A Comparative Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of Gasoline Blending with Different Oxygenates in India

This paper includes a cradle-to-gate life cycle impact evaluation of gasoline blends in India. The potential environmental impacts of gasoline blends with three major components, i.e., methanol, ethanol, and n-butanol are assessed. The production of methanol from the natural gas reforming process, ethanol from hydrogenation with nitric acid, and n-butanol from the oxo process are considered in the current study. The results show that the gasoline blending with methanol has the lowest impact (11 categories) and is nearly constant from 5 to 15%. For gasoline with ethanol as an additive, the global warming potential, ozone depletion potential, and abiotic depletion potential rise with increasing ethanol addition. Meanwhile, increasing ethanol addition reduces the acidification potential and terrestric ecotoxicity potential impact of gasoline blends. Similarly, gasoline with n-butanol as an additive has higher acidification potential, eutrophication potential, human toxicity potential, terrestric ecotoxicity potential, marine aquatic ecotoxicity potential, and photochemical ozone creation potential compared to methanol and ethanol.

Effect of addition of bio-additive clove oil to ternary fuel blends (Diesel-Biodiesel-Ethanol) on compression ignition engine

The use of biodiesel reduces emissions like hydrocarbon (HC), carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO2), particulate matter (PM); but increases nitrogen oxide emissions. Additives inculcated in diesel and biodiesel has served as one of the means to decrease NOx emissions. An attempt is made to investigate the effect of the addition of ethanol and clove oil, to Pongamia biodiesel, on performance and emission characteristics. Pongamia biodiesel was extracted by transesterification using potassium hydroxide (KOH) as a catalyst. 5% Ethanol and 0.5 and 1 ml clove oil were added to the esters produced. B20 (20% biodiesel + 80% diesel), B20E5 (20% biodiesel + 75% diesel +5% ethanol), B20E5CL0.5 ( 20% biodiesel +75% diesel+5% ethanol +0.5 ml Clove oil) and B20E5CL1 (20% biodiesel + 75% diesel+5% ethanol +1 ml Clove oil) were analysed. The test was performed on a single-cylinder, four-stroke engine connected to an eddy current type dynamometer for loading. The addition of 1ml of antioxidant (clove oil) resulted in an increase in brake thermal efficiency by 8.9% and brake specific fuel consumption marginally by 1.53 %. At higher loads, the B20E5CL1 blend showed a 13% reduction in NOx emission. B20E5CL1 blend also resulted in a reduction in CO emission at higher loads. Ethanol addition to the biodiesel (B20E5 blend) resulted in the highest brake thermal efficiency but at the cost of NOx emissions. Blends with ethanol and clove oil reported good results at higher loads.

Evaluation of hybrid solvents featuring choline chloride-based deep eutectic solvents and ethanol as extractants for the liquid–liquid extraction of benzene from n-hexane: towards a green and sustainable paradigm

Deep eutectic solvents (DESs) have high viscosities, but known to be mitigated by addition of suitable co-solvent. The effect of such co-solvent on the extraction efficiency of the hybrid solvent is hardly known. This study examined the effect of ethanol on three choline chloride-based DESs (glyceline, reline, and ethaline) by mixing each in turn with ethanol in various volume proportions. The hybrid solvents were evaluated for the extraction of benzene from n-hexane. Pseudo-ternary liquid–liquid equilibrium data were obtained using the refractive index method at 303 K and 1 atm for the systems, n-hexane (1) + benzene (2) + hybrid solvent (glyceline/ethanol, ethaline/ethanol, reline/ethanol) (3), and used to evaluate distribution coefficient (D) and selectivity (S). Furthermore, the physicochemical properties of the hybrid solvents were also determined. The results indicate increase in selectivity with increasing ethanol addition up to 50% and decrease with further addition. All hybrid solvents with 50% ethanol outperform sulfolane and are suitable replacement for same as green and sustainable extractant for aromatics from aliphatics. The glyceline + 50% ethanol emerged the overall best with 49.73% elevation in selectivity and 41.15% reduction in viscosity relative to the neat glyceline. The finding of this study is expected to fillip the drive for paradigm shift in petrochemical industries.

Preparation of Liposomes from Soy Lecithin Using Liquefied Dimethyl Ether

We investigated a method to prepare liposomes; soy lecithin was dissolved in liquefied dimethyl ether (DME) at 0.56 MPa, which was then injected into warm water. Liposomes can be successfully prepared at warm water temperatures above 45 °C. The transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images of the obtained liposomes, size distribution, ζ-potential measurements by dynamic light scattering and the amount of residual medium were compared by gas chromatography using the conventional medium, diethyl ether. The size of the obtained liposomes was approximately 60–300 nm and the ζ-potential was approximately −57 mV, which was almost the same as that of the conventional medium. Additionally, for the conventional media, a large amount remained in the liposome dispersion even after removal by depressurization and dialysis membrane treatment; however, liquefied DME, owing to its considerably low boiling point, was completely removed by depressurization. Liquefied DME is a very attractive medium for the preparation of liposomes because it does not have the toxicity and residue problems of conventional solvents or the hazards of ethanol addition and high pressure of supercritical carbon dioxide; it is also environmentally friendly.