Under the roof of solid industrialization and accelerated intensification of multiple ranges of mobilization, a huge rise in precious fuel consumption and pollution was observed. Based on the recent hardships of fossil fuels, experts are undoubtedly eager in carrying out their research in renewable environment-friendly fuels. There have been many reviews of works considering the parameters and standards of biodiesel, which is only from various vegetable and seed oils. But very little review work was carried out on only plant-based biofuel. Plant-based fuel has a lower viscosity and higher volatility properties. The target of this review was to make a bridge to overcome these research gaps. This review extensively studies the biological background, production outcome, properties, and reliability of plant-based biofuel and also deeply investigates the feasibility of usage in a diesel engine. From deep investigation it was identified that most of the low viscous fuel had higher brake thermal efficiency (BTE) (2% to 4%) and NOx emission (5% to 10%) than high viscous biodiesel. The formation of hydrocarbon (HC), CO, and smoke emission was similar to high viscous biodiesel. Overall, the low viscous fuel effectively improves the engine behaviors.
Alternative energy sources, such as biodiesel, play a vital role in environmental protection. Waste cooking oil (WCO) biodiesel has promising applications in compression ignition engines. A major problem regarding biodiesel implementation is the deterioration and materials incompatibility of existing fuel system components with biodiesel. Variations in the composition of fuel prompted by the inclusion of biodiesel cause a variety of issues in diesel engine fuel systems where the elastomer is generally utilized as the fuel hose material and sealings. In this experimental work, the effects of the diesel and WCO biodiesel blends (B8, B16, B24, and B100) on Buna-N, ethylene propylene rubber (EPR), and polystyrene (PS) were examined by the immersion test, which was conducted for 160 h at various immersion temperatures of 30, 60, and 80 °C, respectively. The study also showed that the use of elastomer materials like Buna-N, EPR, and PS in diesel engines fueled up to 20% WCO biodiesel blends is advantageous; the overall compatibility improves by 100% compared to that obtained using neat diesel. The outcome revealed remarkable behavior changes, including a minor increase in volume and a slight loss in tensile strength and hardness compared to that observed using neat diesel fuel. The expansion of rubber materials increases over 60 °C, although the rate of this process decreases above 80 °C. It has been found that the expansion of rubber materials is unaffected by the acid concentration of the WCO biodiesel blends but significantly affected by the moisture content.
The rapid depletion of crude oil and environmental degradation necessitate the search for alternative fuel sources for internal combustion engines. Biodiesel is a promising alternative fuel for compression ignition (CI) engines due to its heat content and combustion properties. Biodiesel blends are used in various vehicles and equipment, such as cars, trucks, buses, off-road vehicles, and oil furnaces. Biodiesel can reduce emissions from CI engines by up to 75% and improve engine durability due to its high lubricity. However, biodiesel has some drawbacks, including a performance reduction and increased nitrogen oxide emissions. Therefore, this study aims to investigate using environmentally available biodiesel in a low-heat rejection engine and an antioxidant additive to enhance the performance and reduce nitrogen oxide emissions. India currently has several biodiesel sources, including mango seed oil, mahua oil, and pongamia oil, which can be effectively utilized in CI engines by adding l-ascorbic acid. The experimental work involves a single-cylinder 4-stroke water-cooled direct injection CI engine with a power output of 5.2 kW. The engine's cylinder head, piston head, and valves are coated with lanthanum oxide using the plasma spray coating technique, with a thickness of 0.5 mm. The coated and uncoated engines are tested with different proportions of mahua oil, mango seed oil, and pongamia oil. The results show that the engine's performance is significantly improved compared to the baseline engine at all loads. Additionally, these biodiesels exhibit a notable reduction in nitrogen oxide emissions when combined with l-ascorbic acid.