2222 Fuel conversion of rice-derived biomass residue : Fuel properties and combustion characteristics of rice bran oil methyl ester

Vegetable oil is one of rice bran components. As triglycerides, vegetable oil can be converted to fatty acid and alkyl esters for further treatments. Synthesis of alkyl ester oil can be carried out by esterification or transesterification reaction, depending on the quality of the oil and the catalyst. The purposes of this study are 1) Rice bran oil isolation, 2) Oil esterification 3) Characterization and identification of the methyl ester that compose rice bran oil. The stages in this research are 1) Extraction of rice bran oil, 2) Synthesis of methyl ester from rice bran through esterification reaction, 3) Methyl ester characterization of rice bran oil and its potential test as biodiesel included determination of density, viscosity, refractive index, and acid number test, 4) The identification of synthesized methyl esters composition using GC-MS. The results showed that rice bran oil has a yield of 18.09%. Synthesis of methyl esters from rice bran oil through the esterification reaction with a catalyst acid yields 72.37%. The characters of the synthesized methyl ester are on the range of biodiesel quality standards, namely, the density is 0.850 g/mL, viscosity is 4.73 cSt, a refractive index is 1.45871, and an acid number is 0.76 g KOH/g methyl ester, therefore it is claimed that the synthesized methyl esters have the potential as biodiesel. The GC-MS result showed the presence of compounds methyl tetradecanoate (0.38%), methyl hexadecanoate (40.67%), methyl 9-octadecenoate (53.68%), methyl octadecanoate (5.02%), and methyl eicosanoate (0.14%).

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Rice bran oil methyl ester fuelled medium-duty transportation engine: long-term durability and combustion investigations

International Journal of Vehicle Design ◽

10.1504/ijvd.2009.025010 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 50 (1/2/3/4) ◽

pp. 248 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Shailendra Sinha ◽

Avinash Kumar Agarwal

Keyword(s):

Methyl Ester ◽

Rice Bran ◽

Rice Bran Oil

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Experimental investigation of the combustion characteristics of a biodiesel (rice-bran oil methyl ester)-fuelled direct-injection transportation diesel engine

Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers Part D Journal of Automobile Engineering ◽

10.1243/09544070jauto220 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 221 (8) ◽

pp. 921-932 ◽

Cited By ~ 39

Author(s):

S Sinha ◽

A K Agarwal

Keyword(s):

Diesel Engine ◽

Methyl Ester ◽

Vegetable Oils ◽

Rice Bran ◽

Rice Bran Oil ◽

Direct Injection ◽

Pressure Rise ◽

Cylinder Pressure ◽

Biodiesel Blends ◽

Crank Angle

Increased environmental awareness and depletion of fossil petroleum resources are driving industry to develop alternative fuels that are environmentally more acceptable. Transesterified vegetable oil derivatives called ‘biodiesel’ appear to be the most convenient way of utilizing bio-origin vegetable oils as substitute fuels in diesel engines. The methyl esters of vegetable oils do not require significant modification of existing engine hardware. Previous research has shown that biodiesel has comparable performance and lower brake specific fuel consumption than diesel with significant reduction in emissions of CO, hydrocarbons (HC), and smoke but slightly increased NO x emissions. In the present experimental research work, methyl ester of rice-bran oil is derived through transesterification of rice-bran oil using methanol in the presence of sodium hydroxide (NaOH) catalyst. Experimental investigations have been carried out to examine the combustion characteristics in a direct injection transportation diesel engine running with diesel, biodiesel (rice-bran oil methyl ester), and its blends with diesel. Engine tests were performed at different engine loads ranging from no load to rated (100 per cent) load at two different engine speeds (1400 and 1800 r/min). A careful analysis of the cylinder pressure rise, heat release, and other combustion parameters such as the cylinder peak combustion pressure, rate of pressure rise, crank angle at which peak pressure occurs, rate of pressure rise, and mass burning rates was carried out. All test fuels exhibited similar combustion stages as diesel; however, biodiesel blends showed an earlier start of combustion and lower heat release during premixed combustion phase at all engine load-speed combinations. The maximum cylinder pressure reduces as the fraction of biodiesel increases in the blend and, at higher engine loads, the crank angle position of the peak cylinder pressure for biodiesel blends shifted away from the top dead centre in comparison with baseline diesel data. The maximum rate of pressure rise was found to be higher for diesel at higher engine loads; however, combustion duration was higher for biodiesel blends.

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