An exploration of biodiesel for application in aviation and automobile sector

Abstract

In recent times, the greenhouse gas emission became one of the key controlling factor behind environmental pollution and its origin can be traced to the fossil fuel exhausts from the transportation sector. Apart from that, fluctuating economy is prone to destabilise the crude oil price and can directly affect the transportation industry. Therefore in search of alternative, low cost, and renewable resources, the biodiesel comes as the saviour in terms of its cost and emission friendly characteristics. Various automobile and aviation brands have already started the use of biodiesel in their engines. Numerous reports have been published citing the effects of biodiesel in the aviation and automobile sector. But the efficiency of biodiesel as an alternative fuel is attributed to several key factors such as raw material, composition, viscosity, pour point, flash point etc. Although several literature reports on the composition and structure property relationship of biodiesel are available, a comprehensive review accommodating all key factors of biodiesel efficiency is scarce. In this regard, the manuscript represents an effort towards exploring the relation of the properties of biodiesel e.g., density, viscosity etc., towards the engine performance separately for automobile and aviation industry.

Keywords

• Biodiesel
• Cetane number
• Viscosity
• Density
• Ignition delay
• NOx emission