Evaluation of Energy Ratios for Karanja and Neem Biodiesel Life Cycles

Abstract

Biodiesel is one of the best substitutes to the fossil diesel fuel today in the world. Owing to big climatic diversity, there are numerous oil bearing seed plants/trees available in India. Extraction of the oil from these plants and its conversion to bio-diesel involves energy consumption at various stages starting from the plantation to the end use in the compression ignition engine. This paper gives the systematic evaluation of the energy consumed by Karanja and Neem trees at each stage during the growth cycle and conversion its seed oils to bio-diesel fuels. Results obtained verify that the total energy consumption during life cycles of the plants under study is lower than the energy output during combustion in IC engine.