biodiesel blends fuels whereas for pure
experimental results of the engine tests by using neat diesel, diesel fuels slightly increased with increased in quantity of
B5, B10 or B20 fuels. Fig. 3(a) depicts the break thermal the pure diesel fuel. The carbon monoxide emissions are
240 D. Sinha, S. Murugavelh

Figure 3 Effect of engine loads on (a) brake thermal efciency and (b) specic fuel consumption.

54
0.26 B10
B10 52
0.24 B20 50 B20
48 Diesel
0.22 Diesel
46 B5
0.20 B5
44
Carbon monoxide (%)

HC emissions (ppm)
0.18 42
0.16 40
38
0.14 36
0.12 34
32
0.10 30
0.08 28
0.06 26
24
0.04 22
0.02 20
18
0.00
0 25 50 75 100 0 20 40 60 80 100
Load (%) Load (%)
(a) (b)

Figure 4 Variation of (a) CO and (b) HC emissions for biodiesel blends and diesel at varying load.

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The author declares that there is no conict of interest.