A Review on Honge (Pongamia Pinnata) Biodiesel as an Alternative fuel for Diesel Engine

Mechanical Engineering

Self reliance in energy is vital for overall economic development of our country. The need to search for alternative sources of energy which are renewable, safe and non- polluting assumes top priority in view of the uncertain supplies and frequent price hikes of fossil fuels in the international market. And we can say that the Diesel engines are widely used light, medium and heavy duty vehicles and power generation in heavy machinery, because of higher thermal efficiency and the ability for lean operation. The lean burn capability helps to lower the carbon monoxide (CO) and Hydro carbon (HC) emissions compared to those of a spark ignition (SI) engine. Due to the Agricultural origin of the biofuels they emit less CO2 ( Carbon di oxide ) and CO ( Carbon monoxide). As the Biofuels are made from renewable source, they have good environmental benefits. Biodiesel (fatty acid methyl ester) which is derived from triglycerides by trans-esterification, has attracted considerable attention during the past decade as a renewable, biodegradable and nontoxic fuel. In India, there are many trees bearing oil like ratanjot (jatropha curcus), mahua (madhuca indica), pilu (salvodara oleoids), nahor (mesua ferralina), kokam (garcinia indica), karanja (pongamia pinnata) and rubber seed (heveabrasilensis) etc. Based on various studies, this paper generally found that Pongamia Pinnata biodiesel can be used in CI engines as alternative fuel. Among these species, which can yield oil as a source of energy in the form of biodiesel, Pongamia pinnata has been found to be one of the most suitable species due to its various favourable attributes like its hardy nature, high oil recovery and quality of oil, etc. As the acid value of this oil is high, so that we have to reduce it by the process of esterification followed by trans-esterification. The methyl ester produced by this way gives the good result. Several processes for biodiesel fuel production have been developed, among which trans-esterification using alkali as catalyst gives high level of conversion of triglycerides to their corresponding methyl ester in a short duration. Based on various studies, this paper generally found that Pongamia Pinnata (Karanja) biodiesel can be used in CI engines as alternative fuel.

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