A study on the usability of biodiesel fuel derived from rice bran oil as an alternative fuel for IDI diesel engine

The world is faced with a problem of air pollution due to the exhaust emissions from automobile. Recently, lots of researchers have been attracted to develope various alternative fuels and to use renewable fuels as a solution of these problems. There are many alternative fuels studied in place of diesel fuel made from petroleum. Biodiesel fuel (BDF) is a domestically produced, renewable fuel that can be manufactured from vegetable oils, used vegetable oils, or animal fats. In this study, the usability of BDF, one of the oxygenated fuels as an alternative fuel for diesel engines was investigated in an IDI diesel engine. Emissions were characterized with a neat BDF and with a blend of BDF and conventional diesel fuel. Since the BDF includes oxygen of about 11%, it could influence the combustion process strongly. Therefore, the use of BDF resulted in lower emissions of carbon monoxide and smoke emissions with some increase in emissions of oxides of nitrogen. It is concluded that BDF can be utilized effectively as a renewable fuel for IDI diesel engines.