Waste sunflower oil as an alternative fuel for diesel engines

Due to the depletion of fossil fuels and increased awareness of environmental problems, the world is looking to use alternative fuels. This paper is aimed at the conversion of waste edible oil into diesel fuel, which can then be used in Compression Ignition (CI) engines. Production of edible oil was 7.6 million tonnes in 2013-14. Sunflower oil is used in majority of the houses and restaurants in India. So, the availability of waste sunflower oil in restaurants and houses is more compared to any other edible oil. Therefore waste sunflower was considered as potential oil which could be used as an alternative to neat diesel fuel. The properties of waste sunflower oil (WSO) were determined, which includes its specific gravity, kinematic viscosity, flash point, fire point, calorific value, cloud point and pour point. The waste oil was initially refined using transesterification process and again the physical properties of refined waste sunflower oil (RWSO) were determined. An experimental study was conducted to evaluate and compare the performance and emissions of different blends (B15, B20 and B25) of RWSO on a four stoke diesel engine. The results indicate that blend B20 is an optimum fuel blend in terms of increased engine performance and reduced emissions compared to neat diesel fuel.