Sclerocarya Birrea Biodiesel as an Alternative Fuel for Compression Ignition Engines

Abstract

This study investigated selected properties of birrea bi‐ odiesel including chemical composition, viscosity, acidity and calorific value. Engine per‐ formance in terms of fuel consumption, brake power and torque at a compression ratio of 16:1, and emission levels of hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, oxides of ni‐ trogen and oxygen were also studied. Petroleum diesel is used to generate similar sets of data in order to compare the performance of the diesel engine using the two diesel fuels. This study is deemed significant as authors are not aware of any study that attempts to investigate sclerocarya birrea plant oil as a potential substrate for biodiesel production. As such, results from this work, including chemical composition, thermo-physical properties and performance of birrea biodiesel, provide new knowledge of a novel fuel source, and provide baseline information for further exploration. The