Biodiesel Plant.

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DIESEL FUEL IN MARINE AND MECHANICAL SYSTEMS
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INTRODUCTION
This case study seeks to identify an engineering process and materials available for the
manufacture of structures or components and then determining the environmental and
sustainability issues and problems associated with the process. The selected engineering material
that is commonly used in areas such as industrial application during manufacturing, power
generators locomotives and construction equipment is the diesel fuel. Diesel oil or diesel fuel is a
combustible liquid used as fuel diesel engines and is generally acquired from the fractions of
crude oil. Despite the various environmental and sustainability issues and problems associated
with the use of diesel fuel to operate diesel engines, this source of fuel is still one of the most
used fuels globally due to its availability (Yilmaz & Atmanli, 2017). The most common types
of diesel fuels include coal liquefaction, natural gas, biogas, animal fat, and biomass.
Problems Associated with Diesel Fuel
Oil is formed from the remains of the marine micro-organisms which are deposited on the
seafloor. As these organisms accumulate over numerous decades, they infiltrate gradually into
the cavities of seafloor rocks and sediments. The oil resulting is trapped in the spaces and can be
extracted through drilling. The use of oil has significantly increased after the 2nd World War
resulting in the question of sustainability of diesel fuels (Feng, 2017). The continued extraction
and use of diesel fuels have resulted in depletion of their sources of energy and also the
transportation and extraction complexities which have been major issues of global scale.

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Figure 1: Emission of Greenhouse Gases in the Transportation sector (Feng, 2017)
The long-term concerns with the use of fossil fuels energy sources are their sustainability.
Ultimately, these resources will either become too difficult to extract or get depleted and the
energy requirements will surpass the supply. This calls for the introduction of other alternative
sources of fuels that are as convenient as diesel fuels (Ballesteros, et al., 2015). The
depletion of fossil fuels has also resulted in the rising cost of diesel fuel because of the reduction
in the supply.
One of the biggest environmental issues related to the use of diesel fuel is global warming, which
is the rise in the average temperature of the oceans and the atmosphere. The temperature of the
surface of the earth has increased by approximately 0.8oC with 2/3 of the increase taking place
since 1980 (Feng, 2017). The warming of the atmosphere is explicit and researchers have
indicated that is the major cause of the increase in greenhouse gas concentration is as a result of
burning of diesel fuels. The combustion of diesel fuels results in increased emissions of carbon
dioxide as well as other greenhouse gases resulting in an increase in surface temperature by
acting as a blanket to increase heat.
Carbon dioxide emissions are normally caused by the combustion of diesel fuel for domestic,
industrial, and transport purposes and these emission results in global warming. Some of the

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effects of global warming include impacts on average sea levels, the retreat of glaciers, and
unpredictable rainfall patterns (Mahapatra & Nanda, 2011). The emissions of greenhouse
gases such as nitrous oxide are also responsible for the increased occurrence of acid rains. When
the greenhouse gases combine with rainwater in the atmosphere, the resultant solution is an
increase in pH levels of rainfall. The acid rain has negative effects on the ecosystem such as the
extinction of some plant and also corrosion of structures and machinery.
Figure 2: World energy sources (Anon., 2019)
In marine sectors, when oil spills into the environment such as water bodies, the waters become
polluted. Oil spills are majorly caused by releases of diesel fuels from wells, drilling rigs,
offshore platforms, railcars, pipelines, and tankers. The spilling of oil results into the penetration
into the fur of mammals and plumage structure of birds hence minimizing into the animals
becoming less buoyant in the water and inability of insulating itself (Greg, 2016). The recovery
and cleanup of the oil spill are normally not easy because of numerous factors like types of
beaches and shorelines, the temperature of the water body, and the type of oil spilt.
Because of the gradual depletion of fossil fuels and the numerous environmental issues discussed
above, there is a need for replacing diesel fuels with other alternative sources of energy which