Department of Farm Machinery and Power Engineering, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana-141 004, India
*Corresponding author's e-mail: kumarrj_1988@yahoo.com
Online published on 7 June, 2014.
The transesterification of refined sunflower oil by means of ethanol, using potassium hydroxide as catalyst, was studied. The objective of the work was to characterize the ethyl esters for its use as biodiesels in compression ignition engine. Transesterification experimental runs were carried out for varying oil: ethanol ratio (v/v of oil) with different catalyst concentrations at 65°C temperature and reaction time for 2 hr. The fuel characterization of ethyl ester was carried out and the results were found to be within international biodiesel standard specifications.
Ethanol, Sunflower oil, Trans-esterification
