Biodiesel production from waste melon seeds and using it as alternative fuel in direct injection diesel engine

Melon seeds containing similar to 30% oil are wasted after the fruit is consumed. The chemical and physical properties of melon seed oil are very similar to vegetable oils used as biodiesel fuel. There are no studies regarding the use of melon seed oil or its esters as fuel in literature. In this study, oil was extracted from waste melon seeds and transformed to melon seed oil methyl ester (MSOME) by transesterification process. This fuel is used in a four stroke single cylinder direct injection diesel engine, and its effects on performance and emissions were investigated for various engine speeds at full load. In addition, diesel fuel no. 2 and soy bean oil methyl ester (SOME) is used as fuel under the same operating conditions for comparison purposes. According to the experiment results, specific fuel consumption is found to be more in both biodiesel fuels compared to diesel fuel, and the engine torque is 1-6% lower with MSOME and 3-5% with SOME compared to diesel fuel. Exhaust gas temperature is lower with MSOME and SOME than with diesel fuel. Furthermore, it is found that CO and HC emissions and smoke density are generally lower in both biodiesel fuels. However, NOx emission is slightly higher for SOME and MSOME than that for diesel fuel.