Investigation of neem methyl ester for electric power generation

Biodiesel has emerged as an alternative renewable energy source to substitute transport fuel. It can also be used to meet the large growing electric energy demand substantially unaffecting the ecology. Biodiesel is a sustainable energy source which makes the environment free from green house gases. The process of producing biodiesel is called transesterification, which is the simplest process. In this paper, biodiesel is produced from neem oil. The solvent used is methanol and the catalyst is potassium hydroxide (KOH). The output parameters such as speed, voltage, current and power of the alternator are analysed for different loads using pure diesel, pure biodiesel and different biodiesel-diesel blends (75% biodiesel & 25% diesel, 50% biodiesel & 50% diesel, 25% biodiesel & 75% diesel) to run an I.C engine. Results show that 25% biodiesel & 75% diesel blend (B₂₅) produces the output with better efficiency.