Optimization of biodiesel production from jatropha oil and its impact on engine performance and emissions using response surface methodology
Year 2025,
Volume: 8 Issue: 2, 328 - 344, 30.06.2025
Sangeetha Krishnamoorthi
,
Prabhu L
,
Prabhahar M
,
Adil Mehaboob
,
Adil Abdulla
Abstract
This study aims to improve biodiesel production by assessing the effects of biodiesel-diesel fuel blends on engine performance and emissions using response surface methodology (RSM). The biodiesel was produced by the transesterification process. Here we see how the molar ratio (A), catalyst quantity (B), reaction temperature (C), and reaction time (D) affect the biodiesel conversion rate. During optimization, a Box-Behnken design (BBD) based on RSM was employed. Ideal conditions for achieving a biodiesel yield of 98.2069% were a B of 0.811601 wt%, a C of 75.8837°C, a D of 98.2069 min, and A of 7:1. Adjusting parameters like engine speed and biodiesel fuel mix ratio enhanced engine behavior and condensed exhaust emissions. The trials were structured utilizing the central composite design (CCD) technique grounded on RSM. The optimum operating criteria for the engine were evaluated to be a biodiesel ratio of 12.5845% and speed of engine is 2011.24 rpm. Under these conditions, the power output was 50.0817kW, torque was 254.757 Nm, smoke opacity was 6.48966%, CO emissions were 270.009 ppm, and NOx emissions were 819.573 ppm. These findings indicate that appropriate adjustments in biodiesel-diesel blends and engine parameters can significantly enhance engine performance and reduce exhaust emissions, providing insights into more efficient and environmentally friendly fuel utilization.
References
- V. Rajasekar, “Experimental investigations to study the effect of butanol and pentanol addition in a jatropha oil methyl ester fuelled compression ignition engine,” Journal of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Sciences, vol. 9, no. 1, pp. 665–668, 2016.
- P. S. Yadav, Z. Said, R. Gautam, R. Raman, and H. Caliskan, “Novel investigation on atomization, performance, and emission characteristics of preheated jatropha oil methyl ester and ethyl ester,” Energy, vol. 270, 2023.
- M. Subramaniam et al., “Performance Enhancement of Jatropha Methyl Ester by Utilizing Oxygen Enrichment in Diesel Engine,” in Lecture Notes in Mechanical Engineering, 2022, pp. 261–271.
- V. Rajasekar, V. E. Geo, L. J. Martin, and B. Nagalingam, “The combined effect of low viscous biofuel and EGR on NO-smoke tradeoff in a biodiesel engine—an experimental study,” Environmental Science and Pollution Research, vol. 27, no. 15, pp. 17468–17480, 2020.
- T. Bothiraj, K. Boopathi, K. Kalaiselvan, A. Benham, and S. Mayakannan, “Experimental investigations on mechanical and wear behavior of waste marble dust and coconut fiber reinforced hybrid bio composites,” in Materials Today: Proceedings, 2022, pp. 2239–2242.
- N. R. Banapurmath and P. G. Tewari, “Performance, combustion, and emissions characteristics of a single-cylinder compression ignition engine operated on ethanol-biodiesel blended fuels,” Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part A: Journal of Power and Energy, vol. 224, no. 4, pp. 533–543, 2010.
- B. N. Rao et al., “Utilization of additives in biodiesel blends for improving the diesel engine performance and minimizing emissions through a modified Taguchi approach,” Heliyon, vol. 9, no. 6, 2023.
- R. Gautam, N. Kumar, and P. Sharma, “Experimental investigation on use of jatropha oil ethyl easter and diesel blends in small capacity diesel engine,” in SAE Technical Papers, 2013.
- L. Karikalan and M. Chandrasekaran, “Effect of varying fuel injection pressure of selective vegetable oil biodiesel on C.I engine performance and pollutants,” Int J Chemtech Res, vol. 8, no. 12, pp. 312–318, 2015.
- I. S. N. V. R. Prasanth et al., “Study of Friction and Wear Behavior of Graphene-Reinforced AA7075 Nanocomposites by Machine Learning,” J Nanomater, vol. 2023, 2023.
- R. Gautam, N. Kumar, H. S. Pali, and P. Kumar, “Experimental studies on the use of methyl and ethyl esters as an extender in a small capacity diesel engine,” Biofuels, vol. 7, no. 6, pp. 637–646, 2016.
- S. Yadav, M. Charniya, A. Biswal, P. Singh, S. Agrawal, and B. Nayak, “EXPERIMENTATION ON DIESEL ENGINE IN DUAL FUEL MODE FUELED WITH JATROPHA OIL AND PRODUCER GAS,” International Journal of Energy for a Clean Environment, vol. 23, no. 7, pp. 131–140, 2022.
- D. Balasubramanian, A. Rajarajan, R. Krishnamoorthy, and T. D. Quoc, “Experimental Investigation of Unmodified Diesel Engine on Performance, Combustion and Emission with Various Proportions of Jatropha Biofuel in Diesel,” in Energy, Environment, and Sustainability, 2021, pp. 149–171.
- D. Dinesh Kumar et al., “Study of Microstructure and Wear Resistance of AA5052/B4C Nanocomposites as a Function of Volume Fraction Reinforcement to Particle Size Ratio by ANN,” J Chem, vol. 2023, 2023.
- B. S. Chauhan, N. Kumar, and H. M. Cho, “A study on the performance and emission of a diesel engine fueled with Jatropha biodiesel oil and its blends,” Energy, vol. 37, no. 1, pp. 616–622, 2012.
- M. S. Panithasan, D. Gopalakichenin, G. Venkadesan, and M. Malairajan, “Evaluating the working characters of a diesel engine fueled with biodiesel blends added with rice husk Nano particles,” Energy Sources, Part A: Recovery, Utilization and Environmental Effects, 2020.
- B. Ramesh, S. Sathish Kumar, A. H. Elsheikh, S. Mayakannan, K. Sivakumar, and S. Duraithilagar, “Optimization and experimental analysis of drilling process parameters in radial drilling machine for glass fiber/nano granite particle reinforced epoxy composites,” in Materials Today: Proceedings, 2022, pp. 835–840.
- R. Manikandan et al., “Optimization and experimental investigation on AA6082/WC metal matrix composites by abrasive flow machining process,” Mater Today Proc, 2023.
- C. Sasikumar, K. Balamurugan, S. Jegadheeswaran, and R. Sathyamurthy, “Optimization of process parameter in the production of Jatropha Methyl Ester using response surface methodology,” Biocatal Agric Biotechnol, vol. 27, 2020.
- A. Ashok, S. K. Gugulothu, R. V Reddy, A. E. Gurel, and B. Deepanraj, “Prediction-optimization of the influence of 1-pentanol/jatropha oil blends on RCCI engine characteristics using multi-objective response surface methodology,” Renewable Energy Focus, vol. 42, pp. 8–23, 2022.
- R. Jayaraman, R. Girimurugan, V. Suresh, C. Shilaja, and S. Mayakannan, “Improvement on Tensile Properties of Epoxy Resin Matrix Sugarcane Fiber and Tamarind Seed Powder Reinforced Hybrid Bio-Composites,” in ECS Transactions, 2022, pp. 7265–7272.
- A. Khalid et al., “Influences of Fuel Additive, Crude Palm and Waste Cooking Oil on Emission Characteristics of Small Diesel Engine,” in IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering, 2017.
- L. Prasad, S. Pradhan, L. M. Das, and S. N. Naik, “Experimental assessment of toxic phorbol ester in oil, biodiesel and seed cake of Jatropha curcas and use of biodiesel in diesel engine,” Appl Energy, vol. 93, pp. 245–250, 2012.
- R. Girimurugan, C. Shilaja, S. Mayakannan, S. Rajesh, and B. Aravinth, “Experimental investigations on flexural and compressive properties of epoxy resin matrix sugarcane fiber and tamarind seed powder reinforced bio-composites,” in Materials Today: Proceedings, 2022, pp. 822–828.
- A. Ashok, S. K. Gugulothu, R. V Reddy, and H. Ravi, “Box-Behnken Response Surface Methodology Based Multi-Objective Optimization on Reactivity Controlled Compression Ignition Engine Characteristics Powered With Ternary Fuel,” Journal of Energy Resources Technology, Transactions of the ASME, vol. 144, no. 12, 2022.
- H. Farouk, S. M. Zahraee, A. E. Atabani, M. N. Mohd Jaafar, and F. H. Alhassan, “Optimization of the esterification process of crude jatropha oil (CJO) containing high levels of free fatty acids: a Malaysian case study,” Biofuels, vol. 11, no. 6, pp. 655–662, 2020.
- K.-T. Liu, S. Gao, T.-W. Chung, C.-M. Huang, and Y.-S. Lin, “Effect of process conditions on the removal of phospholipids from Jatropha curcas oil during the degumming process,” Chemical Engineering Research and Design, vol. 90, no. 9, pp. 1381–1386, 2012.
- A. Singh, S. Sinha, and A. K. Choudhary, “Optimization of Operating Parameters of Diesel Engine Powered with Jatropha Oil Diesel Blend by Employing Response Surface Methodology,” International Journal of Renewable Energy Research, vol. 11, no. 2, pp. 504–513, 2021.
- M. Athar et al., “Biodiesel production by single-step acid-catalysed transesterification of Jatropha oil under microwave heating with modelling and optimisation using response surface methodology,” Fuel, vol. 322, 2022.
- E. Ramachandran, R. Krishnaiah, E. P. Venkatesan, S. Shaik, C. A. Saleel, and F. Hussain, “Investigation into the Ideal Concoction for Performance and Emissions Enhancement of Jatropha Biodiesel-Diesel with CuO Nanoparticles Using Response Surface Methodology,” ACS Omega, vol. 8, no. 42, pp. 39067–39079, 2023.
- Solmaz H. A comparative study on the usage of fusel oil and reference fuels in an HCCI engine at different compression ratios. Fuel. 1;273:117775, 2020.
- Alagoz E, Alghawı Y. The Future of Fossil Fuels: Challenges and Opportunities in a Low-Carbon. IJESKA. December 2024;5(3):381-388.
- T. M. I. Riayatsyah, A. H. Sebayang, Current Progress of Jatropha Curcas Commoditisation as Biodiesel Feedstock: A Comprehensive Review, Frontiers in Energy Research, Volume 9 – 2022.
- Iqbal, N. & Ahiduzzaman, M. & Rahman, Md. Hafizur & Ali, S.M.Y. & Onik, Jakaria. (2015). Extraction and Characteristics Analysis of Jatropha (Jatropha curcas) Seed Oil. International Journal of Business, social and scientific research. 4. 06-13.
- Çelik, M., Bayındırlı, C., & Mehregan, M. (2022). Multi-objective optimization of a diesel engine fueled with different fuel types containing additives using grey-based Taguchi approach. Environmental science and pollution research international, 29(20), 30277–30284.
- Çelik, M., Bayındırlı, C., & İlhak, M. İ. (2022). Investigation of the Performance and Emissions of an Engine Operated with CEO2 Nano Additive Doped Biodiesel. International Journal of Automotive Science And Technology, 6(2), 113-119.
- Hani Al-Rawashedh, Omar A, Laith M, (2023) Different Scenarios for Reducing Carbon Emissions, Optimal Sizing, and Design of a Stand-Alone Hybrid Renewable Energy System for Irrigation Purposes, International Journal of Energy research.
- Ala’a K. Al-Bawwat, Mohamed R. Gomaa, Antonio Cano, Francisco Jurado, Eid M. Alsbou,Extraction and characterization of Cucumis melon seeds (Muskmelon seed oil) biodiesel and studying its blends impact on performance, combustion, and emission characteristics in an internal combustion engine,Energy Conversion and Management: X, Volume 23,2024
Year 2025,
Volume: 8 Issue: 2, 328 - 344, 30.06.2025
Sangeetha Krishnamoorthi
,
Prabhu L
,
Prabhahar M
,
Adil Mehaboob
,
Adil Abdulla
References
- V. Rajasekar, “Experimental investigations to study the effect of butanol and pentanol addition in a jatropha oil methyl ester fuelled compression ignition engine,” Journal of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Sciences, vol. 9, no. 1, pp. 665–668, 2016.
- P. S. Yadav, Z. Said, R. Gautam, R. Raman, and H. Caliskan, “Novel investigation on atomization, performance, and emission characteristics of preheated jatropha oil methyl ester and ethyl ester,” Energy, vol. 270, 2023.
- M. Subramaniam et al., “Performance Enhancement of Jatropha Methyl Ester by Utilizing Oxygen Enrichment in Diesel Engine,” in Lecture Notes in Mechanical Engineering, 2022, pp. 261–271.
- V. Rajasekar, V. E. Geo, L. J. Martin, and B. Nagalingam, “The combined effect of low viscous biofuel and EGR on NO-smoke tradeoff in a biodiesel engine—an experimental study,” Environmental Science and Pollution Research, vol. 27, no. 15, pp. 17468–17480, 2020.
- T. Bothiraj, K. Boopathi, K. Kalaiselvan, A. Benham, and S. Mayakannan, “Experimental investigations on mechanical and wear behavior of waste marble dust and coconut fiber reinforced hybrid bio composites,” in Materials Today: Proceedings, 2022, pp. 2239–2242.
- N. R. Banapurmath and P. G. Tewari, “Performance, combustion, and emissions characteristics of a single-cylinder compression ignition engine operated on ethanol-biodiesel blended fuels,” Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part A: Journal of Power and Energy, vol. 224, no. 4, pp. 533–543, 2010.
- B. N. Rao et al., “Utilization of additives in biodiesel blends for improving the diesel engine performance and minimizing emissions through a modified Taguchi approach,” Heliyon, vol. 9, no. 6, 2023.
- R. Gautam, N. Kumar, and P. Sharma, “Experimental investigation on use of jatropha oil ethyl easter and diesel blends in small capacity diesel engine,” in SAE Technical Papers, 2013.
- L. Karikalan and M. Chandrasekaran, “Effect of varying fuel injection pressure of selective vegetable oil biodiesel on C.I engine performance and pollutants,” Int J Chemtech Res, vol. 8, no. 12, pp. 312–318, 2015.
- I. S. N. V. R. Prasanth et al., “Study of Friction and Wear Behavior of Graphene-Reinforced AA7075 Nanocomposites by Machine Learning,” J Nanomater, vol. 2023, 2023.
- R. Gautam, N. Kumar, H. S. Pali, and P. Kumar, “Experimental studies on the use of methyl and ethyl esters as an extender in a small capacity diesel engine,” Biofuels, vol. 7, no. 6, pp. 637–646, 2016.
- S. Yadav, M. Charniya, A. Biswal, P. Singh, S. Agrawal, and B. Nayak, “EXPERIMENTATION ON DIESEL ENGINE IN DUAL FUEL MODE FUELED WITH JATROPHA OIL AND PRODUCER GAS,” International Journal of Energy for a Clean Environment, vol. 23, no. 7, pp. 131–140, 2022.
- D. Balasubramanian, A. Rajarajan, R. Krishnamoorthy, and T. D. Quoc, “Experimental Investigation of Unmodified Diesel Engine on Performance, Combustion and Emission with Various Proportions of Jatropha Biofuel in Diesel,” in Energy, Environment, and Sustainability, 2021, pp. 149–171.
- D. Dinesh Kumar et al., “Study of Microstructure and Wear Resistance of AA5052/B4C Nanocomposites as a Function of Volume Fraction Reinforcement to Particle Size Ratio by ANN,” J Chem, vol. 2023, 2023.
- B. S. Chauhan, N. Kumar, and H. M. Cho, “A study on the performance and emission of a diesel engine fueled with Jatropha biodiesel oil and its blends,” Energy, vol. 37, no. 1, pp. 616–622, 2012.
- M. S. Panithasan, D. Gopalakichenin, G. Venkadesan, and M. Malairajan, “Evaluating the working characters of a diesel engine fueled with biodiesel blends added with rice husk Nano particles,” Energy Sources, Part A: Recovery, Utilization and Environmental Effects, 2020.
- B. Ramesh, S. Sathish Kumar, A. H. Elsheikh, S. Mayakannan, K. Sivakumar, and S. Duraithilagar, “Optimization and experimental analysis of drilling process parameters in radial drilling machine for glass fiber/nano granite particle reinforced epoxy composites,” in Materials Today: Proceedings, 2022, pp. 835–840.
- R. Manikandan et al., “Optimization and experimental investigation on AA6082/WC metal matrix composites by abrasive flow machining process,” Mater Today Proc, 2023.
- C. Sasikumar, K. Balamurugan, S. Jegadheeswaran, and R. Sathyamurthy, “Optimization of process parameter in the production of Jatropha Methyl Ester using response surface methodology,” Biocatal Agric Biotechnol, vol. 27, 2020.
- A. Ashok, S. K. Gugulothu, R. V Reddy, A. E. Gurel, and B. Deepanraj, “Prediction-optimization of the influence of 1-pentanol/jatropha oil blends on RCCI engine characteristics using multi-objective response surface methodology,” Renewable Energy Focus, vol. 42, pp. 8–23, 2022.
- R. Jayaraman, R. Girimurugan, V. Suresh, C. Shilaja, and S. Mayakannan, “Improvement on Tensile Properties of Epoxy Resin Matrix Sugarcane Fiber and Tamarind Seed Powder Reinforced Hybrid Bio-Composites,” in ECS Transactions, 2022, pp. 7265–7272.
- A. Khalid et al., “Influences of Fuel Additive, Crude Palm and Waste Cooking Oil on Emission Characteristics of Small Diesel Engine,” in IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering, 2017.
- L. Prasad, S. Pradhan, L. M. Das, and S. N. Naik, “Experimental assessment of toxic phorbol ester in oil, biodiesel and seed cake of Jatropha curcas and use of biodiesel in diesel engine,” Appl Energy, vol. 93, pp. 245–250, 2012.
- R. Girimurugan, C. Shilaja, S. Mayakannan, S. Rajesh, and B. Aravinth, “Experimental investigations on flexural and compressive properties of epoxy resin matrix sugarcane fiber and tamarind seed powder reinforced bio-composites,” in Materials Today: Proceedings, 2022, pp. 822–828.
- A. Ashok, S. K. Gugulothu, R. V Reddy, and H. Ravi, “Box-Behnken Response Surface Methodology Based Multi-Objective Optimization on Reactivity Controlled Compression Ignition Engine Characteristics Powered With Ternary Fuel,” Journal of Energy Resources Technology, Transactions of the ASME, vol. 144, no. 12, 2022.
- H. Farouk, S. M. Zahraee, A. E. Atabani, M. N. Mohd Jaafar, and F. H. Alhassan, “Optimization of the esterification process of crude jatropha oil (CJO) containing high levels of free fatty acids: a Malaysian case study,” Biofuels, vol. 11, no. 6, pp. 655–662, 2020.
- K.-T. Liu, S. Gao, T.-W. Chung, C.-M. Huang, and Y.-S. Lin, “Effect of process conditions on the removal of phospholipids from Jatropha curcas oil during the degumming process,” Chemical Engineering Research and Design, vol. 90, no. 9, pp. 1381–1386, 2012.
- A. Singh, S. Sinha, and A. K. Choudhary, “Optimization of Operating Parameters of Diesel Engine Powered with Jatropha Oil Diesel Blend by Employing Response Surface Methodology,” International Journal of Renewable Energy Research, vol. 11, no. 2, pp. 504–513, 2021.
- M. Athar et al., “Biodiesel production by single-step acid-catalysed transesterification of Jatropha oil under microwave heating with modelling and optimisation using response surface methodology,” Fuel, vol. 322, 2022.
- E. Ramachandran, R. Krishnaiah, E. P. Venkatesan, S. Shaik, C. A. Saleel, and F. Hussain, “Investigation into the Ideal Concoction for Performance and Emissions Enhancement of Jatropha Biodiesel-Diesel with CuO Nanoparticles Using Response Surface Methodology,” ACS Omega, vol. 8, no. 42, pp. 39067–39079, 2023.
- Solmaz H. A comparative study on the usage of fusel oil and reference fuels in an HCCI engine at different compression ratios. Fuel. 1;273:117775, 2020.
- Alagoz E, Alghawı Y. The Future of Fossil Fuels: Challenges and Opportunities in a Low-Carbon. IJESKA. December 2024;5(3):381-388.
- T. M. I. Riayatsyah, A. H. Sebayang, Current Progress of Jatropha Curcas Commoditisation as Biodiesel Feedstock: A Comprehensive Review, Frontiers in Energy Research, Volume 9 – 2022.
- Iqbal, N. & Ahiduzzaman, M. & Rahman, Md. Hafizur & Ali, S.M.Y. & Onik, Jakaria. (2015). Extraction and Characteristics Analysis of Jatropha (Jatropha curcas) Seed Oil. International Journal of Business, social and scientific research. 4. 06-13.
- Çelik, M., Bayındırlı, C., & Mehregan, M. (2022). Multi-objective optimization of a diesel engine fueled with different fuel types containing additives using grey-based Taguchi approach. Environmental science and pollution research international, 29(20), 30277–30284.
- Çelik, M., Bayındırlı, C., & İlhak, M. İ. (2022). Investigation of the Performance and Emissions of an Engine Operated with CEO2 Nano Additive Doped Biodiesel. International Journal of Automotive Science And Technology, 6(2), 113-119.
- Hani Al-Rawashedh, Omar A, Laith M, (2023) Different Scenarios for Reducing Carbon Emissions, Optimal Sizing, and Design of a Stand-Alone Hybrid Renewable Energy System for Irrigation Purposes, International Journal of Energy research.
- Ala’a K. Al-Bawwat, Mohamed R. Gomaa, Antonio Cano, Francisco Jurado, Eid M. Alsbou,Extraction and characterization of Cucumis melon seeds (Muskmelon seed oil) biodiesel and studying its blends impact on performance, combustion, and emission characteristics in an internal combustion engine,Energy Conversion and Management: X, Volume 23,2024