الفهرس 
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Abstract
Energy resources are among the most essential inputs to the global economic system. The majority of energy consumption worldwide comes from fossil fuels, which are derived from fossil materials such as coal, oil, natural gas, etc. These sources will eventually vanish and, more significantly, they are not environment-friendly. Many researchers have explored alternative sources of energy such as: wind, solar, tidal, and biodiesel, which are considered renewable energies and are industrially desirable.
Biodiesel is a biofuel that has suitable features to replace, or be blended with, the petroleum diesel. It is produced from the blend of a vegetable oil and an alcohol in the presence of a catalyst. Such chemical reaction leaves the biodiesel in an emulsion state with glycerol. This thesis studies the acceleration of separating glycerol from the biodiesel using electrostatic forces.
A series of experimental investigations have been conducted to explore the effect of the employed electrode Pairs, electrode distance, and concentration of emulsifier, voltage magnitude and polarity on the separation rate of glycerol. A 25-stage Cockcroft-Walton voltage multiplier has been implemented to generate high DC voltage up to 7000 V.
The time taken by the glycerol to settle down from the biodiesel under the sole effect of gravity has been compared to that attained under the influence of high electrostatic fields. Results showed that the time taken to achieve 100% separation completeness under gravity reached 30000 seconds (8.3 hours). However, when an electrode Pairs was submerged to the proper height (4 cm apart) and the voltage was set to 2000 V, 99.02% separation completeness was reached within 1800 seconds (0.5 hour). When the effect of the employed electrode Pairs was studied, the obtained results revealed that the electrode Pairs of different diameters gave the highest percentage 115.49% separation completeness and the shortest separation time reached within 1083 seconds (0.301 hour) under the influence of applying 4000 V.
Similar results were obtained with excessive concentration of emulsifier that resulted in a significant retardation in the glycerol separation by gravity. For instance, the separation time decreased from 17, 18, 20, and 25.19 hr to 0.5, 0.52, 0.61, and 0.67 hr after applying 2000 V to samples with 4.0, 5.0, 6.0 and 7.0 gm of emulsifier, respectively.
Gas chromatography (GC) analysis was performed to biodiesel samples before and after applying the high voltage.
The chromatogram did not indicate the appearance of any foreign peaks confirming that applying the high voltage has not create, or even initiate, any chemical reaction.