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Potential use of eucalyptus biodiesel in compressed ignition engine

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DOI: 10.1016/j.ejpe.2015.03.008

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Egyptian Journal of Petroleum (2015) xxx, xxx–xxx

H O S T E D BY
Egyptian Petroleum Research Institute

Egyptian Journal of Petroleum

www.elsevier.com/locate/egyjp
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FULL LENGTH ARTICLE

Potential use of eucalyptus biodiesel in compressed

ignition engine
Puneet Verma *, Mahendra Pal Sharma, Gaurav Dwivedi

Biofuel Research Laboratory, Alternate Hydro Energy Centre, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, Roorkee,
Uttarakhand 247667, India

Received 20 January 2015; revised 10 March 2015; accepted 11 March 2015

KEYWORDS Abstract The increased population has resulted in extra use of conventional sources of fuels due to
Biodiesel; which there is risk of extinction of fossil fuels’ resources especially petroleum diesel. Biodiesel is
Engine; emerging as an excellent alternative choice across the world as a direct replacement for diesel fuel
Viscosity; in vehicle engines. Biodiesel offers a great choice. It is mainly derived from vegetable oils, animal
Transesterification fats and algae. Hence in this paper effort has been made to find out feasibility of biodiesel obtained
from eucalyptus oil and its impact on diesel engine. Higher viscosity is a major issue while using
vegetable oil directly in engine which can be removed by converting it into biodiesel by the process
of transesterification. Various fuel properties like calorific value, flash point and cetane value of bio-
diesel and biodiesel–diesel blends of different proportions were evaluated and found to be compa-
rable with petroleum diesel. The result of investigation shows that Brake Specific Fuel Consumption
(BSFC) for two different samples of B10 blend of eucalyptus biodiesel is 2.34% and 2.93% lower
than that for diesel. Brake Thermal Efficiency (BTE) for B10 blends was found to be 0.52% and
0.94% lower than that for diesel. Emission characteristics show that Smoke Opacity improves
for both samples, smoke is found to be 64.5% and 62.5% cleaner than that of diesel. Out of all
blends B10 was found to be a suitable alternative to conventional diesel fuel to control air pollution
without much significant effect on engine performance. On comparing both samples, biodiesel pre-
pared from sample A of eucalyptus oil was found to be superior in all aspects of performance and
emission.
Ó 2015 The Authors. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of Egyptian Petroleum Research
Institute. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/
licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

1. Introduction

World’s fossil fuel resources such as crude oil, natural gas and
coal are decreasing at alarming rate due to the increasing
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +91 07696899865. demand for fossil fuels across the globe. As per Indian Energy
E-mail address: itspuneetv@gmail.com (P. Verma). Scenario, energy demand is expected to reach 166 MT by 2019
Peer review under responsibility of Egyptian Petroleum Research and presently 79% of crude oil is imported to meet the
Institute. demand. Against the overall trend in growth of the Indian
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ejpe.2015.03.008
1110-0621 Ó 2015 The Authors. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of Egyptian Petroleum Research Institute.
This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Please cite this article in press as: P. Verma et al., Potential use of eucalyptus biodiesel in compressed ignition engine, Egypt. J. Petrol. (2015), http://dx.doi.org/
10.1016/j.ejpe.2015.03.008
2 P. Verma et al.
economy, the energy requirement continued to increase during
this phase. The fuels of bio-origin can provide a feasible solu-
tion to this worldwide petroleum fuel crisis [1,2]. Gasoline and
diesel-driven automobiles are the major sources of greenhouse
gas (GHG) emission. Researchers around the world have
explored several alternative energy resources having the poten-
tial to quench the ever-increasing energy thirst of today’s pop-
ulation. Biodiesel from vegetable oils is emerging as a potential
substitute for diesel to be used in IC engines [3–7]. The Min-
istry of Petroleum & Natural Gas, Govt. of India has taken
several measures for enhancing exploration and exploitation
of petroleum resources, apart from developing the distribution
and marketing of petroleum products. There was an increase
by 7.15% in production of total petroleum products, including
fractionators, during 2012–13 compared to the year 2011–12.
This calls to improve the alternative resources for continuous
feed of demand of energy. Large-scale biodiesel production
from edible oil is negatively impacting India due to competi-
tion with food crops creating economic imbalances. A possible
solution to overcome this problem is to use non-edible oil. The
main feedstocks for biodiesel production from non-edible oils
are Jatropha, Pongamia and Polanga etc. Eucalyptus Oil is also
one the non-edible oils which can be a potential source for bio-
diesel due to its large availability in India. The biodiesel from
eucalyptus oil has a high cetane number and the absence of sul-
fur in biodiesel makes it a very good alternative to diesel. The
pollutant component from exhaust are also decreased by using
Figure 1 Eucalyptus seeds.
Table 1 Plantation statistics in various states of India [4,5].
State Plantation
Andhra Pradesh Eucalyptus hybrid, E. camaldulensis and E. tereticornis
Bihar E. hybrid
Goa, Daman & Deu Casuarina
Haryana Eucalyptus hybrid, E. citriodora, and E. crebra.
Kerala Eucalyptus grandis
Maharashtra E. hybrid and E. camaldulensis in the dry zone and in high rainfall areas
Eucalyptus grandis followed by E. robusta and Eucalyptus saligna.
Punjab Eucalyptus hybrid
Tamil Nadu Eucalyptus globulus and Eucalyptus hybrid
Uttar Pradesh Eucalyptus hybrid
Please cite this article in press as: P. Verma et al., Potential use of eucalyptus biodiesel in compressed ignition engine, Egypt. J. Petrol. (2015), http://dx.doi.org/
10.1016/j.ejpe.2015.03.008
biodiesel [8,9]. The aim of this paper is to investigate the
impact of eucalyptus biodiesel in engine performance and
emission characteristics.
2. Cultivation of eucalyptus is India
Eucalyptus was first planted around 1790 by Tippu Sultan, the
ruler of Mysore, in his palace garden on Nandi hills near Ban-
galore, India using seeds received from Australia and initially
about 16 species were introduced. Subsequently in 1843, and
later in 1856 regular plantations of Eucalyptus globulus were
raised to meet the demands for firewood in Nilgiri, Tamil
Nadu. There were several other attempts to introduce euca-
lypts at various parts of the country. The species identified dur-
ing 1954–55 were Eucalyptus camaldulensis, Eucalyptus
citriodora, Eucalyptus crebra, Eupleres major, Eucalyptus inter-
media, Eucalyptus polyanthemos, Eucalyptus robusta, Eucalyp-
tus tereticornis, Eucalyptus tessellaris, a hybrid of E. robusta
x E. tereticornis, and a hybrid of Eucalyptus botryoides and
E. tereticornis. Out of 170 species, varieties and provenances
of eucalypt were tried in India, out of which the most out-
standing and favored species is E. tereticornis known as
Mysore gum.
Fig. 1 shows seeds of eucalyptus plant. Oil is extracted from
seeds by a mechanical expeller. The oil content present in the
seed is about 60% in the form of cineole content. It’s main fea-
tures include fast growing nature, capable of over topping
weeds, coppices well, is fire hardy, browse resistant and has
the ability to adapt to a wide range of climatic conditions.
Other species which are grown on plantation scale are Eucalyp-
tus grandis, E. citriodora, E. globulus, and E. camaldulensis.
Over 1,000,000 ha of eucalyptus plantations have been estab-
lished, mostly by State Forest Departments and Forest Devel-
opment Corporations with around 6000 million seedlings have
been planted in private lands. There are several reasons for
raising large scale eucalypt plantations in the country; some
are common and some are specific to each State. The most
important common reason is to use the denuded and barren
plains and hilly areas and to replace low value natural forests
[4]. Table 1 explains the scenario of plantation of eucalyptus in
various states of India.
The eucalyptus shows great variations in the height
and diameter. In agroforestry systems, eucalyptus grows
to a height of about 12 m and 40–45 cm girth at the age of
3 years.
Maximum volume (m3/ha)
76.57
98.57
–
–
100.13
–
–
325.23
228.7
Eucalyptus biodiesel in compressed ignition engine 3

A transesterification reaction is represented in Fig. 2. A cat-

alyst is usually used to speed up the reaction that may be basic,
acid or enzymatic in nature. R1, R2, R3, R4 represent various
alkyl group [10–12].
In a typical experiment as shown in Fig. 3, 500 ml of oil was
charged to a three necked round bottom flask. A solution of
known amount of catalyst potassium methoxide was prepared.
The solution and the rest required amount of methanol was
added to the oil sample. After proper closing of the flask it
was put on a heating mantle.
Figure 2 Transesterification reaction [11]. The system was maintained around 50 °C for a sample of
eucalyptus oil. Reaction time was 60 min. The product sepa-
rated by gravity into two layers namely ester layer and glycerol
layer. The ester layer contains mainly methyl ester and metha-
nol and the glycerol layer contains mainly glycerol and metha-
nol. Solution was allowed to settle down for 24 h [14].
Biodiesel is separated from glycerin and then purified with
the help of magnetic separation. In this experiment, biodiesel
yield received was approximately 86%.

3.1. Fuel properties

Table 2 details the properties of eucalyptus oil and petroleum

diesel. From the table it is seen that the properties of eucalyp-
tus oil are comparable with those of diesel so use of eucalyptus
biodiesel is feasible to be used in diesel engine.

3.2. Experimental setup for IC engine

After preparation of various blends of biodiesel it is tested in

Figure 3 Experimental setup for transesterification reaction [13]. engine to check the performance of engine. The Kirloskar
made single cylinder diesel engine-generating set of 5 kVA rat-
3. Materials and methods
ing was used for experimentation. The technical details of
engine are given in Table 3. The resistive type load panel con-
Two different samples of eucalyptus oils were used for biodie- sists of voltmeter and current meter. The filter of the diesel
sel production. Sample A had:
Table 3 Engine specification.
 Minimum assay (as cineole content) >60.0%.
Parameter Specification
 Weight per ml at 20 °C = 0.897–0.924 g.
 Refractive index (n) = 1.457–1.469. Type Direct injection
Output 4.8 KW
Sample B of eucalyptus oil had: Speed 1500 r.p.m
SFC 240 g/kwh
Bore of engine (D) 85 mm
 Minimum assay (as cineole content) >64.0%.
Stroke length of engine (L) 110 mm
 Wt. per ml at 25 °C = 0.905–0.925. Outer diameter 20 mm
 Refractive index (n) = 1.458–1.47.

Table 2 Fuel properties of tested fuels.

Properties Diesel Eucalyptus oil (sample A) Eucalyptus oil (sample B)
Formula C8 to C25 C10H18O C10H18O
Average molecular weight 200–240 310 296
Density (kg/m3) 830 913 930
Boiling Point (°C) 180–340 175 178
Viscosity (cSt) @40 ⁰C 2.5 3.2 3.0
Latent heat of vaporization (kJ/kg) 230 305 318
Lower heating value (kJ/kg) 45,600 43,270 44100
Flash point (°C) 58 93 98
Auto ignition temperature (°C) 250 300–330 300–330
Cetane number 48 52 55

Please cite this article in press as: P. Verma et al., Potential use of eucalyptus biodiesel in compressed ignition engine, Egypt. J. Petrol. (2015), http://dx.doi.org/
10.1016/j.ejpe.2015.03.008
4 P. Verma et al.

engine was disconnected from its diesel tank and connected BSFC v/s Load (Sample B)
directly to fuel measuring unit. The engine can be loaded up 600

to 5 kW using incandescent bulbs of 200 W each. 500

The engine was directly coupled to alternator and loaded

BSFC (g/KWh)
by bulb. The separate fuel measurement unit was connected 400

with engine. A resistive load panel was attached with the out- 300
put of the generator. The following method was adopted.
Firstly we checked the performance on pure diesel of diesel 200
testing engine at 20 ml diesel, noted the readings that is Volt- 100
age, Current, and Time for consumption of fuel. Then we
made the blend of bio fuel and diesel at B10 and followed 0
20 40 60 80 100
the same procedure. Then we did the same for blends B30,
B50 and B100 and noted down the readings. Then we calcu- Load (%)
lated Brake Specific Fuel Consumption (BSFC) and Brake Diesel B10B B30B B50B B100B
Thermal Efficiency (BTE).
Figure 5 Brake Specific Fuel Consumption for eucalyptus
4. Results and discussions biodiesel of sample B.

4.2. BTE of eucalyptus biodiesel

4.1. BSFC of eucalyptus biodiesel
BSFC is reported in Fig. 4 which states that as the load
decreases the fuel consumption for different blends of biodie-
sel increases. At full load, BSFC is 269 g/KWh for diesel,
275.3 g/KWh for B10A, 290.8 g/KWh for B30A, 310.4 g/KWh
for B50A and 325.2 g/Kwh for B100A. With increase in
biodiesel proportion in blends BSFC goes on increasing.
The reasons for this may be high degree of unsaturation in
biodiesel, less calorific value and high viscosity of eucalyptus
oil than diesel [15].
Fig. 5 shows the variation of BSFC for biodiesel obtained
from sample B of eucalyptus Oil. As it is clear from the results
From Fig. 6, it is found that the BTE of a diesel engine is inver-
sely proportional to its BSFC and the heating value of the fuel.
As more and more amount of biodiesel is added to pure diesel
BTE increases. At full load, BTE is 26.59% for diesel, 26.45%
for B10A, 26.01% for B30A, 25.35% for B50A, and 24.95% for
B100A.
Fig. 7 illustrates the variation of BTE for sample B of euca-
lyptus biodiesel, BTE is 26.34% for B10B, 26.21% for B30B,
26.02% for B50B, and 25.51% for B100B.
BTE v/s Load (Sample A)
30

BSFC is 269 g/KWh for diesel whereas it is 276.9 g/KWh 25

for B10B, 288.4 g/KWh for B30B, 301.4 g/KWh for B50B, 20
BTE (%)

330.4 g/KWh for B100B respectively. As the volume of biodiesel 15

is increased in the blend, there is a decrease in calorific value 10
and an increase in specific gravity, which results in more 5
consumption of fuel for similar production of energy. Blends 0
B10A and B10B are found to be comparable to diesel. BSFC 20 40 60 80 100
for B10 is 3% more than diesel which can be taken as an Load (%)
acceptable difference. BSFC for B10A and B10B is 275.3 g/ Diesel B10A B30A B50A B100A
kWh and 276.9 g/kWh. So we can deduce that sample A of
eucalyptus biodiesel is found to be superior than sample B in Figure 6 Brake Thermal Efficiency for eucalyptus biodiesel of
terms of engine performance as. sample A.

BTE v/s Load (Sample B)

BSFC v/s Load (Sample A) 30
600
25
500
20
BSFC (g/KWh)

BTE (%)

400
15
300
10
200
5
100
0
0
20 40 60 80 100
20 40 60 80 100
Load (%) Load (%)
Diesel B10A B30A B50A B100A Diesel B10B B30B B50B B100B

Figure 4 Brake Specific Fuel Consumption for eucalyptus Figure 7 Brake Thermal Efficiency for eucalyptus biodiesel of
biodiesel of sample A. sample B.

Please cite this article in press as: P. Verma et al., Potential use of eucalyptus biodiesel in compressed ignition engine, Egypt. J. Petrol. (2015), http://dx.doi.org/
10.1016/j.ejpe.2015.03.008
Eucalyptus biodiesel in compressed ignition engine
HSU v/s Load
50
40
30
HSU
20
10
0 0.94% lower than diesel, which suggests that it can be a
20% 40% 50% 80% 100%
Load (%)
Diesel B10A B10B
Figure 8 Smoke characteristics for eucalyptus biodiesel and pure
diesel.
BTE of a fuel is inversely proportional to BSFC and its
calorific value. As it’s seen that BSFC for biodiesel and its
blends is more than that for diesel, BTE is expected to be better
for diesel fuel which is also shown in the form of graph in
Figs. 5 and 6. The reason behind a low BTE may be low
atomization and vaporization of fuel due to high viscosity.
All these factors lead to slow combustion of fuel which results
in lesser efficiency. BTE for 10% blends are found to be
comparable with that of diesel fuel because there is not much
significant difference among them.
4.3. Smoke characteristics
The comparison between smoke intensity for diesel and 10%
blend of eucalyptus biodiesel of both samples A and B in terms
of Hartridge Smoke Unit (HSU) is shown in Fig. 8. The lower
value of HSU shows smoke is more transparent or cleaner.
HSU is 44.8% for diesel. Smoke Intensity for 10% blend is quite
low that is 15.9% and 16.8% respectively in terms of HSU.
Experimental data are found to be similar to literature results,
as on using biodiesel, emission characteristics of engine
improve. Canola biodiesel – diesel and kerosene biodiesel
blends were tested on 4 stroke diesel engine. It was found that
CO and HC emissions reduce with use of biodiesel and NOx
emissions increase. NO2 is significant at low load but reduces
at high loads [16]. Cotton seed biodiesel also reported similar
results where HSU which shows Smoke Opacity was found to
be 50.44% lesser for B100 as compared to diesel at full load [17].
5. Conclusion
The results of experimental investigation show that:
 Total plantation of eucalyptus tree in India is about over
1,000,000 ha.
Please cite this article in press as: P. Verma et al., Potential use of eucalyptus biodiesel in compressed ignition engine, Egypt. J. Petrol. (2015), http://dx.doi.org/
10.1016/j.ejpe.2015.03.008
View publication stats
5
 The yield of biodiesel obtained was 86% by using base
transesterification process.
 B10 blend was found to be most suitable among various
proportions as BSFC for it was found almost same to that
of diesel. Sample A has lower BSFC than sample B so can
be termed as superior.
 BTE for B10 of both samples was found to be 0.52% and
potential replacement for diesel.
 Emission characteristics of engine improve with use of bio-
diesel. HSU for 10% blend is 64.5% and 62.5% lower for
eucalyptus biodiesel than conventional diesel showing
smoke from biodiesel is cleaner than that from diesel.
Eucalyptus biodiesel is an environmentally friendly fuel
because smoke gets cleaner and transparent with use of biodie-
sel as compared to conventional fuel with marginal effect on
engine performance.
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