Prestasi pembakaran minyak jatropha sebagai bahan api cecair biodiesel pada sistem pembakar berbahan api cecair

Abstract

The world is passing through a phase of sustainable modernization and industrial development day by day. As a result, there is an increasing number of vehicles used and heat engines demands in the market. However, energy sources used in these engines are limited and decreasing gradually. This situation leads to evolution of alternative sources to viable fuel for diesel engine. Biodiesel is seen as an alternative fuel for diesel engine combustion. The esters of vegetable or plant oil and animal fats are known as biodiesel. This article investigates the prospect of producing biodiesel from Jatropha oil. Jatropha curcas oil is a renewable non-edible plant. The seeds of Jatropha contain 50-60% oil. In this study, the oil has been converted to biodiesel by a well-known two-step, acid-base catalytic transesterification and used in diesel burner for performance evaluation. Biodiesel used in this study is a blend of diesel and Jatropha biodiesel. The performance of burner system using Jatropha biodiesel is based on its temperature profile and emissions generated such as nitrous oxide (NOx), sulphur dioxide (SO2) and carbon monoxide (CO). A reduction of 50% was achieved for both CO dan SO2 when burning Jatropha biodiesel compared to burning diesel.