The feasibility of use of plant oil esters as fuel in CI engines is being studied under an ICAR adhoc project. A simple method has been developed and standardised to quantitatively estimate the percentage conversion of plant oil to its ester. In this method, the unconverted triglycerides are estimated using spectrophotometer. Esters of four plant oils viz. linseed, jatropha, sunflower and rice bran was studied. Oil to ester conversion was found to be 92, 91, 88, and 75 percent in the case of linseed, jatropha curcas, sunflower and ricebran oils, respectively. Storage studies were also conducted. It was observed that no significant deterioration in quality of linseed oil ester was observed during a storage period of six months. This was assessed by estimating the free fatty acid content in the samples.
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