Elsevier

Tribology International

Volume 153, January 2021, 106653
Tribology International

Transesterified Olax scandens oil as a bio-additive: Production and engine performance studies

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.triboint.2020.106653Get rights and content

Highlights

  • Introduced a new substrate, “Olax Scandens oil,” to the bioadditive market.

  • Bio-additive developed through the selection of optimal process conditions.

  • A maximum methyl ester yield of 98% and confirmed by GC-MS.

  • Physico-chemical properties have been determined and compared with the standards.

  • Promising engine performance demonstrated the possible entry of new bioadditive.

Abstract

The present research evaluates the efficiency of transesterified Olax scandens oil for bio-additive to petroleum diesel. The extracted Olax oil was degummed and esterified to reduce the acid value for the transesterification reaction's suitability. The transesterification process was critically assessed by considering the effect of methanol concentration, reaction time, temperature and alkali concentration on FAME's (Fatty Acid Methyl Esters) yield. The fuel properties have been determined and engine performance tests have been executed for probable usage as bioadditive. The transesterified Olax oil blends showcased better engine performance studies flashed better runtime with load (more than 120% relative performance), lubricating and emission efficiency with lowered CO, CO2, and NOx over the intact petrodiesel.

Introduction

The exhausting fossil fuel reserves, rapid population growth, and energy utilization for enhanced lifestyle pave the world towards energy crisis. Therefore, it is prudent and urgent to look for alternate energy resources that can produce plenty at an affordable price. Crude petroleum is the imperative source of lubricants (<90%) inevitable for automobile engine lubrication, non-renewable and a threat to the atmosphere [1,2]. Round the globe, lubricant's yield is close to 36 Mt (less than 1% of the crude oil stuff). The world lubricant market ranges from 37.4 Mt in 2004, projected to an annual rise of 2% and forecasting to reach the 45.4 million metric tons by 2019 [3,4]. Oils of plant origin are renewable and biodegradable, solicits the research attention to choices other than crude petroleum-based lubricants [[5], [6], [7]]. The present market share of biodegradable lubricants is less than 2% of the total market production. So the current research work is directed to plant-based oil lubricants that are biodegradable and renewable [1]. Attention has been focused on producing bio-additives, bio-diesel and lubricants from vegetable, non-vegetable and waste oils. Production of bio-energy resources from the plant origin may be one of the sustainable approaches for producing bio-additives and bio-energy. As a conflict with vegetable oils' food chains, the research community mainly focuses on the available divergent non-edible oils that are plentily available under the Indian context. The National Biodiesel Mission (NBM) embarked by Govt. of India, intending to meet the country's 20% diesel requirements.

Olax scandens is a drought-tolerant perennial scrub plant that belongs to Olax and family Olacaceae with 55–60% oil-bearing kernels. Olax scandens is a habitat of ravines, sub-Himalayan territories of Kumaun and Gangetic planes, Indian states such as Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Deccan and the Western Ghats. Despite using the extracts of Olax scandens, bio-energy commodities production from the 55–60% oil bearing kernels is being attempted/reported. Owing to the new source coupled with the high oil-bearing capacity, the present study exploited Olax scandens oil as a renewable source to produce bio-additive in conjunction with the petrodiesel, contributing GHG's (Green House Gases)-free environment with healthier and secured society.

The fatty acid methyl esters (FAME's, as choosing methanol is a viable economic source) produced by transesterification are the key components of Bio-diesel and Bio-additives. Higher acid number and viscosity of Olax scandens oil were imperative sufferings on fatty acid methyl esters [8]. Hence the crude Olax scandens oil was extracted by solvent extraction, degummed with a weak acid to reduce the acid number and esterified with methanol in weak acid catalytic medium to lower the viscosity before transesterification. The transesterification parametric conditions were further optimized through investigating the impact of methanol to oil ratio, reaction time, temperature and alkali concentrations on FAME's (Fatty Acid Methyl Esters) yield. Finally, FAME's physicochemical properties have been determined and performed the engine performance testing in terms of run time with varied loads. Emission profiling has been done towards its suitability as a bioadditive to petroleum diesel towards better lubricity.

Section snippets

Plant material

The plant originated stuff was used for present investigation i.e. Olax scandens seeds were collected from Botanical Garden and Research Centre, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India, wherein the plants of Olax scandens have been cultivated and grown by the authors.

Chemicals and reagents

Analytical grade chemicals were employed in the present study, procured from SRL, Mumbai. The reagents and solvents used in the present investigation were obtained from Merck, India. The standards of methyl esters were obtained from Sigma, USA.

Extraction of olax oil

Extraction and degumming of olax scandens oil

Oil recovery technique from kernels using solvents converts various volatile compounds into oils [12,13]. In the present investigation, Soxhlet apparatus was employed in extracting oil from kernels using solvents hexane, petroleum ether and chloroform separately to optimize the yield of oil. The result inferred that solvent hexane yielded swelling volume of oil varying from 59.11 to 59.44 ml. The extraction process was iterated three times using different solvents to interpret data as presented

Conclusion

The bio-additive was developed by critically varying the transesterification variables, namely oil to methanol ratio, catalyst concentration, reaction time, and the FAME's yield. The optimized transesterification results in a 98% FAME's yield, further characterized by fuel properties. The produced FAME's have also tested engine performance in terms of engine run time with varied loads and better understand the 20% TOO blend. Advantageous trendy fuel economy, down hilled noxious GHG emissions

CRediT authorship contribution statement

Vijay Kumar Garlapati: Writing - original draft, Original draft, Graphical abstract, Esterification and transesterification parts. Sudhansu Bhusan Mohapatra: Literature survey, Conceptualization, Process development, Fuel properties determination. Ramesh Chandra Mohanty: Investigation, Writing - review & editing, Degumming and Extraction studies. Premananda Das: Supervision, Data curation, Funding acquisition, Data acquisition, Plant cultivation, Material processing, Lab facilitation, Fund

Declaration of competing interest

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Acknowledgements

The financial support and provided resource facilities by SFTRRD and CUTM, Bhubaneswar and JUIT, Waknaghat acknowledged gratefully.

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