Jutika Boro

A comparative study of Mesua ferrea L. based hybrid fuel with diesel fuel and biodiesel.

ABSTRACT The study presents preparation of a Mesua ferrea L. seed-oil-based emulsion hybrid fuel system by blending with alcohols (ethanol and butan-2-ol) in which butan-2-ol was employed as a surfactant. The study also deals with the investigation of the effect on fuel properties of the hybrid fuel due to the variation in surfactant amount and analysis of the prepared hybrid fuel system by 1H nuclear magnetic resonance (1H NMR). The experimental results show that the properties of the hybrid fuels were comparable to that of diesel and biodiesel.

Activated Carbon Supported CaO from Waste Shells as a Catalyst for Biodiesel Production

ABSTRACT In the wake of increasing environmental constraints, this work is aimed at developing a catalyst purely prepared from waste biomass source as the raw material. The catalyst is investigated for its applicability in transesterification of vegetable oil with the objectives: (i) to use waste shells of mollusk as raw material for the preparation of activated carbon and CaO; (ii) to use it as heterogeneous catalyst in the transesterification of waste cooking oil; (iii) to optimize the different parameters affecting the transesterification reaction; and (iv) to study its reusability. Under optimized conditions it was observed that a conversion >90% was possible and the catalyst could be reused five times with a slight loss in activity. This study indicates that the biomass source could also be used as a potential raw material in the synthesis of environmentally benign catalysts.