Combustion, performance and emission characteristics of a diesel engine fueled with a pumpkin oil methyl ester

P. CHANDRASEKAR NIT ROURKELA Guided by Dr. S. Murugan

Introduction

Twin issues related to depletion of petroleum reserves, increasing the vehicle population has forced to development of alternative energy sources. The most suitable alternative fuel is vegetable oil, because it is renewable in nature and more environments friendly. Much research has been done to use of vegetable oils as a transport fuel. The direct use of vegetable oils in fuel engines is not encouraged. Due to their high viscosity (1117 times higher than diesel fuel) and low volatility, they do not burn completely and form deposits in the fuel injector of diesel engines.

Cont

There are four ways to use vegetable oil in a diesel engine: (i) direct use or blending in diesel fuel, (ii) micro emulsions in diesel fuel, (iii) thermal cracking (pyrolysis) of the vegetable oil, and (iv) transesterification to produce biodiesel. Among these, the transesterification is the commonly used commercial process to produce clean and environmental friendly fuel. The main cultivation of pumpkin seed areas are South and East Austria and neighbouring countries, southern parts of North America and Central America, some regions in Africa as well as Asia.

Experimental setup
GAS ANALYSER LOAD CELL AIR TANK

DAS

ENGINE

SMOK E METE R

ALTERNATOR

Engine specification
Make Model Bore x Stroke Kirloskar TAF 1 87.5 x 110 mm

Compression ratio
Rated power Rated speed Start of injection Nozzle opening pressure

17.5:1
4.4 kW 1500 rpm 23o bTDC 200 bar

Physical and Chemical properties

PROPERTIES Kinematic viscosity (40oC), mm2/sec Density (15 oC), kg/m3 PSO 35.6 921.6 POME DIESEL 4.41 883.7 35 836866

Flash point, oC
Sulphur content, g/g Water content, g/g

>230
2 584

>120
2 490

4576
0.050.5

Iodine number
Net calorific value MJ/kg

115
35.1

115
34.27

44.8

PUMPKIN OIL MEHTYL ESTER

Result and discussion

Combustion parameters Ignition delay Pressure-crank angle Heat release rate Performance parameters Brake thermal efficiency Exhaust gas temperature Emission parameters

NO emission CO emission Smoke density

15

DIESEL
14 Ignition delay in oCA 13 12 POME20 POME40 POME

POME10
POME30 POME50

11
10 0 1.1 2.2 3.3 4.4 Brake power in kW

Ignition delay with brake power

Ignition delay is defined as the time difference in crank angle between start of injection and start of ignition. Ignition delay determines the premixed combustion, heat release, maximum pressure and rate of pressure rise. The shorter ignition delay of POME50 and POME is due to higher cetane number of POME and its blend compared to diesel.

90 80 70 Pressure, bar 60 50 40 30 DIESEL POME10 POME20 POME30 POME40 POME50 POME 330 360 Crank angle , oCA 390

20
10 0

cylinder pressure with crank angle

The cylinder pressure characterized by the ability of the fuel to mix well with air and burn. It is observed that the POME50 is higher than that of diesel. This may be due to the ignition delay period increases with the decrease of engine load. At low engine loads, because of the longer ignition delay period, combustion starts later for diesel fuel than for biodiesel blend. For POME, the cylinder pressure is lower than diesel, due to high viscosity and low volatility of biodiesel.

70
60 Heat release rate J/oCA 50 40 30 20 10 0 -10 330 360 Crank angle in oCA 390 DIESEL POME10 POME20 POME30 POME40 POME50 POME

Heat release rate with crank angle

It can be observed that the heat release rate of POME and its diesel blend is lower than that of diesel, this may be due to POME and its blend attributes lower calorific value than diesel fuel so it contributes lower heat release. At the time of ignition, less fuel/air mixture is prepared for combustion with the diesel blend; therefore, more burning occurs in the diffusionburning phase rather than in the premixed phase.

35

Brake thermal efficiency, %

DIESEL POME20 POME40 POME

POME10 POME30 POME50

30 25 20 15 10 5 0

25

50

75

100

Load, %

Brake thermal efficiency with load

It can be observed that the brake thermal efficiency of the tested fuels increase, with increase in the load. The trends of the brake thermal efficiency of POME and its blends are higher than that diesel, due to presence of increased amount of oxygen in POME and its blends, and additional lubricity. The maximum brake thermal efficiency for POME at full load is 33.05% for POME, which is 3.46% higher than that of diesel.

350 Exhust gas temperature, oC 300 250 200 150 100 50 0

DIESEL POME20 POME40 POME

POME10 POME30 POME50

25

50 Load, %

75

100

Exhaust gas temperature with load

For POME and its blends the exhaust gas temperature is higher compared to that of diesel fuel. This may be due to longer ignition after burning stage. Longer ignition delay results in a delayed combustion and higher exhaust temperature

250 NO emission, ppm 200 150 DIESEL POME20 POME40 POME POME10 POME30 POME50

100
50 0 0 25 50 Load, % 75 100

NO emission with load

For all loads the NO emission for POME and its blends is higher than that of diesel fuel, except 40% blend is lower at full load. The reason for higher NO emission for POME and its blends is due to higher cylinder temperature. Another reason may be due to oxygen content present in biodiesel and its blends. The NO emissions level was found to be directly related to the exhaust gas temperature while it was inversely related to the smoke and CO values.

0.035 CO emission, %vol 0.03 0.025 0.02 0.015 DIESEL POME20 POME40 POME POME10 POME30 POME50

0.01
0.005

0
0 25 50 Load, % 75 100

CO emission with load

From the figure, it can be observed that the CO emissions are lower for POME and its blends as compared to that of diesel fuel. Lower CO emissions form biodiesel fuelled engine may be due to their more complete oxidation compared to that of diesel. Some of the CO produced during combustion of biodiesel might have converted into CO2 by taking up the extra oxygen molecule present in the biodiesel chain and thus reduced CO formation

45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0

No load

25%

50%

Smoke density, %

75%

Full load

Smoke density with blends

It can be observed that the smoke density is lower for POME and its blends than that of diesel fuel. But, POME gives more smoke density than the diesel blends that may be due to higher viscosity of POME. The main reason for lower smoke density for diesel blends may be due to the complete and stable combustion of the biodiesel and its blends, which contains more number of oxygen atoms

Conclusion

It is concluded that neat pumpkin biodiesel (POME) which results in shorter ignition delay and combustion duration. The values heat release rate, pressure crank angle and rate of pressure rise are comparable with standard diesel fuel. The pumpkin oil methyl ester gives better efficiency and lower emissions as compared to that of diesel fuel. The analysis reveals that methyl ester from unrefined pumpkin seed oil is quite suitable as an alternative for diesel engine.

References

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