Production and characterization of bio-mix fuel produced from a ternary and quaternary mixture of raw oil feedstock

The replacement of fossil fuel through renewable resources is the need of the hour to reduce environmental pollution. Biodiesel is one of the renewable sources to replace fossil fuel but its properties are influenced by fatty acids composition, production process, atmospheric and tropical conditions. An attempt has been made to improve biodiesel quality through the bio-mix approach. Bio-mix is a simple method to improve the saturation level by decreasing unsaturated fatty acid composition. In this investigation, the raw bio-mix oil (RBMO) was derived from the raw mixture of edible and non-edible oils and transesterified to form bio-mix methyl ester (BMME). Two samples of BMME fuel were prepared, BMME-I from the ternary mixture of raw oil feedstock: Jatropha, Karanja, Cottonseed oil and BMME-II from the quaternary mixture of raw oils feedstock: Jatropha, Karanja, Palm, Coconut and oils respectively. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) was used to analyze fatty acids composition for characterization of BMME fuel. Fuel properties of biodiesel were measured and found within the standards limit (ASTM D6751, EN14214, and BIS IS15607-05). Results showed that saturated fatty acids, cetane number, oxidation stability increased whereas density, viscosity, heating value, flash point, iodine number, and acid number decreased as compared to individual biodiesel feedstock respectively. The biodiesel derived from non-edible oil feedstock has to be esterified prior to transesterification to reduced acid value and free fatty acids. Raw bio-mix oil consists of a lower acid value and free fatty acids, hence directly transesterified and reduced the pre and post-treatment process. This study suggested that Bio-Mix Methyl Ester (BMME) could be a suitable model to prepare low cost and good quality biodiesel for compression ignition (CI) engine application.