Vegetable oils

"The use of vegetable oils for engine fuels may seem

insignificant today. But such oils may become in the course of
time as important as petroleum and the coal tar products of the
present time," - Rudolf Diesel, 1911
What are Vegetable Oils??
• Vegetable oils, or vegetable fats, are fats extracted from
seeds, or less often, from other parts of fruits. Like animal
fats, vegetable fats are mixtures of triglycerides.
• Soybean oil, rapeseed oil, and cocoa butter are examples of
fats from seeds.
• Olive oil, palm oil, and rice bran oil are example of fats from
other parts of fruits.
• In common usage, vegetable oil may refer exclusively to
vegetable fats which are liquid at room temperature.
Types of Veg Oils
• Major Oils - These oils make up a significant fraction of
worldwide edible oil production. All are also used as fuel oils.
• Nut Oils - Nut oils are generally used in cooking, for their
flavor. Most are quite costly, because of the difficulty of
extracting the oil. (Eg: Cashew oils, almond oils)
• Citrus Oils - A number of citrus plants yield pressed oils. Some,
such as lemon and orange oil, are used as essential oils. ( Eg:
Grape, lemon, orange oil)
• Melon and Gourd seeds
• Food supplement oils (Black seed oils, Evening prim rose oils)
• Multi purpose Oils
• Inedible Oils as bio fuels
Major Oils
• Coconut oil, a cooking oil, with medical and industrial applications as well.
Extracted from the kernel or meat of the fruit of the coconut palm. Common in
the tropics, and unusual in composition, with medium chain fatty acids
dominant.
• Corn oil, one of the principal oils sold as salad and cooking oil.
• Cottonseed oil, used as a salad and cooking oil, both domestically and
industrially.
• Olive oil, used in cooking, cosmetics, soaps, and as a fuel for traditional oil
lamps.
• Palm oil, the most widely produced tropical oil.Popular in West African and
Brazilian cuisine.Also used to make biofuel.
• Peanut oil (Ground nut oil), a clear oil with some applications as a salad
dressing, and, due to its high smoke point, especially used for frying.
• Rapeseed oil, including Canola oil, one of the most widely used cooking oils.
• Safflower oil, until the 1960s used in the paint industry, now mostly as a
cooking oil.
• Sesame oil, cold pressed as light cooking oil, hot pressed for a darker and
stronger flavor.
• Soybean oil, produced as a byproduct of processing soy meal.
• Sunflower oil, a common cooking oil, also used to make biodiesel.
Multi purpose Oils
• Castor oil, lower cost than many candidates. Kinematic viscosity may be an
issue.[
• Coconut oil (copra oil), promising for local use in places that produce coconuts.
• Colza oil, from Brassica rapa, var. oleifera (turnip) is closely related to rapeseed
(or canola) oil. It is a major source of biodiesel in Germany.
• Corn oil, appealing because of the abundance of maize as a crop.
• Cottonseed oil, the subject of study for cost-effectiveness as a biodiesel
feedstock.
• False flax oil, from Camelina sativa, used in Europe in oil lamps until the 18th
century.[
• Hemp oil, relatively low in emissions. Production is problematic in some
countries because of its association with marijuana.
• Mustard oil, shown to be comparable to Canola oil as a biofuel.
• Palm oil, very popular for biofuel, but the environmental impact from growing
large quantities of oil palms has recently called the use of palm oil into question.
• Peanut oil, used in one of the first demonstrations of the Diesel engine in 1900.
• Rice bran oil, appealing because of lower cost than many other vegetable oils.
Widely grown in Asia.
• Safflower oil, explored recently as a biofuel in Montana.
Inedible oils- Only for biodiesel
• Copaiba, an oleoresin tapped from species of genus Copaifera. Used in
Brazil as a cosmetic product and a major source of biodiesel.
• Jatropha oil, widely used in India as a fuel oil. Has attracted strong
proponents for use as a biofuel.
• Jojoba oil, from the Simmondsia chinensis, a desert shrub.
• Milk bush, popularized by chemist Melvin Calvin in the 1950s.
Researched in the 1980s by Petrobras, the Brazilian national petroleum
company.
• Nahor oil, pressed from the kernels of Mesua ferrea, is used in India as a
lamp oil.
• Paradise oil, from the seeds of Simarouba glauca, has received interest
in India as a feed stock for biodiesel.
• Petroleum nut oil, from the Petroleum nut (Pittosporum resiniferum)
native to the Philippines. The Philippine government once explored the
use of the petroleum nut as a biofuel.
• Pongamia oil (also known as Honge oil), extracted from Millettia pinnata
and pioneered as a biofuel by Udipi Shrinivasa in Bangalore, India.
Some terms
• SVO - straight vegetable oil used as diesel fuel (usually new oil,
fresh, uncooked)

PPO - pure plant oils, same as SVO: PPO is the term most
often used in Europe

WVO - waste vegetable oil (used cooking oil, "grease", fryer

oil, probably including animal fats or fish oils from the
cooking)

UCO - used cooking oil (what we called it in the first place until
everyone started calling it WVO, even if it wasn't necessarily
all vegetable)
What are the options?
• We can chemically alter vegetable oil to give it
properties more resembling diesel fuel. (aka
make biodiesel)
• We can blend our vegetable oil with solvents like
gasoline and turpentine to give it properties
closer to diesel fuel.
• We can modify our diesel engine so that it can
operate reliably longer on unmodified vegetable
oil.
Straight Vegetable oils
• Unmodified vegetable oils as neat fuel in diesel engine with
certain limitations.
• Had been used as an effective fuels in many parts of the
world.
• Results vary depending upon the type and condition of the
vegetable oil, engine and fuel system.
• SVO has problems of hi viscosity and cannot be atomized to be
fed to the engine, so preheating is essential.
• Petroleum diesel is used as a start up fuel and SVO as the main
fuel.
• Due to high viscosity nature of the vegetable oil, worn out
injectors and injection pumps are a common problem in these
systems.
Challenges to use SVO
• At ambient temperatures, the oil is too thick and fuel lines and
filters cannot accommodate the oil for flowing.
• SVO’s cannot be injected into the engine as fine fuel mist
cannot be realized. Large droplets cannot burn effectively.
• Build up of large carbon and vegetable oil residue.
• Bad spray pattern can cause Incomplete combustion and
possible piston damage.
• To avoid engine carbon build up, one has to run the engine
hard/hot enough especially when running on vegetable oil.
• Efforts to pull the SVO to fuel lines can damage fuel injection
pump.
Production of SVO
• Physical extraction which does not use
solvent extracts, screw oil press and Ram
press.
• Minimum heat while extracting,
moisture should not get away with the
oil, no cake particles in the oil, seeds to
be properly cooked and machine
handled.
• Pre pressing where seeds are lightly
pressed (low power consumption).
Balance oil extracted by solvent
extraction process.
• If the cakes are to be sold in the market
then the recovery of oil should be made
maximum. Repressing done.
Degumming of SVO
• To avoid deposit in engines
• If it has high phospho lipids.
• Adding 2-3 % of water,
heating it upto 50oC and
agitating the mixture,
allowing the hydrated
phospholipids to settle down.
• Adding phosphoric acid or
citric acid instead of water.
Storage of SVO
• Tanks made of MDPE according
to quality procedure.
• Tank capacities varying from
300-10000 liters
• Additional protection against
spillages and damages.
• Usually fail due to rust
perforation caused by the
effect of water inside the tank.
• Oil dispenser is both stationary
and portable in design.
• Usual Hose and nozzle design
Material compatibility
• SVO degrade hoses, gaskets, seals etc due to prolonged
exposure.
• Nitrile rubber, PP, PV materials are vulnerable too.
• Aluminium, SS, CS, Fluorinated polyethylene, FPP, Teflon and
fibre glasses.
• Brass, bronze, copper, lead, tin, zinc are incompatible and may
accelerate the oxidation process of oils creating gels and salts
Pros and Cons
Pros
• Cheaper fuel
• Agro economy
• Derived from variety of
sources
• Reduces PM emissions from
CI engines
• Environmental friendly
• Can be blended with other
oils or converted to biodiesel
• High energy density
compared to some gaseous
fuels
• Storage is easier
Cons
• Viscosity is a problem in fuel
flow
• Foaming tendency is high
• Deposit formation is higher
• Fouling of engine surfaces is
high
• Lubricity is poor, causing wear
and tear
• NOX emissions on the higher
side
• Fuel quality is not uniform
• Fuel availability is poor due to
inadequate infra
SVO Engine modifications
• German company by name Elsbett worked on SVO engines.
A) Combustion chamber modifications in DI engines
▪ Deep and spherical combustion chamber within the
piston.
▪ The injector nozzle protrudes into the cylinder and
delivers fuel directly to the centre of the CC, to ensure that
the fuel is burnt without contacting the CC walls
▪ Fuel injection is a problem as the existing injectors are
designed to operate only with thinner fuels, adverse effects
cause pollution.
▪ Deeper Combustion chambers with smaller diameters cause
and increase in swirl which aids better atomization.
B) CC modifications for IDI engines
• In IDI engines the fuel is injected as a jet and atomized in a
separate CC before it enters the cylinder and complete
combustion.
• Less prone to problems when thicker oils are used.
C) Injector pump : Rotary pumps are used. In single pumping
mechanism the pump has to deliver fuel to all cylinders causing
stress to the pumping mechanism. Two alternatives are used 1)
Bosch pump where the rotating valve system moves backward
and forward pumping the fuel and 2) Lucas type where two
plungers that are flung outwards by the rotor pushed inward by
a Cam to expel the fuel.
• D) Electronic Injection : Tuning the
computer program to suit the usage
of vegetable oils.
• E) Nozzle design delay: VCO injectors
help to minimize the problems of fuel
entering the combustion chamber late
resulting in partial combustion.
• VCO reduces the problem by
significantly reducing the amount of
fuel that can leave the injector after
the injection event and blocking the
flow of combustion products into the
injector sac.
Twin tank system
• Engine started on biodiesel
and the waste heat created by
the engine is used to heat the
veg oil.
• This avoids running veg oil
during cold engine start up.
• Three way valve switches the
fuel supply.
• Before shutting down for
extended periods the engine is
allowed to run for few minutes
to flush out veg oils.
Heating circuits
• 1) Engine coolant heat : Hot engine coolant fluid is used to
heat the vegetable oil (75-90oC)
• 2) Engine oil heat : Engine oil can heat above 100oC and a
better option than coolant (Leaks however are a problem)
• 3) Returned fuel heat: Fuel returned from the injectors has
been heated through compression in the injector pump.
• 4) Exhaust heat : Metal fuel line wrapped around exhause of
Genset, different problem for dual fuel engines as overheating
can be a problem too.
• 5) Electrical heat: Electrical heating element to heat up the oil
to suitable operating temperatures.
SVO fuel treatment
• A) Converting to biodiesel by trans esterification, glycerin as a
by product.
• B) Micro emulsions and fuel blends: Can be mixed with
alcohols, fuel, petrol and surfactants, cetane improvers,
solvents in varying mixes and proportions to form a micro
emulsion.
• C) Heating of the oil: Heating above 70oC makes the oil viscous
as equal to that of diesel.
SVO Combustion
• Large fuel droplet size, long penetration distance as well as
the chemical properties of SVO causes deposit build up and
sticking of piston rings during the combustion process.
• Heating and blending with diesel fuel or alcohols tends to
reduce the droplet size of the spray and improve evaporation
to reduce carbon deposit build up and sticking of piston rings.
• Mass based heating values has a say in the performance, it
requires larger mass fuel flows to maintain constant energy
input to the engine.
• Improvement in BSFC in case of vegetable oils is due to the
reduction of cooling load and mechanical losses.
• Since calorific value of veg oils are less than that of diesel a
reduction in torque and power output could be expected.
• Distributor type injection pumps is used to minimize the loss
in power (by increasing the fuel flow)
• Exhaust gas temperatures are similar for SVO and diesel with
minor variations (variations due to injected fuel quantities)
• Maximum pressures are lower and thereby causing lower
mechanical stresses on the drive train.
• Heat release is lower with vegetable oil so pressure rise is
lower for than that of diesel causing lesser noise in the engine.
Emissions
• Emissions are lower in case of SVO
• Slightly higher NOx and ultra fine particles.
• Particulate emissions are reduced by 30-50%
• No sulphur so no harmful emissions and catalytic converters
are not a problem to operate.
• CO2 levels are similar to that of diesel.