An experimental study on performance and exhaust emissions of a diesel engine fuelled with tobacco seed oil methyl ester

Tobacco seeds are a by product of tobacco leaves production. To the author’s best knowledge, unlike tobacco leaves, tobacco seeds are not collected from fields and are not commercial products. However, tobacco seeds contain significant amounts of oil. Although tobacco seed oil is a non-edible vegetable oil, it can be utilized for biodiesel production as a new renewable alternative diesel engine fuel. In this study, an experimental study on the performance and exhaust emissions of a turbocharged indirect injection diesel engine fuelled with tobacco seed oil methyl ester was performed at full and partial loads. The results showed that the addition of tobacco seed oil methyl ester to the diesel fuel reduced CO and SO₂ emissions while causing slightly higher NO_x emissions. Meanwhile, it was found that the power and the efficiency increased slightly with the addition of tobacco seed oil methyl ester.