Effect of nature based antioxidant from Zingiber officinale Rosc. on the oxidation stability, engine performance and emission characteristics with neem oil methyl ester

In past few years, the demand for energy increased drastically due to excess utilization of the natural reserves. Thus, it leads to extinction of non-renewable energy resources. Today, the world turning over renewable source of energy for power production (like wind energy, tidal energy, biodiesel, biomass and so on). In the present study, raw neem oil was taken and converted into biodiesel using transesterification process. Nature based antioxidant namely ginger extract (Zingiber officinale Rosc.) was used as an antioxidant instead of synthetic antioxidants. An anti-oxidants were added in various proportions like G5 (0.5% additive), G10 (1% additive) and G15 (1.5% additive) with B20 (20% neem oil methyl ester with 80% diesel). B20G15 sample showed higher induction period than other samples. Thus, it was considered as an optimum blend with oxidation stability test using Rancimat instrument. Diesel showed higher Brake Thermal Efficiency (BTE) than biodiesel samples. On the other hand, B20G15 showed higher BTE than B20. Higher CO, HC and smoke emissions were observed for B20 with an antioxidant than other fuel samples. B20 with an antioxidant showed lower NOx emissions than diesel and B20. Thus, the nature based antioxidant was considered as the most promising alternative for NOx emission reduction.