Effect of advanced injection timing on the performance of rapeseed oil in diesel engines

Combustion studies on both diesel fuel and vegetable oil fuels, with the standard and advanced injection timing, were carried out using the same engine and test procedures so that comparative assessments may be made. The diesel engine principle demands self-ignition of the fuel as it is injected at some degrees before top dead centre (BTDC) into the hot compressed cylinder gas. Longer delays between injection and ignition lead to unacceptable rates of pressure rise with the result of diesel knock because too much fuel is ready to take part in premixed combustion. Alternative fuels have been noted to exhibit longer delay periods and slower burning rate especially at low load operating conditions hence resulting in late combustion in the expansion stroke. Advanced injection timing is expected to compensate these effects. The engine has standard injection timing of 30°C BTDC. The injection was first advanced by 5.5°C given injection timing of 35.5°C BTDC. The engine performance was very erratic on this timing. The injection was then advanced by 3.5°C and the effects are presented in this paper. The engine performance was smooth especially at low load levels. The ignition delay was reduced through advanced injection but tended to incur a slight increase in fuel consumption. Moderate advanced injection timing is recommended for low speed operations.     

Combustion characteristics and performance of natural gas in high speed indirect injection diesel engine

In recent years, efforts have been directed towards environmentally freindly sources of alternative fuels for internal combustion engines. This paper investigates combustion characteristics and performance of natural gas in an unmodified compression ignition engine using diesel fuel pilot injection. The factors influencing knock limits in dual fuel gas engines have been identified. This report is confined to experimental work in a naturally aspirated dual gas engine and the results obtained were compared with the diesel fueled test engine. Cylinder pressure diagrams recorded indicate longer ignition delay and burning rates with an increased pressure variation.     

Effect of engine parameters and type of gaseous fuel on the performance of dual-fuel gas diesel engines—A critical review

Petroleum resources are finite and, therefore, search for their alternative non-petroleum fuels for internal combustion engines is continuing all over the world. Moreover gases emitted by petroleum fuel driven vehicles have an adverse effect on the environment and human health. There is universal acceptance of the need to reduce such emissions. Towards this, scientists have proposed various solutions for diesel engines, one of which is the use of gaseous fuels as a supplement for liquid diesel fuel. These engines, which use conventional diesel fuel and gaseous fuel, are referred to as ‘dual-fuel engines’. Natural gas and bio-derived gas appear more attractive alternative fuels for dual-fuel engines in view of their friendly environmental nature. In the gas-fumigated dual-fuel engine, the primary fuel is mixed outside the cylinder before it is inducted into the cylinder. A pilot quantity of liquid fuel is injected towards the end of the compression stroke to initiate combustion. When considering a gaseous fuel for use in existing diesel engines, a number of issues which include, the effects of engine operating and design parameters, and type of gaseous fuel, on the performance of the dual-fuel engines, are important. This paper reviews the research on above issues carried out by various scientists in different diesel engines. This paper touches upon performance, combustion and emission characteristics of dual-fuel engines which use natural gas, biogas, producer gas, methane, liquefied petroleum gas, propane, etc. as gaseous fuel. It reveals that ‘dual-fuel concept’ is a promising technique for controlling both NO_x and soot emissions even on existing diesel engine. But, HC, CO emissions and ‘bsfc’ are higher for part load gas diesel engine operations. Thermal efficiency of dual-fuel engines improve either with increased engine speed, or with advanced injection timings, or with increased amount of pilot fuel. The ignition characteristics of the gaseous fuels need more research for a long-term use in a dual-fuel engine. It is found that, the selection of engine operating and design parameters play a vital role in minimizing the performance divergences between an existing diesel engine and a ‘gas diesel engine’.     

Production of waste tyre oil and experimental investigation on combustion,engine performance and exhaust emissions

In this study, waste tyre was pyrolyzed at different conditions such as temperature, heating rate and inert purging gas (N₂) flow rate. Pyrolysis parameters were optimized. Optimum parameters were determined. The main objective of this study was to investigate combustion, performance and emissions of diesel and waste tyre oil fuel blend. Experimental investigation was performed in a single cylinder, direct injection, air cooled diesel engine at maximum engine torque speed of 2200 rpm and four different engine load including 3.75, 7.5, 11.25 and 15 Nm. The effects of waste tyre oil on combustion characteristics such as cylinder pressure, heat release rate, ignition delay (ID), combustion duration, engine performance were investigated. In-cylinder pressure and heat release rate increased with waste tyre oil fuel blend (W10) with the increase of engine load. In addition, ID was shortened with the increase of engine load for test fuels but it increased with the addition of waste tyre oil. Lower imep values were obtained because of the lower calorific value of waste tyre oil fuels. Maximum thermal efficiencies were determined as 28.27% and %25.12 with diesel and W10 respectively at 11.25 Nm engine load. When test results were examined, it was seen that waste tyre oil highly affected combustion characteristics, performance and emissions.     

Pressure–time characteristics in diesel engine fueled with natural gas

Combustion pressure data are measured and presented for a dual fuel engine running on dual fuel of diesel and compressed natural gas, and compared to the diesel engine case. The maximum pressure rise rate during combustion is presented as a measure of combustion noise. Experimental investigation on diesel and dual fuel engines revealed the noise generated from combustion in both cases. A Ricardo E6 diesel version engine is converted to run on dual fuel of diesel and compressed natural gas and is used throughout the work. The engine is fully computerized and the cylinder pressure data, crank angle data are stored in a PC for off-line analysis. The effect of engine speeds, loads, pilot injection angle, and pilot fuel quantity on combustion noise is examined for both diesel and dual engine. Maximum pressure rise rate and some samples of ensemble averaged pressure–crank angle data are presented in the present work. The combustion noise, generally, is found to increase for the dual fuel engine case as compared to the diesel engine case.     

Experimental investigations of a four-stroke single cylinder direct injection diesel engine operated on dual fuel mode with producer gas as inducted fuel and Honge oil and its methyl ester (HOME) as injected fuels

In order to meet the energy requirements, there has been growing interest in alternative fuels like biodiesels, methyl alcohol, ethyl alcohol, biogas, hydrogen and producer gas to provide a suitable diesel oil substitute for internal combustion engines. Vegetable oils present a very promising alternative to diesel oil since they are renewable and have similar properties. Vegetable oils offer almost the same power output with slightly lower thermal efficiency when used in diesel engine [Srivastava A, Prasad R. Triglycerides-based diesel fuels. Renew Sustain Energy Rev 2000;4:111–33. [1]; Vellguth G. Performance of vegetable oils and their monoesters as fuels for diesel engines. SAE 831358, 1983. [2]; Demirbas A. Biodiesel production from vegetable oils via catalytic and non-catalytic supercritical methanol transesterification methods. Int J Prog Energy Combust Sci 2005;31:466–87. [3]; Jajoo BN, Keoti RS. Evaluation of vegetable oils as supplementary fuels for diesel engines. In: Proceedings of the XV national conference on IC engines and combustion, Anna University Chennai, 1997. [4]; Altin R, Cetinkaya S, Yucesu HS. The potential of using vegetable oil fuels as fuel for diesel engines. Int J Energy Convers Manage 2000;42:529–38, 248. [5]; Gajendra Babu MK, Chandan Kumar Das LM. Experimental investigations on a Karanja oil methyl ester fuelled DI diesel engine. SAE 2006-01-0238, 2006. [6]; Agarwal D, Kumar Agarwal A. Performance and emission characteristics of a Jatropha oil (preheated and blends) in a direct injection compression ignition engine. Int J Appl Therm Eng 2007;27:2314–23. [7]]. Research in this direction with edible oils have yielded encouraging results, but their use as fuel for diesel engine has limited applications due to higher domestic requirement [Scholl Kyle W, Sorenson Spencer C. Combustion Analysis of soyabean oil methyl ester in a direct injection diesel engine. SAE 930934, 1993. [8]; Nwafor OMI. Effect of advanced injection timing on the performance of rapeseed oil in diesel engines. Int J Renew Energy 2000;21:433–44. [9]; Nwafor OMI. The effect of elevated fuel inlet temperature on performance of diesel engine running on neat vegetable oil at constant speed conditions. Renew Energy 2003;28:171–81. [10]]. In view of this, Honge oil (Pongamia Pinnata Linn) being non-edible oil could be regarded as an alternative fuel for CI engine applications. The viscosity of Honge oil is reduced by transesterification process to obtain Honge oil methyl ester (HOME).Gasification is a process in which solid biomass is converted into a mixture of combustible gases, which complete their combustion in an IC engine. Hence, producer gas can act as a promising alternative fuel, especially for diesel engines by substituting considerable amount of diesel fuels. Downdraft moving bed gasifiers coupled with IC engine are a good choice for moderate quantities of available biomass, up to 500 kW of electric power. Hence, bioderived gas and vegetable liquids appear more attractive in view of their friendly environmental nature. Since vegetable oils produce higher smoke emissions, dual fuel operation could be adopted for improving their performance.     

Evaluation of vibration characteristics of a hydroxyl (HHO) gas generator installed diesel engine fuelled with different diesel–biodiesel blends

There are two main reasons of alternative fuel search of scientists: environmental problems resulted from combustion of fossil fuels and limited reserves of crude oil. Biodiesel and Hydrogen (H₂) are two of the most promising alternative fuels with their environmental friendly combustion profiles. The aim of this study was to evaluate vibration level of a hydroxyl (HHO) gas generator installed and diesel engine using different kinds of biodiesel fuels. In this study, at different flow rates, the effect of HHO gas addition on engine vibration performance was investigated with a Mitsubishi Canter 4D34-2A diesel engine. HHO gas introduced to the test engine via its intake manifold with 2, 4 and 6 L per minute (LPM) flow rates when the engine was fuelled with sunflower, canola, and corn biodiesels. The vibration data was collected between 1200 and 2400 rpm engine speeds by 300 rpm intervals. Finally, artificial neural network (ANN) approach was conducted in order to predict the effect of fuel properties and HHO amount on engine vibration level.     

Effects of hydrogenation of fossil fuels with hydrogen and hydroxy gas on performance and emissions of internal combustion engines

Energy security is an important consideration for development of future transport fuels. Among the all gaseous fuels hydrogen or hydroxy (HHO) gas is considered to be one of the clean alternative fuels. Hydrogen is very flammable gas and storing and transporting of hydrogen gas safely is very difficult. Today, vehicles using pure hydrogen as fuel require stations with compressed or liquefied hydrogen stocks at high pressures from hydrogen production centres established with large investments.Different electrode design and different electrolytes have been tested to find the best electrode design and electrolyte for higher amount of HHO production using same electric energy. HHO is used as an additional fuel without storage tanks in the four strokes, 4-cylinder compression ignition engine and two-stroke, one-cylinder spark ignition engine without any structural changes. Later, previously developed commercially available dry cell HHO reactor used as a fuel additive to neat diesel fuel and biodiesel fuel mixtures. HHO gas is used to hydrogenate the compressed natural gas (CNG) and different amounts of HHO-CNG fuel mixtures are used in a pilot injection CI engine. Pure diesel fuel and diesel fuel + biodiesel mixtures with different volumetric flow rates are also used as pilot injection fuel in the test engine. The effects of HHO enrichment on engine performance and emissions in compression-ignition and spark-ignition engines have been examined in detail. It is found from the experiments that plate type reactor with NaOH produced more HHO gas with the same amount of catalyst and electric energy. All experimental results from Gasoline and Diesel Engines show that performance and exhaust emission values have improved with hydroxy gas addition to the fossil fuels except NO_x exhaust emissions. The maximum average improvements in terms of performance and emissions of the gasoline and the diesel engine are both graphically and numerically expressed in results and discussions. The maximum average improvements obtained for brake power, brake torque and BSFC values of the gasoline engine were 27%, 32.4% and 16.3%, respectively. Furthermore, maximum improvements in performance data obtained with the use of HHO enriched biodiesel fuel mixture in diesel engine were 8.31% for brake power, 7.1% for brake torque and 10% for BSFC.     

A renewable pathway towards increased utilization of hydrogen in diesel engines

In the present work, dual fuel operation of a diesel engine has been experimentally investigated using biodiesel and hydrogen as the test fuels. Jatropha Curcas biodiesel is used as the pilot fuel, which is directly injected in the combustion chamber using conventional diesel injector. The main fuel (hydrogen) is injected in the intake manifold using a hydrogen injector and electronic control unit. In dual fuel mode, engine operations are studied at varying engine loads at the maximum pilot fuel substitution conditions. The engine performance parameters such as maximum pilot fuel substitution, brake thermal efficiency and brake specific energy consumption are investigated. On emission side, oxides of nitrogen, hydrocarbon, carbon monoxide and smoke emissions are analysed. Based on the results, it is found that biodiesel-hydrogen dual fuel engine could utilize up to 80.7% and 24.5% hydrogen (by energy share) at low and high loads respectively along with improved brake thermal efficiency. Furthermore, hydrocarbon, carbon monoxide and smoke emissions are significantly reduced compared to single fuel diesel engine operation. Exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) has also been studied with biodiesel-hydrogen dual fuel engine operations. It is found that EGR could improve the utilization of hydrogen in dual fuel engine, especially at the high loads. The effect of EGR is also found to reduce high nitrogen oxide emissions from the dual fuel engine and brake thermal efficiency is not significantly affected.     

The effect of clove oil and diesel fuel blends on the engine performance and exhaust emissions of a compression-ignition engine

Diesel engines provide the major power source for transportation in the world and contribute to the prosperity of the worldwide economy. However, recent concerns over the environment, increasing fuel prices and the scarcity of fuel supplies have promoted considerable interest in searching for alternatives to petroleum based fuels. Based on this background, the main purpose of this investigation is to evaluate clove stem oil (CSO) as an alternative fuel for diesel engines. To this end, an experimental investigation was performed on a four-stroke, four-cylinder water-cooled direct injection diesel engine to study the performance and emissions of an engine operated using the CSO–diesel blended fuels. The effects of the CSO–diesel blended fuels on the engine brake thermal efficiency, brake specific fuel consumption (BSFC), specific energy consumption (SEC), exhaust gas temperatures and exhaust emissions were investigated. The experimental results reveal that the engine brake thermal efficiency and BSFC of the CSO–diesel blended fuels were higher than the pure diesel fuel while at the same time they exhibited a lower SEC than the latter over the entire engine load range. The variations in exhaust gas temperatures between the tested fuels were significant only at medium speed operating conditions. Furthermore, the HC emissions were lower for the CSO–diesel blended fuels than the pure diesel fuel whereas the NO_x emissions were increased remarkably when the engine was fuelled with the 50% CSO–diesel blended fuel.     

Use of hydrogen in dual-fuel diesel engines

Hydrogen is a promising future energy carrier due to its potential for production from renewable resources. It can be used in existing compression ignition diesel engines in a dual-fuel mode with little modification. Hydrogen's unique physiochemical properties, such as higher calorific value, flame speed, and diffusivity in air, can effectively improve the performance and combustion characteristics of diesel engines. As a carbon-free fuel, hydrogen can also mitigate harmful emissions from diesel engines, including carbon monoxide, unburned hydrocarbons, particulate matter, soot, and smoke. However, hydrogen-fueled diesel engines suffer from knocking combustion and higher nitrogen oxide emissions. This paper comprehensively reviews the effects of hydrogen or hydrogen-containing gaseous fuels (i.e., syngas and hydroxy gas) on the behavior of dual-fuel diesel engines. The opportunities and limitations of using hydrogen in diesel engines are discussed thoroughly. It is not possible for hydrogen to improve all the performance indicators and exhaust emissions of diesel engines simultaneously. However, reformulating pilot fuel by additives, blending hydrogen with other gaseous fuels, adjusting engine parameters, optimizing operating conditions, modifying engine structure, using hydroxy gas, and employing exhaust gas catalysts could pave the way for realizing safe, efficient, and economical hydrogen-fueled diesel engines. Future work should focus on preventing knocking combustion and nitrogen oxide emissions in hydrogen-fueled diesel engines by adjusting the hydrogen inclusion rate in real time.     

Dual fuel mode operation in diesel engines using renewable fuels: Rubber seed oil and coir-pith producer gas

Partial combustion of biomass in the gasifier generates producer gas that can be used as supplementary or sole fuel for internal combustion engines. Dual fuel mode operation using coir-pith derived producer gas and rubber seed oil as pilot fuel was analyzed for various producer gas–air flow ratios and at different load conditions. The engine is experimentally optimized with respect to maximum pilot fuel savings in the dual fuel mode operation. The performance and emission characteristics of the dual fuel engine are compared with that of diesel engine at different load conditions. Specific energy consumption in the dual-fuel mode of operation with oil-coir-pith operation is found to be in the higher side at all load conditions. Exhaust emission was found to be higher in the case of dual fuel mode of operation as compared to neat diesel/oil operation. Engine performance characteristics are inferior in fully renewable fueled engine operation but it suitable for stationary engine application, particularly power generation.     

Performance indices of a common rail-system CI engine powered by diesel oil and biofuel blends

Conventional fuels used for supplying internal combustion piston engines include petrols and diesel oils produced from petroleum. These are a non-renewable energy source. The environmental policy of the European Union is geared towards increasing the share of renewable fuels in the overall energy consumption. An alternative fuel originating from a renewable source, which could be used for feeding self-ignition internal combustion engines are the fatty acid methyl esters (FAME) of plant oils. The paper reports selected results of testing a 1.3 MULTIJET SDE 90 PS self-ignition engine with the Common Rail reservoir feed system supplied with mixtures of diesel oil and rape oil fatty acid methyl esters (FAME). Tests were carried out on an engine test bed equipped with an eddy-current brake. The purpose of the tests was to determine the economic–energy and ecological indices of engine operation. The concentrations of exhaust gas gaseous components were measured using a MEXA-1600DEGR analyzer, while the particulate concentrations, with a MEXA-1230PM analyzer. In addition, the variations of working medium pressures in the engine chamber and of fuel pressure upstream the injector were recorded as a function of crankshaft rotation angle using the AVL IndiSmart 612 indication system for this purpose. The physicochemical properties of fuels used in the tests were determined using a fuel analyzer. The obtained testing results made it possible to determine and assess the operation indices of the engine fed with mixtures of diesel oil and rape oil fatty acid methyl esters (FAME) with slightly higher ester contents than the requirements of the currently applicable diesel oil standard.     

Preparation,characterization, engine combustion and emission characteristics of rapeseed oil based hybrid fuels

In this study, hybrid fuels consisting of rapeseed oil/diesel blend, 1% aqueous ethanol and a surfactant (oleic acid/1-butanol mixture) were prepared and tested as a fuel in a direct injection (DI) diesel engine. The main fuel properties such as the density, viscosity and lower heating value (LHV) of these fuels were measured, and the engine performance, combustion and exhaust emissions were investigated and compared with that of diesel fuel. The experimental results showed that the viscosity and density of the hybrid fuels were decreased and close to that of diesel fuel with the increase of ethanol volume fraction up to 30%. The start of combustion was later than that of diesel fuel and the peak cylinder pressure, peak pressure rise rate and peak heat release rate were higher than those of diesel fuel. The brake specific fuel consumption (BSFC) of hybrid fuels was increased with the volume fraction of ethanol and higher than that of diesel. The brake specific energy consumption (BSEC) was almost identical for all test fuels. The smoke emissions were lower than those for diesel fuel at high engine loads, the NO_x emissions were almost similar to those of diesel fuel, but CO and HC emissions were higher, especially at low engine loads.     

Combustion,performance and emission analyses of a CI engine operating with renewable diesel fuels (HVO/FARNESANE) under dual-fuel mode through hydrogen port injection

The use of hydrogen in internal combustion engines is pointed out as an alternative to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In applications that require high levels of torque and low engine speeds, compression ignition (CI) engines are more appropriate. However, because of the high auto-ignition temperature of hydrogen, its use in these engine types is more suitable when the dual-fuel concept is applied. This study comprehensively investigates, through experimental techniques, the use of hydrogen port-injection in a four-stroke single-cylinder CI engine operating with the renewable diesel-like fuels hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO) and farnesane, in comparison to fossil diesel dual-fuel operation. In this sense, the present work aims to fill a gap in the literature by performing a novel analysis of dual-fuel operation with hydrogen, considering different substitution fractions, and using groundbreaking biofuels, such as HVO and farnesane. The results showed that in-cylinder pressure and temperature were increased with H₂ enrichment for every pilot fuel, but green diesel fuels presented lower values than those for diesel operation. Furthermore, hydrogen port injection slightly delayed the start of combustion and increased the ignition delay, but a reduction in both premixed and diffusion combustion duration was observed. Reductions in PM, CO, and CO₂ emissions were reported during H₂ addition for every pilot fuel, while increased NO_x was observed. Despite this increase, both HVO and farnesane decreased the emissions of this pollutant in single and dual-fuel operations, compared with fossil diesel. In addition, both renewable diesel fuels presented higher BTE than diesel for every studied H₂ mass flow.     

Performance and emission characteristics of turpentine–diesel dual fuel engine and knock suppression using water diluents

In the present work, a normal diesel engine was modified to work in a dual fuel (DF) mode with turpentine and diesel as primary and pilot fuels, respectively. The resulting homogeneous mixture was compressed to a temperature below the self‐ignition point. The pilot fuel was injected through the standard injection system and initiated the combustion in the primary‐fuel air mixture. The primary fuel (turpentine) has supplied most of the heat energy. Usually, in all DF engines, low‐cetane fuels are preferred as a primary fuel. Therefore, at higher loads these fuels start knocking and deteriorating in performances. Usually, DF operators suppress the knock by adding more pilot‐fuel quantity. But in the present work, a minimum pilot‐fuel quantity was maintained constant throughout the test and a required quantity of diluent (water) was added into the combustion at the time of knocking. The advantages of this method of knock suppression are restoration of performance at full load, maintenance of the same pilot quantity through the load range and reduction in the fuel consumption at full load. From the results, it was found that all performance and emission parameters of turpentine, except volumetric efficiency, are better than those of diesel fuel. The emissions like CO, UBHC are higher than those of the diesel baseline (DBL) and around 40–45% reduction of smoke was observed at 100% of full load. The major pollutant of diesel engine, NO_x, was found to be equal to that of DBL. From the above experiment, it was proved that approximately 80% replacement of diesel with turpentine is quite possible. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Performance characteristics of a low heat rejection diesel engine operating with biodiesel

Vegetable oils are a promising alternative among the different diesel fuel alternatives. However, the high viscosity, poor volatility and cold flow characteristics of vegetable oils can cause some problems such as injector coking, severe engine deposits, filter gumming, piston ring sticking and thickening of lubrication oil from long-term use in diesel engines. These problems can be eliminated or minimized by transesterification of the vegetable oils to form monoesters. These monoesters are known as biodiesel. The important advantages of biodiesel are lower exhaust gas emissions and its biodegradability and renewability compared with petroleum-based diesel fuel. Although the transesterification improves the fuel properties of vegetable oil, the viscosity and volatility of biodiesel are still worse than that of petroleum diesel fuel. The energy of the biodiesel can be released more efficiently with the concept of low heat rejection (LHR) engine. The aim of this study is to apply LHR engine for improving engine performance when biodiesel is used as an alternative fuel. For this purpose, a turbocharged direct injection (DI) diesel engine was converted to a LHR engine and the effects of biodiesel (produced from sunflower oil) usage in the LHR engine on its performance characteristics have been investigated experimentally. The results showed that specific fuel consumption and the brake thermal efficiency were improved and exhaust gas temperature before the turbine inlet was increased for both fuels in the LHR engine.     

一种研究发动机燃烧过程的多功能可视化实验装置

介绍一种多功能可视化实验装置，本装置包括光学发动机、进气系统、光学系统、数据采集以及控制系统，利用本套装置可以实现对包括纯柴油、柴油/天然气双燃料，醇类燃料以及进气添加惰性气体等多种情况的发动机喷雾，着火以及燃烧特性进行可视化研究，同时本装置还可实现对燃烧过程的燃烧压力进行实时记录，给出全面的燃烧特性分析结果。     

A review on biodiesel production,combustion, emissions and performance

This article is a literature review on biodiesel production, combustion, performance and emissions. This study is based on the reports of about 130 scientists who published their results between 1980 and 2008. As the fossil fuels are depleting day by day, there is a need to find out an alternative fuel to fulfill the energy demand of the world. Biodiesel is one of the best available sources to fulfill the energy demand of the world. More than 350 oil-bearing crops identified, among which some only considered as potential alternative fuels for diesel engines. The scientists and researchers conducted tests by using different oils and their blends with diesel.A vast majority of the scientists reported that short-term engine tests using vegetable oils as fuels were very promising but the long-term test results showed higher carbon built up and lubricating oil contamination resulting in engine failure. They concluded that vegetable oils, either chemically altered or blended with diesel to prevent the engine failure. It was reported that the combustion characteristics of biodiesel are similar as diesel and blends were found shorter ignition delay, higher ignition temperature, higher ignition pressure and peak heat release. The engine power output was found to be equivalent to that of diesel fuel. In addition, it observed that the base catalysts are more effective than acid catalysts and enzymes.     

Evaluation of fuel consumption and vibration characteristic of a compression ignition engine fuelled with high viscosity biodiesel and hydrogen addition

Viscosity property of a fuel is a crucial point for internal combustion engine characteristics. Performance and emission parameters as well as injector's life of an engine is primarily effected by viscosity of the fuels. In present study, effect of high viscosity biodiesel fuels with hydrogen addition was investigated in a compression ignition engine. Biodiesels that are produced from Pongamia Pinnata and Tung oils were used as pure biodiesels as well as blended with low sulphur diesel fuel at the volume ratios of 50% and 75%. Furthermore, hydrogen gas was injected into intake manifold in order to evaluate its effect with the usage of high viscous liquid fuels. The results revealed that brake specific fuel consumption was increased with biodiesel fuels, whereas hydrogen addition into intake manifold improved the consumption. Total vibration acceleration of the engine reduced with biodiesel and hydrogen additions. Frequency spectrum indicated that this decrement was primarily lowered due to less energy transmitted through engine pistons that converted from chemical energy of fuels.