An Experimental Study on the Performance and Emissions of Diesel Engine Fuelled with Biodiesel Derived from Palm Oil

Abstract

The use of biodiesel as an alternative fuels in the diesel engine is very effective due to less of emissions and high performance. This study investigated the effect of palm oil blending and engine speed on performance and emission in diesel engine. The performance of biodiesel blends were investigated in terms of brake power, fuel consumption rate, flywheel torque, while emissions parameter was tested in terms of smoke opacity, hydrocarbon (HC), nitrogen oxide (NOx), carbon oxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO2) and oxygen (O2) at various engine speed 1500, 2000, 2500 and 3000 revolution per minute (rpm). Biodiesel was blended with ordinary diesel fuel in various proportions. The engine was tested up to 50% load conditions by using Ordinary Diesel (OD), B5, B10 and B15 fuels. The properties of biodiesel fuel were tested including density, kinematic viscosity, water content and flash points test. Experimental results indicated that biodiesel blend shows the flywheel torque obtained is higher compared to the OD but fuel consumption rate and the brake power are quite similar when tested at ambient temperature. All biodiesel blends released good emissions compared to the OD. The CO2, CO, HC and O2 content released from the biodiesel fuels were clearly lower than the normal fuel except for NOX contents. Biodiesel released higher smoke opacity compared to OD at all range of engine speeds under 50% load condition. In conclusion, biodiesel fuels are found to offer better performances and emissions and are suitable to be used in unmodified diesel engine.