Production, Performance, Combustion, Emission Characteristics of Biodiesel Synthesized from Mutton Suet Gokul Raghavendra Srinivasan #1 , Sanjay Ragavendra Srinivasan #2 , Dineshbaabu Venkatachalapathy #3 , Naveen Venkatachalapathy* 4 # Department of Mechanical Engineering, S A Engineering College, Chennai, India 1 gokusrinivasan@gmail.com 2 sanjusrinivasan96@gmail.com 3 dineshbaabujohnssmith@gmail.com * New Product Developer, R & D Department, Necco Tools, Chennai, India 4 naveen.naveen991@gmail.com Abstract— Biodiesel is considered as one of the most suitable alternative biofuel because of its self- sustaining nature and renewability, thereby making it an eco-friendly fuel. This nontoxic biofuel has replaced the existing fuel for combustion ignition engines with or without slight modifications. This combustion based applications makes the experts to study the fuel’s engine performance, combustion and emission characteristics which varies accordingly for various biodiesel produced from different feedstocks. This paper deals with production of biodiesel from the mutton suet and study related to its physiochemical properties and engine based combustion characteristics. Maximum fat content available in mutton suet was 96% out of which maximum achievable was 92% using autoclave heat extraction with FFA content of 0.5% .Most optimized parameters for transesterification reaction was 1:3 molar ratio, 2% catalyst concentration, reaction temperature of 60 o C for 120 minutes which yielded 93%. The physicochemical properties showed better results than conventional diesel and were lying in the range prescribed by standard norms. The performance emission and combustion characteristics were studied and reported. Index Terms—Mutton Suet, Transesterification reaction, Specific Fuel Consumption, Thermal efficiencies, NOx Emission I. INTRODUCTION The rapid progressive growth of human population survived by technology enhancement solely depends on energy for its operations dominantly using petro fuels, rarely renewable fuels. The concern over the depletion of fossil fuels has sparked innovative ideas to use acceptable renewable energy resources like biofuels to fuel the energy demand. In addition, the production of fossil fuels, followed by excess usage of it and improper disposal is causing serious environmental troubles which have been replaced by these biofuels. The most attracted biofuel renowned worldwide is biodiesel ,known for its renewability, self-sustainability with low sulphur & zero aromatic content having a greater emission profile [1]. The economics involved in biodiesel is an economical concern and the cost of feedstock itself, sums up to 80-95% of biodiesel price [2]-[5]. This can be sorted out by identifying a suitable feedstock which has least market value, zero edibility, neutral in food vs. fuel conflict and greater availability. These feedstocks ranges from non-edible seed oils to disposed waste fats from animals like bovine, pork and mutton. One such resourceful feedstock is mutton suet which is rich in stearic and Palmitic acid and has greater availability in market because of suet based business. The factors influencing the suitability of fat for an ideal transesterification are acid value along with FFA content, Iodine value, and Saponification value. This fat is converted into biodiesel through the means of catalyzed transesterification reaction, where the fat is treated with an organic solvent which disintegrates complex triglyceride molecule into fatty acids in form of ethyl ester. Most commonly used organic solvent consists of lower carbon chain alcohols like Methanol, Ethanol, Propanol, Butanol and Pentanol whereas the catalyst ranges from Sulphuric Acid to Hydroxides of Sodium (Na) and Potassium (K) [6] and in recent times heterogeneous catalysts [7] have been used. Some of the key physicochemical parameters include Density, Flash point & Fire point, Viscosity and Calorific Value. Density explains the unit mass of the certain fluid for its corresponding volume whereas Fire and Flash point decides the ignition temperature of the fuel. Viscosity decides the consumability of the fuel during engine combustion. The performance combustion and emission characteristics decide the overall performance of biodiesel in engine. [8]. ISSN (Print) : 2319-8613 ISSN (Online) : 0975-4024 Gokul Raghavendra Srinivasan et al. / International Journal of Engineering and Technology (IJET) DOI: 10.21817/ijet/2017/v9i5/170905038 Vol 9 No 5 Oct-Nov 2017 3512