International Journal of Scientific & Engineering Research,Volume 3, Issue 6, June-2012 1 ISSN 2229-5518 IJSER © 2012 http://www.ijser.org Biodiesel Production and its Emissions and Performance: A Review Ambarish Datta and Bijan Kumar Mandal Abstract—This paper presents a brief review on the current status of biodiesel production and its performance and emission characteristics as compression ignition engine fuel. This study is based on the reports on biodiesel fuel published in the current literature by different researchers. Biodiesel can be produced from crude vegetable oil, non-edible oil, waste frying oil, animal tallow and also from algae by a chemical process called transesterification. Biodiesel is also called methyl or ethyl ester of the corresponding feedstocks from which it has been produced. Biodiesel is completely miscible with diesel oil, thus allowing the use of blends of petro-diesel and biodiesel in any percentage. Presently, biodiesel is blended with mineral diesel and used as fuel. Biodiesel fueled CI engines perform more or less in the same way as that fueled with the mineral fuel. Exhaust emissions are significantly improved due the use of biodiesel or blends of biodiesel and mineral diesel. Index Terms— Biodiesel, Transesterification, Production, Emissions, Performance, Global warming, Environmental pollution. ——————————  —————————— 1 INTRODUCTION he most harmful effect of our present day civilization is global warming and environmental pollution. With rapid industrialization and urbanization we are also making our planet unsafe for us and for the generations to come. We are now all well aware of the lethal effects of pollution. India is already the fifth largest greenhouse gas emitter of the world and is expected to become the third largest GHG emitter by the year 2015 with China topping the list. International pres- sures have already started mounting on India to curb its GHG emission. Transport sector contributes significant amount of GHG emission. The vehicle population throughout the world is increasing rapidly; in India the growth rate of automotive industry is one of the largest in the world. It is quite evident that the problem cannot be solved with the conventional fossil fuels, however stringent the emission control norms may be. This demands the search for a suitable alternative to conven- tional fossil fuels. In a country like India it is observed that biodiesel can be a viable alternative automotive fuel. Biodiesel is a fastest grow- ing alternative fuel and India has better resources for its pro- duction. India has huge potential for biodiesel and it will be the most suitable, if biodiesel is produced from non-edible type oil seeds, like karanja (Pongamia Pinnata), ratanjyot (Ja- tropha Curcus). The above oil seeds can be cultivated in the wasteland. This biodiesel can be used in internal combustion engines in a similar fashion as petro- diesel without any mod- ification. Rudolf Diesel, the father of diesel engine, demonstrated the first use of vegetable oil in compression ignition engine. He used peanut oil as fuel for his experimental engine as fuel for his engine. With the availability of cheap petroleum and appropriate methods for the refinement of crude oil to obtain petro-diesel, diesel engine started evolving. Later after 1940, vegetable oils were used again as fuel in emerging situations, during the period of Second World War. Because of the in- crease in the crude oil prices, limited reserve of fossils fuels and also for the environmental concern, researchers showed renewed focus on vegetable oils for producing the most suita- ble alternate to the diesel fuel, called biodiesel, the esters of vegetable oil. Researchers are making sincere attempts to find out the suita- ble alternative to diesel fuel which does not require major en- gine modifications. In this paper, the results of some of the researchers have been summarized and compared to get the state of the art of biodiesel production, its combustion, emis- sions and performances characteristics as CI engine fuels. 2 PRODUCTION OF BIODIESEL Researchers are trying to find several ways to make biodie- sel from different feed stocks like edible and non-edible vege- table oils, waste cooking oil, animal tallow, algae etc. Most of the researchers prepared biodiesel by transesterification process from the raw feedstocks using a base catalyst. Sharma and Singh [1] developed biodiesel from non-edible feedstock, i.e. karanja, mahua and a hybrid mixture (50:50 v/v) of the two. They followed a two step reactions compris- ing of acid esterification to lower the free fatty acid (FFA) to a desired limit followed by alkaline transesterification for con- version of oil to fatty acid methyl esters. T ———————————————— Ambarish Datta is a Ph.D scholar in the Department of Mechanical Engi- neering, Bengal Engineering and Science University, Shibpur, PH- 09836407090. E-mail: ambarish.datta84@gmail.com Bijan Kumar Mandal is a Professor in the Department of Mechanical En- gineering at Bengal Engineering and Science University, Shibpur. PH- 09830017592. E-mail: bkm375@yahoo.co.in