No abstract

No abstract

The Central Composite Design is used for the optimization of alkaline catalyzed transesterification parameters such as methanol quantity, catalytic concentration, and rotational speed by keeping the temperature and reaction time constant. The Central Composite Design method is employed to get the maximum safflower oil methyl ester yield. The combined effects of catalyst concentration, rotational speed, and molar ratio of alcohol to oil were investigated and optimized using response surface methodology. A statistical model has predicted the maximum yield of safflower oil methyl ester (94.69% volume of oil) parameters such as catalyst concentration (0.6 grams), methanol amount (30 mL), rotational speed (600 rpm), and keeping constant reaction temperature (55 ∘ C to 65 ∘ C) and reaction time (60 minutes). Experimental maximum yield of 91.66% was obtained at above parameters. XLSTAT is used to generate a linear model to predict the methyl ester yield as a function of methanol quantity, catalyst concentration, and rotational speed by keeping constant reaction temperature (55 ∘ C to 65 ∘ C) and reaction time (60 minutes). MINITAB is used to draw the 3D response surface plot and 2D contour plot to predict the maximum biodiesel yield.

No abstract

ABTRACTThis paper presents an innovative method to reduce cold start emissions of a four-stroke three-cylinder multi point fuel injection spark ignition engine. In this work, a glow plug is used as a heating source to maintain the activation temperature of a catalytic converter. This method is less complex than variable vacuum insulation method. In this work, cerium oxide (CeO2) coated on the ceramic honeycomb substrate was used as a catalyst to lower the cost of a catalytic converter. A reduction of 34% carbon monoxide and 33% un-burnt hydrocarbon was observed at the idling condition with CeO2 as the catalyst and glow plug as the heating source in the catalytic converter. The results obtained from the engine which is fitted with CeO2 coated catalytic converter show the lowest emissions at all loads. Carbon monoxide and un-burnt hydrocarbon emissions (with catalytic converter) have reduced 68% and 71%, respectively, in comparison with a non-catalytic converter engine test at full load engine operation. The new catalytic converter competes with the existing noble metal-based catalytic converter due to the use of inexpensive CeO2 as a catalyst.