VISVESWARAIAH TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY, BELGAUM

Application of biofuels in automotives

Submitted by
ASHOK MALIPATIL
Reg.No. 3PD02ME009
Submitted in the partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of the degree

BACHELOR OF ENGINEERING
In
MECHNICAL ENGINEERING
Under the Guidance of
Prof. M. C. NAVINDGI

Department Of Mechanical Engineering

POOJYA DODDAPPA APPA COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
GULBARGA-585102
2005-2006
 ABSTRACT
For the transport sector depending now for 100% on oil .
Contribution to this immense energy supply volume will be
provided by the alternative liquid fuels derived from natural gas .
Medium-long term from biofuels some of which have the technical-
economic potential to cover most of the medium term needs.
Bio diesel is a renewable fuel comprised of mono-alkyl esters of
long chain fatty acids manufactured from vegetable oils, animal fats
& recycled cooking oils.
Bio diesel play important role in development of energy policy.
Pure bio diesel is bio degradable, non toxic & essentially free from
sulphur and aromatic compounds.
Bio diesel can be blended easily with petroleum diesel in various
proportions to create a bio diesel blends.
Blending balances the property difference with conventional diesel,
performance, emission benefits and cost.
The present paper will outline the main aspects of bio diesel and
various blends of it as a fuel for automotive engine
This paper further deals with other possibilities of biofuels which
may be taken into consideration for transport purpose.
 CONTENTS
1. INTRODUCTION
2. BIO DIESEL - FUEL FOR AUTOMOTIVES
2.1 What is Bio-diesel?
2.2 How it is produced
2.3 Benefits of Bio-diesel
3. OTHER ALTERNATIVE FUELS FOR TRANSPORT
3.1 BIOETHANOL (BIO ETOH)
3.2 BIO-ETBE (Bio-Ethyl Tertiary Butyl Ether)
3.3 BIOMETHANOL (BIO - MEOH)
3.4 BIO-MTBE (Bio-Methyl-Tertiary Butyl Ether)
3.5 AS (a mixture of ~ 60% methane and ~ 40% CO2)
3.6 BIO-DIMETHYL ETHER (Bio-DME)
3.7 BIOSYNTHETIC FUELS
3.8 BIOHYDROGEN
4. CONCLUSION

References
 1. INTRODUCTION
In the next 20 years the expected growth of the world economy
will increase the demand of oil, in particular for transport : from
~85 million barrels/day to the huge value of ~ 330 million
barrels/day (8 times the Saudi-Arabian capacity).
With the impending fossil energy crisis it has become necessary
for us to seek for alternative type of renewable fuels in order to
keep our automobiles on roads
Alcohols have proved to be successful substitute fuels for S.I.
engines
Road and lab tests have shown that vegetable oils and their
esters (called bio-diesels) are suitable for operation of C.I.
engines without any major engine modification
This paper deals with different bio-fuels and their application for
commercial transport.
Rudolf diesel (who invented diesel engine) himself experimented
vegetable oil in his engine in 1990.
Diesel engines today require a clean burning, stable fuel that
performs well under a variety of operating conditions.
Bio diesel is the only the alternative fuel that can be used directly
in any existing unmodified engine.
Bio-diesel is renewable, & energy efficient, displaces petroleum
derived diesel fuel, non-toxic & biodegradable .
Bio diesel can reduce tail-pipe emission including air toxics and
ultimately global warming .
Why Bio-fuels?
Bio-fuels are being considered for combustion engines because
1.Fossil energy crisis is waiting to encroach the industrial and automotive
sector
2. Bio-fuels are renewable
3. Used in the existing engine designs without any major modification
4. Have physico-chemical properties compatible with engine requirements
5. They are, by and large, non-toxic, bio degradable and easy for storage, handling
and transportation
6. They can be produced from agricultural and recycled resources
7. Basically they are derived from conversion of solar energy to carbohydrates
through the process of photosynthesis. This process uses up CO2 of the
atmosphere and combustion of bio-fuel produces CO2. Therefore they do not
add CO2 to the atmosphere unlike the fossil fuels. Hence they do not
contribute to increased global warming.
8. With appropriate engine tune up with operating conditions the exhaust emissions
can be more moderate in addition to the absence of SO2.
Table 1 gives a property comparison of various vegetable oils and esters
with diesel fuel.
Table2. Comparative properties of diesel Honge oil blends.
 2. BIO DIESEL - FUEL FOR AUTOMOTIVES
2.1 What is Bio-diesel?
Bio-diesel is a replacement fuel that is manufactured from
vegetable oils, recycled cooking oils and animal fats.
These oils are renewable.

As per ASTM, bio-diesel is chemical composed of mono alkyl ester

as long chain fatty acids derived from vegetable oils and recycled
cooking oils and animal fats. Bl00
Linseed oil, jathroph oil, sunflower oil, neem-oil are commonly
used oil for production of bio-diesel.

2.2 How it is produced :

The fundamental procedures to produce the ester from oils and
fats are

1. Base catalyst trans-esterification of oil with methanol.

2. Directed acid catalyzed esterification of oil with methanol.
3. Conversion of the oil to fatty acids, and then to methyl esters with
acid catalysts
1. Production of bio-diesel is usually done today using the base catalyzed
reaction, as it is most economic process
process uses a low temperature 38 0C and pressure 1.3 bar, high
conservation of 98% directly to bio-diesel with no intermediate steps.
2. Production of bio-diesel is usually done today using the base catalyzed
reaction, as it is most economic process

Figure 1. Production of bio-diesel

2.3 Benefits of Bio-diesel:
Bio-diesel Displaces Imported Petroleum
1. The fossil fuel energy required to produce bio-diesel from vegetable oil is
only fraction a fraction (31%) of energy contained in one liter of fuel
2. the Bio-diesel is energy efficient fuel, it can extend petroleum supplies
and supports for sound energy policy.
Bio-diesel reduces emissions:
1. Bio-diesel reduces global warming gas such as carbon dioxide (CO2)
2. The low emissions of bio diesel makes it an ideal fuel for use in
Marine areas, national parks, forests and heavily polluted cities.
3. substituting bio-diesel for petroleum diesel reduces life cycle CO2
emission by 78%. B20 reduces CO2 by 15.66%.3 Bio-diesel reduces
tail-pipe particulate matter (PM), hydrocarbon (HC) and carbon
monoxide (CO) emissions from most modern four-stroke CI engines.

Figure No.-2 Average emission impact of biodiesel fuel in C.I. engines

 Bio-diesel improves lubricity :
1. Low level blends of Bio-diesel such as 1% or 2% can improve lubricity
of diesel fuels and this may be particularly important for ultra low
sulpher diesel (ULSD) (15 ppm sulpher as against current diesel fuel
with less than 500 ppm sulpher)
2. Even 2% bio-diesel can restore adequate lubricity to dry fuels like
ULSD and Kerosene.
Bio-diesel is Easy to Use :
1. The biggest benefit of using bio-diesel is that it is easy to store.
2. In blends of B20 or less, it is literally a drop-in technology.
3. New equipments and no equipment modifications are necessary.
4. B20 can be stored in diesel fuel tanks and pumped with diesel
equipments.
Drawbacks of Bio-diesel:
1. Bio-diesel contains 8% to 12.5% less energy per lit than typical
diesel. The difference in energy content can be noticeable if B100 is
used. As the Bio-diesel blend level is lowered, any difference in
energy content become diminished and blends of B5 or less do not
cause noticeable difference in performance compared to diesel.
2. Unlike gasoline, petro-diesel and biodiesel can both start to freeze or
gel as the temperature gets colder.
3. Biodiesel has been shown to increase in NOx emissions in many
engines.
 Bio-diesel (B100) properties & various blends:
1. The considerations for storing handling, blending and using B100 are
very different than for B20 and lower bio-diesel blends.
2. B100 has physical and chemical properties (Table-3).

Table 3 physical and chemical properties

1. B100 is a good solvent.
2. B100 freezes at higher temperatures than most conventional diesel
fuels. Most B100 starts to cloud at between 1.60 0C to 15.5 0C, so
heated fuel lines and tanks may be needed even in moderate
climates.
3. B100 is not compatible with some hoses and gaskets.
4. B100 is not compatible with some metals and plastics.
5. B100 may permeate some typical types of plastics (polyethylene,
polypropylene) over time and they should not be used for storing
B100
 Quality Specifications for Bio-diesel:
1. As with other ASTM fuel standards, ASTM D6751 is based on the physical
and chemical properties that are needed for safe and satisfactory diesel
engine operation
2. Table 4. ASTM fuel standards
B20 - 20% bio-diesel Blend:
B20 and Emissions B20 reduces CO, PM, HC and air toxic components. The
NOx emission may vary depending on the source of bio-diesel and some B20
blends may be NOx neutral.

B20 Cleaning Effect B20 minimizes any cleaning effect or solvency issue with
accumulated sediments in tanks, although minor filter plugging may be
observed during initial weeks of B20 use.

B20 Material Compatibility B20 indicates compatibility with all existing

clustomers in diesel fuel systems, even those that are sensitive to higher
blends such as nitrile rubber. B20 may degrade faster than petrodiesel if
oxidizing metals such as copper, bronze, brass or zinc are in fueling systems.
For frequent filter clogging, the fueling system should be checked for these
materials.

B20 and Lubricity Blending bio-diesel into petrodiesel at even low levels can
increase the lubricity of diesel fuel. Even 0.25% bio-diesel can significantly
increase fuel lubricity. The exact blending level required to achieve adequate
lubricity dpend on properties of diesel.

B20 Stability Compared to B100 data on the same fuels, it appears that B20
may have a longer storage life than B100. ASTM D4625 stability test data
suggested that most B20 can be stored for 8 to 12 months. It is recommended
that B20 should be used within 6 months. This is comparable with
recommendations of petro-diesel.
3. OTHER ALTERNATIVE FUELS FOR TRANSPORT
Alternative Fuels can be subdivided in two categories:
1. New transport fuels derived from natural gas (or coal);
2. Biofuels (fuels derived from biological resources) having large
worldwide availability and being expected to become competitive (in
a longer term) with low environmental impact.
3.1 BIOETHANOL (BIO - ETOH):
1. Is a colourless, liquid fuel with the chemical formula: C2H5OH.
2. This biofuel is a refined product and it is a suitable transport
3. The incremental cost for mass-production of FFV is estimated to be ~150
which is much lower than for compressed natural gas vehicles.
4. Bioethanol is 30% less energetic than gasoline).
3.2 BIO-ETBE (Bio-Ethyl Tertiary Butyl Ether):
1. Is a colourless, flammable, oxygenated hydrocarbon with the chemical
formula: C2 H5 OC4 H9.
2. This biofuel is produced by mixing bioethanol (48% in volume) and tertiary
butanol (or bioethanol with iso butylene) and reacting them with heat over
a catalyst.
3. This biofuel (octane rating: 112) can be used in existing gasoline engine
without any modification shows excellent performance and environmental
benefits replacing aromatics and benzene.
4. Bio-ETBE is acceptable for direct refinery blending and for common
pipeline transport.
3.3 BIOMETHANOL (BIO - MEOH):
1. Might become a preferred fuel for fuel cell vehicles (with on board hydrogen
reforming) because of its high hydrogen content.
2. Biomethanol(CH3OH) can be produced from bio-syn-gas, mixtures of H2 and
CO derived from biomass via a well - known oxygen / allothermalgasification
process, by steam reforming of charcoal and subsequent process by catalytic
synthesis process of CO2 and H2.
3. At present, methanol is mostly produced from natural gas (world production
27 mio t/year) with a conversion efficiency of ~ 55%.
4. Biomethanol has in a longer term the economic potential of substituting the
methanol derived from natural gas.
5. Experiments of biomethanol direct synthesis by electrolysis of supercritical
CO2-water solution (over GA as catalist) show positive results with a current
efficiency of ~100%.

6. 3.4 BIO-MTBE (Bio-Methyl-Tertiary Butyl Ether):

Is similar to Bio-ETBE and obtained by mixing biomethanol (36% in
volume) and tertiary butanol with heat over catalyst.

3.5 BIOGAS (a mixture of ~ 60% methane and ~ 40% CO2):

1. Is produced mostly by anaerobic fermentation of very humid biomass
(livestock liquid manure, sludges, wastes, etc...).
2. Small size plants are widely diffused in developing countries (~ 10 mio units in
China), large plants in industrial countries for treatment of urban sludges or

for disposal of agroindustrial wastes

3.6 BIO-DIMETHYL ETHER (Bio-DME):
1. Is promising fuel for diesel engines due to its combustion and
emission properties and could become of great interest for very
low GHG vehicles.
2. This biofuel is liquid once pressured at ~ 5 bar. It is similar to
LPG (a mixture of propane and butane) in terms of physical
characteristics.
3. It can be used as substitute for LPG or as oxygenated addictive
in gasoline or as blending component of diesel fuel (easily
soluble) or as diesel-fuel substitution for modified diesel
engines.
4. A potential 2% contribution to the diesel-oil pool is considered
possible in a medium term but biomass must compete with
DME derived from natural gas.
5. DME can be produced from bio-syn-gas. At present DME is
produced from pure methanol by an acid catalyst (Aluminium
Oxide or Aluminium Silicate) in a fixed bed of low pressure and
temperature (260 C 350 C).
6. The resulting mixture (DME + methanol + water) is separated by
distillation. Direct conversion of CO in DME (now under
development) will be more economical .
3.7 BIOSYNTHETIC FUELS:
1. A wide range of very clean synthetic fuels can be
obtained from "biosyngas" derived from biomass through
the "Fisher- Tropsch" (FT) process, by building different
polymer chains from the CO and H2 basic molecules.

2. The FT stands out as the most attractive process because:

It can produce a wide range of high quality fuels, some of
high value, like: FT bio-diesel oil (sulphur free), Bio-
Middle Distillates, Bio-nafta (basic gasoline),Bio-methane,
etc...; now the problem of how much sulfur should be
allowed in gasoline is emerging worldwide due to refining
difficulties and to environmental constraints.
However is an expensive process;
The market for its products is well established;
There is no need of new refuelling infrastructure;
There is no need of major engine modification;
The production costs are higher than for biomethanol
and there is the need to develop the market for co-
products.
3.8 BIOHYDROGEN:
1. Is defined as the hydrogen derived from biomass resources.
It is an excellent clean fuel, very energetic (~ three times that
of oil per unit weight) and does not emit CO2 in combustion
processes.
2. It can be obtained in several ways:
i. By water electrolysis utilizing bioelectricity. This is a very
efficient process but the investment cost and the H2
production cost is relatively high (2,000 3,000 /t of H2
with ~ 4.5 KWhe/m3 of H2)
ii. By catalytic shifting of "biosyngas", CO-H2 mixture
derived from solid biomass. From trials it seems that it
could also be produced at reasonable cost (~ 1700 /t) via
steam reforming of charcoal/pellets obtained from low
cost biomass residues (30 /d ton)
iii. By membrane separation from biosyngas
iv. From bioethanol-water solution (99% mass conversion
efficiency 75% energy conversion efficiency)
v. From biomethanol via Steam Reforming.
 4. CONCLUSION

It is time for us to seriously think of some alternative renewable

fuels for substitution to our rapidly depleting petroleum
reserves.
Laboratory experiments and road tests have shown that petrol
can be totally replaced by alcohols and diesel can be totally
replaced by bio-diesels.
Though the cost of these substitute fuels are not competitive
as on today, with suitable changes in the government policies
and subsidies these bio-fuels can be made available at
reasonable costs to the common man.
Afforestation of such bio-fuel plants is therefore needed on a
war footing and the farmers and agriculturists must be given
proper incentives and financial support to grow them.
It is expected that bio-fuels will take over the transport with a
smooth transition from fossil fuels until, in the far future,
hydrogen energy or fuel cells may become competitive.
Alternative fuels are new transport energy carriers which show
the potential to substitute conventional fuels (gasoline-diesel).