Production of Bio-ethanol from an Underexploited Fruit of Muntingia calabura and Studying Performance and Emission Characteristics of Single Cylinder CI Engine

Abstract

The need of bio-ethanol is being increased now a days, hence the production of bio-ethanol must be increased using cheaper and eco-friendly raw materials. Based on these criteria, underexploited fruits were considered as cheaper and eco-friendly source for bio-ethanol production. In the present study fruits from Singapore cherry ( Muntingia calabura ) was used as raw material to produce bio-ethanol by using Saccharomyces cerevisiae (yeast). The results obtained from this work shows that the higher rate of ethanol production through fermentation at the operating conditions (pH 5.5, temperature 30±2°C, speed 80 rpm, fermentation period 15 days) were feasible. The extracted bio-ethanol tested as a fuel in CI engine. Experimental work on performance and emission characteristics of ethanol blended diesel fuel was conducted on single cylinder four stroke CI engines at operating pressure 210 bar with rated speed of 1500 rpm. The different blends of Singapore cherry fruit fuel with diesel were also conducted. The results of this study suggests that fruits from Singapore cherry contain rich fermentable sugars and those can be converted into useful products like bio-ethanol, that serves as an alternative energy source.