Phase behaviour and physicochemical study of Karanj oil-ethanol microemulsion as alternative renewable biofuel

摘要

Vegetable oil reverse micelle microemulsions as an alternative method for biodiesel production has been studied to eliminate transesterification reaction and avoid unpurified glycerol formation. The sorbitane oleate ester surfactants due to high solubilization capacity in oils have formed reverse micelle microemulsions with karanj oil and ethanol. The phase behaviour of span 80 and 85 based Karanj oil-ethanol microemulsion have been studied with their physicochemical parameters i.e. density and viscosity for formulating optimized systems as biofuel. The kinematic viscosity being an important physicochemical parameter elucidate karanj oil-ethanol microemulsion a better biofuel with span 80 than with span 85 as their resultant viscosities were in close agreement with ASTM biodiesel standards. It has been found that the microemulsification is a sustainable method for producing biofuels without chemical reactions as green fuel.