Analysis Opacity and Size of Soot Particles in Fuel of Diesel Engine

Abstract

In a diesel engine the soot was produced due to the result of incomplete fuel combustion in the combustion chamber. Some of this soot moves down slowly to piston where the lubricant oil is located. This soot causes the lubricant oil to become contaminated thus increases its viscosity. As a result, frequent changing of lubricant oil is required in order to keep up the engine performance. This soot also has solid particles (Particulate Matter: PM) and nitrogen oxide (NOx) that are very harmful to the environment. The purpose of this study is to compare the opacity value of B20 (Jatropha) oil, Palm oil and diesel oil by using diesel engine. Besides that, this project also aims to compare the average of soot agglomeration size produces by using Jatropha oil, Palm oil and diesel oil in diesel engine. In this experiment, Jatropha and Palm oil was mixed with Diesel oil before being tested to diesel engine. A smoke tester was used to collect soot that came out from the exhaust of the diesel engine. The soot was observed by inverted microscope in order to investigate the soot agglomeration size. Result from this studies show that the value of opacity value of biodiesel Jatropha and Palm oil is lower compared to Diesel oil. Besides that, Diesel oil has the biggest soot agglomeration size compared to biodiesel.