The Effects of Injection Parameters on the Performance of Common Rail Light Duty Engine Fueled with Palm Oil Biodiesel

Abstract

It is in the interest of proponents of biodiesel to increase the utilization of the renewable fuel. The similarities of the methyl ester properties to diesel fuel and its miscibility proved to be an attractive advantage. It is however generally accepted that there are some performance and emissions deficit when a diesel engine is operated with biodiesel. There are research efforts to improve the diesel engine design to optimize the combustion with biodiesel. Since the common rail engines operates on flexible injection strategies, there exist an opportunity to improve engine performance and offset the fuel economy deficit by means of optimizing the engine control strategies. This approach may prove to be more practical and easily implemented. This study investigated the effects of the fuel injection parameters - rail pressure, injection duration and injection timing - on a common rail passenger car engine in terms of the fuel economy. Palm oil based biodiesel up to 30% blend in diesel was used in this study. The end of injection, (EOI), was found to be the most important parameter for affecting fuel consumption and thermal efficiency.