Bio-Diesel from Mustard Oil: A Renewable Alternative Fuel for Small Diesel Engines

This paper represents the prospect of mustard oil as a renewable and alternative fuel. To cope up with present load-shedding situation and to reduce the dependency on imported fuel, Bangladesh government is encour- aging the use of renewable energy sources. Since diesel engines have versatile uses including small irrigation pumping systems, and standby small electricity generators, use of diesel fuel is much higher than any other gasoline fuels. In Bangladesh mustard oil has been in use as edible oil throughout the country. Mustard is a widely growing plant in Bangladesh and every year the production of mustard seed exceeds the demand. So the endeavor was to use the surplus mustard oil as an alternative to diesel fuel. Fuel properties are determined in the fuel testing laboratory with standard procedure. An experimental set-up is then made to study the performance of a small diesel engine in the heat engine laboratory using different blends of bio-diesel converted from mustard oil. It is found that bio-diesel has slightly different properties than diesel fuel. It is also observed that with bio-diesel, the engine is capable of running without difficulty but with a deviation from its optimum performance. Initially different blends of bio-diesel (i.e. B20, B30, B50 etc,) have been used to avoid complicated modification of the engine or the fuel supply system. Finally, a comparison of engine performance for different blends of bio-diesel has been carried out to determine the optimum blend for different operating conditions.

沪苏皖主要非粮生物柴油能源植物资源的调查与含油量分析

通过对沪苏皖三地非粮生物柴油能源植物的调查及种子含油量的测定,初步了解了沪苏皖现有非粮生物柴油能源植物的资源特点和分布状况.结果显示:沪苏皖三地非粮生物柴油能源植物含油量在10%以上的有59科123属151种.其中高含油量(50%以上)的能源植物主要包括樟科的江浙山胡椒Lindera chienii、狭叶山胡椒L.angustifolia和红脉钓樟L.rubronervia,卫矛科的白杜Euonymus maackii,大戟科的油桐Vernicia fordi、蓖麻Ricinus communis和山茶科的油茶Camellia oleifera等.调查发现目前只有大戟科的乌桕Triadica sebifera被有效开发利用,山茶科的油茶和大戟科的油桐较少利用,山茶科的茶C.sinensis广泛种植但种子却没有被利用.最后,本文针对沪苏皖非粮生物柴油能源植物的资源状况与分布特点及其开发潜力提出了对应的建议.

Rice Bran Oil: Emerging Trends in Extraction, Health Benefit, and Its Industrial Application

Rice bran oil(RBO)is unique among edible vegetable oils because of its unique fatty acid composition,phenolic compound(γ-oryzanol,ferulic acid)and vitamin E(tocopherol and tocotrienol).It has become a great choice of cooking oil because of its very high burning point,neutral taste and delicate flavour.Non-conventional methods of RBO extraction are more efficient and environmentally friendly than conventional extraction methods.Advances in RBO extraction using innovative extraction strategies like super/sub-critical CO_(2),microwave-assisted,subcritical H_(2)O,enzyme-assisted aqueous and ultrasoundassisted aqueous extraction methods have proven to significantly improve the yields along with improved nutritional profile of RBO.The compositions and strategies for stabilization of RBO are well discussed.The constituents are present in the RBO contribute to antioxidative,anti-inflammatory,antimicrobial,antidiabetic and anti-cancerous properties to RBO.This has helped RBO to become an important substrate for the application in food(cooking oil,milk product and meat product)and non-food industries(polymer,lubricant,biofuel,structural lipid and cosmetic).This review provided comprehensive information on RBO extraction methods,oil stabilization,existing applications and health benefits.

<i>In</i><i>Silico</i>Mining of EST-SSRs in Jatropha curcas L. towards Assessing Genetic Polymorphism and Marker Development for Selection of High Oil Yielding Clones

In recent years, Jatropha curcas L. has gained popularity as a potential biodiesel plant. The varying oil content, reported between accessions belonging to different agroclimatic zones, has necessitated the assessment of the existing genetic variability to generate reliable molecular markers for selection of high oil yielding variety. EST derived SSR markers are more useful than genomic markers as they represent the transcriptome, thus, directly linked to functional genes. The present report describes the in silico mining of the microsatellites (SSRs) using J. curcas ESTs from various tissues viz. embryo, root, leaf and seed available in the public domain of NCBI. A total of 13,513 ESTs were downloaded. From these ESTs, 7552 unigenes were obtained and 395 SSRs were generated from 377 SSR-ESTs. These EST-SSRs can be used as potential microsatellite markers for diversity analysis, MAS etc. Since the Jatropha genes carrying SSRs have been identified in this study, thus, EST-SSRs directly linked to genes will be useful for developing trait linked markers.

Potential Applications of Milk Fractions and Valorization of Dairy By-Products: A Review of the State-of-the-Art Available Data, Outlining the Innovation Potential from a Bigger Data Standpoint

The unique composition of milk makes this basic foodstuff into an exceptional raw material for the production of new ingredients with desired properties and diverse applications in the food industry. The fractionation of milk is the key in the development of those ingredients and products;hence continuous research and development on this field, especially various levels of fractionation and separation by filtration, have been carried out. This review focuses on the production of milk fractions as well as their particular properties, applications and processes that increase their exploitation. Whey proteins and caseins from the protein fraction are excellent emulsifiers and protein supplements. Besides, they can be chemically or enzymatically modified to obtain bioactive peptides with numerous functional and nutritional properties. In this context, valorization techniques of cheese-whey proteins, by-product of dairy industry that constitutes both economic and environmental problems, are being developed. Phospholipids from the milk fat fraction are powerful emulsifiers and also have exclusive nutraceutical properties. In addition, enzyme modification of milk phospholipids makes it possible to tailor emulsifiers with particular properties. However, several aspects remain to be overcome;those refer to a deeper understanding of the healthy, functional and nutritional properties of these new ingredients that might be barriers for its use and acceptability. Additionally, in this review, alternative applications of milk constituents in the non-food area such as in the manufacture of plastic materials and textile fibers are also introduced. The unmet needs, the cross-fertilization in between various protein domains,the carbon footprint requirements, the environmental necessities, the health and wellness new demand, etc., are dominant factors in the search for innovation approaches;these factors are also outlining the further innovation potential deriving from those “apparent” constrains obliging science and technology to take them into account.

A Comparative Study of Thumba Seed Bio Diesel

Biodiesel is considering a clean-burning fuel produced from non edible vegetable oils, or animal fats. It is produced by transesterification of oils with short-chain alcohols or by the esterification of fatty acids. In the present context, biodiesel is an alternative eco friendly diesel fuel. Keeping this in view, an attempt has been made through the experiment of Thumba blended biodiesel on CI engine in laboratory and analyzes its properties and characteristic compare with other biodiesel oils. Five blends B05, B10, B15, B20 and B25 of thumba seed oil biodiesel were papered and it performance was evaluated with 7HP four-stroke diesel engine. The performance of thumba seed oil biodiesel were compared with biodiesel prepared by mustard, castor and Jatropha seed oil with same blends.

The impacts of biofuels on food security and supply in China

Biofuels are the current promising alternative to fossil fuels. However, the fluctuating food prices caused by oil price led to critics to biofuels. The paper surveyed biofuels production and grain production and consumption demand, and come to the conclusion that there was a little impact of corn ethanol on international food price, and there was no impact on China’s food prices. China has launched non-food biofuels development strategy to use marginal lands for growing hard crops, such as sweet sorghum, tuber crops, and switchgrass etc. to produce biofuels without any impact on food security in the future.

Allelopathic Potential of Three Oil Enriched Plants against Seedling Growth of Common Field Crops

Current study aims to investigate the allelopathic potential of the differentparts (leaf, bark, stem, twig and root) of three oil-enrich plant species ofBangladesh viz., Jatropha curcus, Ricinus communis and Aphanamixispolystachya. The aqueous extract of those plant parts were diluted intofour different concentrations viz., 1:5, 1:10, 1:15, 1:20 (w/v) and testedagainst the seedling growth of jute, rice, wheat, radish, tomato, mungbeanand mustard under control laboratory condition. A control (distilled waterwithout extract) was also maintained in every cases and the bioassayexperiment was replicated thrice. The results of this research showed thatthe shoot and root growth inhibition of rice, wheat, jute, tomato, radish,mungbean and mustard by leaf, bark, stem, twig and root extracts of J.curcus, R. communis and A. polystachya varied significantly. Compareto the shoot growth, the root growth of the test species inhibited moreexcept J. curcus. The leaf and root have higher allelopathic potential thanany other parts of the studied plants. Finally, it can be concluded here thatJ. curcus plant extracts has higher allelopathic potential than other twoplants R. communis and A. polystachya. Therefore, J. curcus can be usedas a candidate plant for isolation and identification of allelopathic substancesfor the development of new natural herbicides.

Experimental Investigation of Upgraded Diesel Fuel with Copper Oxide Nanoparticles on Performance and Emissions Characteristics of Diesel Engine

The enhancement of the physicochemical characteristics of fossil fuel has been the subject of extensive research to achieve better efficiency and reduced emissions. Diesel is one of the fossil fuels that are highly consumed in daily life. This paper focuses on the behavior of a refined diesel fuel when copper oxide nanoparticles are added. The resulting blend ofnano-diesel has been analyzed using a four-stroke engine under two loads indicating light vehicles and heavy duty vehicles. The nano-diesel was prepared by the aid of an ultrasonicator and a mechanical homogenizer. A base diesel was taken as a reference to distinguish the effect of the nanoparticles additives. Three different samples with different concentrations are utilized in this study. As a result, the fuel consumption, exhaust temperature, brake power, power losses and engine efficiency have been evaluated and compared to the base diesel in order to demonstrate and access the enhanced performance of the nano-fuel blend. The three concentrations conducted were 100 ppm, 200 ppm and 300 ppm of copper oxide nanoparticles. The results represented that the pure refinery diesel has low exhaust temperatures, high brake power and high efficiency as compared to the commercial diesel supplied from a gas station. In addition, 300 ppm copper oxide nano-diesel showed improvement in engine performances as compared to the other concentrations and pure diesel. In this context, lowest fuel consumption for both passenger cars and heavy duty vehicles was achieved, brake power for passenger cars only was improved and input power showed improvement however, exhaust temperature was the highest as for this fuel.

Performance analysis of karanja and kusum oils as alternative bio-diesel fuel in diesel engine

Scarcity of conventional petroleum resources has promoted research in alternative fuels for internal combustion engines.Among various possible options,fuels derived from triglycerides(vegetable oils/animal fats)are promising for the substitution of fossil diesel fuel.Vegetable oils poses some characteristics like durability,high viscosity and low volatility compared to mineral diesel fuel.In the present work,experiments were designed to study the effect of reducing kusum and karanja oil’s viscosity by preheating the fuel,using a shell and tube heat exchanger.The acquired engine data were analyzed for various parameters such as brake thermal efficiency,brake specific energy consumption(BSEC),emission of exhaust gases like CO,CO_(2),HC and NO_(x).In operation,the engine performance with kusum and karanja oil(preheated),was found to be very close to that of diesel.The preheated oil's performances were found to be slightly inferior in efficiency due to low heating value.The performance of karanja oil was found better than kusum oil in all respects.

OntoPowSys: A power system ontology for cross domain interactions in an eco industrial park

Knowledge management in multi-domain,heterogeneous industrial networks like an Eco-Industrial Park(EIP)is a challenging task.In this paper,an ontology-based management system has been proposed for addressing this challenge.It focuses on the power systems domain and provides a framework for integrating this knowledge with the other domains of an EIP.The proposed ontology,OntoPowSys is expressed using a Description Logics(DL)syntax and the OWL2 language was used to make it alive.It is then used as a part of the Knowledge Management System(KMS)in a virtual EIP called the J-Park Simulator(JPS).The advantages of the proposed approach are demonstrated by conducting two case studies on the JPS.The first case study illustrates the application of optimal power flow(OPF)in the electrical network of the JPS.The second case study plays an important role in under-standing the cross-domain interactions between the chemical and electrical engineering domains in a bio-diesel plant of the JPS.These case studies are available as web services on the JPS website.The results showcase the advantages of using ontologies in the development of decision support tools.These tools are capable of taking into account contextual information on top of data during their decision-making processes.They are also able to exchange knowledge across different domains without the need for a communication interface.