S. A. Aliyu H. U. Jamo F. Shuaibu

Keywords: Castor oil, morphology, nanoparticles, pour point and flash point

Abstract

Biofuel has commanded a growing interest globally due to the limited fossil deposits and the volatile fuel prices. Energy support civilization, for development and mobility. But the continuous usage of fossil fuel, especially for transportation, has long being identified major contributor of air pollutants. The emissions of unburned hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxides are found to take years off people’s lives. The recent trend is attempted to develop biodiesel from non-edible seed oil. This work investigates the influence of nanoparticles on the physical properties of trasesterified castor oil. The crude castor oil was purified, transesterified and nanoparticles were dispersed in the trans-esterified oil with concentration ranging from 0.2% to 1.0% in 0.2% interval. scanning electron microscopy analysis (SEM) ware used to examine the surface morphology of the Al2O3 oxide as well as X-ray fluorescence(XRF) spectroscopy to investigate the percentage purity of the oxide. Fourier Transform Infrared spectra (FTIR) was used to examine the structures of the samples. The pour point, flash point and the fire were studied. It was found out among other things that small amount of Al2O3 (0.4%) nanoparticles in the oil could improve the thermo physical properties of the fluid. The nano fluid with 0.4% concentration of Al2O3 appears to have optimum physical property. Increase in temperature results in decrease in viscosity of oil, an indication that its heat transfer process improved with increasing temperature.