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PROSPECTS OF VEGETABLE OIL DERIVATIVES FOR RURAL AGRICULTURAL ENERGY IN INDIA

The world is confronting the twin crises of fossil fuel depletion and environmental degradation. Alternative fuels, energy conservation and management, energy efficiency and environmental protection have become increasingly import in recent years. Among alternative fuels, esterified vegetable oils hold good promise as eco-friendly alternatives to diesel fuel. In rural India, 90 % of the petroleum diesel requirement is for agricultural equipment such as tractors and threshers. Marginal farmers and large landholders can meet their diesel requirement by sowing oil yielding crops on their own lands. This paper evaluates the feasibility of the local production of vegetable oil for a small representative village in central India. Fatty acid methyl esters of cottonseed oil, soybean oil, balanites oil and jatropha oil were analyzed for their properties and performance in diesel engines. The land required to grow these oil crops in order to meet rural agricultural diesel requirements was estimated. The results indicate that the calorific value of these methyl esters is 93 % that of diesel and the other properties are quite comparable with diesel. Engine performance analysis of these methyl esters indicates that there is a slight decrease in thermal efficiency of approximately 3,23 %, while emissions are reduced by 8 % to 10 % as compared to diesel. Economic analysis was also performed and it was found that vegetable oil derivatives as diesel fuel substitutes are costlier than mineral diesel.