Fuel properties, engine performance and emission characteristic of common biodiesels as a renewable and sustainable source of fuel

The energy security concern has been established as an alarming issue in context of petro diplomacy now-a-days. Global warming with rapid changes in climate, increase in price and depletion in reserve of fossil fuel are leading scientists to work toward alternative fuel. Biodiesel could be an answer for the alternative fuel, which is renewable, biodegradable, non-toxic and less polluting. This paper is comprised of fuel properties, engine performance and emission characteristics of commonly used different vegetable (jatropha, palm, coconut, cottonseed, sunflower, soybean and canola/rapeseed) based biodiesel derived from experimental results at different conditions performed worldwide. It can introduce a potential guideline to improve engine performance and emission characteristics using different biodiesels and their blends as well. This paper provides a comparative baseline to make an easy comparison among the biodiesels in respect of fuel properties, engine performance and emission characteristics. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.