STUDIES ON MAHUA OIL BIODIESEL AS THE SUSTAINABLE FUEL IN COMPRESSION IGNITION ENGINE

Energy utilization and demand are increasing in the entire world, and most of the countries have to depend on renewable energy sources. As a renewable energy source, biodiesel produced from feedstock non-edible mahua oil (MO) can be used with a significant production capacity. In the current performance study, biodiesel was produced from high acid value non-edible MO. The mahua oil biodiesel (MOB) has similar properties as diesel and meets the biodiesel fuel standard. As running the engine with MOB is costlier compared to diesel, low-cost liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) was taken as a partial substitute to reduce the operating cost. The dual-mode operation was enabled in the compression ignition (CI) engine by required retrofitting. The engine tests revealed that the MOB can be used as a substitute with LPG fumigation. Based on the cost of MO and engine performance study on mahua biodiesel, it was observed that mahua can serve as a renewable and sustainable energy source to meet the needs of energy and for the improvement in the rural economy.