International Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Technology (IJMET), ISSN 0976 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING 6340(Print), ISSN

N 0976 6359(Online) Volume 5, Issue 1, January (2014), IAEME

AND TECHNOLOGY (IJMET)

ISSN 0976 6340 (Print) ISSN 0976 6359 (Online) Volume 5, Issue 1, January (2014), pp. 79-89 IAEME: www.iaeme.com/ijmet.asp Journal Impact Factor (2013): 5.7731 (Calculated by GISI) www.jifactor.com

IJMET
IAEME

PERFORMANCE AND EMISSION CHARACTERISTIC OF DI DIESEL ENGINE WITH PREHEATING CORN OIL METHYL ESTER
R. SenthilKumar*,
*

M. Loganathan#,

P. Tamilarasan$

Research Scholar, Mechanical Engineering Annamalai University, Chidambaram, 608001, Tamilnadu # Associate Professor, Mechanical Engineering, Annamalai University $ Assistant Professor, Mechanical Engineering, Annamalai University

ABSTRACT In this experimental investigation, the corn oil methyl ester (COME) was prepared by transesterification using corn oil, methyl alcohol and potassium hydroxide (KOH) as a catalyst. The fuel properties of bio-diesel such as kinematic viscosity and specific gravity were found within limited of BIS standard. At different preheated temperatures of COME, the performance and exhaust emission characteristics of a diesel engine fuelled with preheated bio-diesel were obtained and compared with neat diesel. Experiments were conducted at different load conditions in a single cylinder, four stroke, direct injection (DI) diesel engine. The engine was run by diesel and biodiesel blends. The COME was preheated to temperatures namely 50, 70, and 90C before it was supplied to the engine. The brake thermal efficiency (BTE) and brake specific fuel consumption (BSFC) calculated. The Exhaust gas temperature, smoke density, CO, HC, NOx emissions were measured and compared with neat diesel operation. The results shown that the preheated bio-diesel is favourable on BTE and CO, HC emissions when it is heated up to 70C. At the same time the NOx emission was increased. But at preheated temperature of 90C, a considerable decrease in the BTE and BSFC were observed due to the vapour locking in the fuel line caused by vapour formation due to higher temperature of preheated biodiesel. The test results shows that bio-diesel preheated to 70C can be used as an alternate fuel for diesel fuel without any significant modification in expense of increased NOx emissions. Keywords: Fuel, Engine, Biodiesel, COME Methyl Ester, Vegetable Oil, Performance, Emission.

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International Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Technology (IJMET), ISSN 0976 6340(Print), ISSN 0976 6359(Online) Volume 5, Issue 1, January (2014), IAEME 1. INTRODUCTION Fast depletion of the fossil fuels, rising petroleum prices, increasing threat to the environment from exhaust emissions and global warming have generated intense international interest in developing alternative non-petroleum fuels for engines. In the context of fast depletion of fossil fuels and increasing of diesel engine vehicle population, the use of renewable fuel like vegetable oils become more important [Nadir Yilmaz et al., 2011; M.M, Conceicao et al., 2005; Yuan W., et al., 2005]. Many alternative fuels like biogas, methanol, ethanol and vegetable oils have been evaluated as a partial or complete substitute to diesel fuel. The vegetable oil directly can be used in diesel engine as a fuel, because their percentage of energy content is high and nearly equal to diesel. The technology of production, the collection, extraction of vegetable oil from oil seed crop and oil seed bearing trees is well known and very simple. The oil is extracted from the corn seeds and converted into methyl esters by the transesterification process. The methyl ester obtained from this process is known as COME. Several researchers [T.W, Ryan et al., 1982] have used biodiesel as an alternate fuel in the existing CI engines without any modification. The emissions characteristics of diesel engines fuelled with neat biodiesel or its blends with diesel fuel have been investigated by many researchers. They found that there are reductions in carbon monoxide, hydrocarbon and smoke emissions [S. Puhan et al., 2005, ; M.E.G. Gomez et al., 2000; S. Kalligeros et al., 2003], while there is increase in NOx emissions [Y. Lin,et al., 2007; M.P. Dorado et al., 2003].The major drawback with the vegetable oils as fuel is its high viscosity [Deepak Agarwala et al., 2008]. Higher viscosity of oils is having an adverse effect on the combustion in the existing diesel engines [K. Babu et al., 2003]. Concept of preheating of biodiesel to bring the viscosity equivalent to diesel. The viscosity of fuels have important effects on fuel droplet formation, atomization, vaporization and fuel-air mixing process, thus influencing the exhaust emissions and performance parameters of the engine. There have been some investigations on using preheated raw vegetable oils such as cottonseed oil in diesel engines [Dilip Kumar et al., 2003]. However, it is known that vegetable oils have considerably higher viscosity compared with diesel fuel. The main objective of this experimental investigation is to determine the effects of the viscosity of corn oil methyl ester, which is decreased by means of preheating process, on the performance parameters and exhaust emissions of a diesel engine. For this aim, corn oil methyl ester was produced by transesterification method using corn oil and methyl alcohol, and its properties were determined. Then, this biodiesel was preheated up to three different temperatures and tested in the diesel engine at all load conditions. Finally, the results for COME were compared with those for diesel fuel. 2. PRODUCTION OF BIODIESEL 2.1. Transesterification Tranesterification is the most common method to produce biodiesel, which refers to a catalyzed chemical reaction involving Vegetable oil, and an alcohol to yield fatty acid alkyl esters and glycerol i.e. crude glycerine [Schwab A.W., et al., 1987; Antolin G., et al., 2003]. The process of transesterification is sometimes named methanolysis or alcoholysis. This method is used to convert the corn oil in to corn oil methyl ester. After transesterification, viscosity of Corn oil methyl esters (COME) is reduced by 75-85% of the original oil value. It is also called fatty acid methyl esters, are therefore products of transesterification of Corn oil and fats with methyl alcohol in the presence of a KOH catalyst. During the reaction, high viscosity oil reacts with methanol in the presence of a catalyst KOH to form an ester by replacing glycerol of triglycerides with a short chain alcohol. [Triglycerides (Corn oil) + Methanol Corn oil methyl ester + Glycerol]

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International Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Technology (IJMET), ISSN 0976 6340(Print), ISSN 0976 6359(Online) Volume 5, Issue 1, January (2014), IAEME Methanol/methyl alcohol is preferred for COME preparation by using transesterification as it provides better separation of methyl ester and crude glycerin thus facilitating the post-reaction steps of obtaining biodiesel. The properties of diesel and COME shown in table 1. Table.1: Properties of diesel and COME Fuel Calorific value (MJ/kg) Kinematic viscosity,(mm2/s)@ 30C Density @ 20 C kg/m3 Flash Point C Fire Point C 3. EXPERIMENTAL SETUP AND PROCEDURE A single cylinder, water cooled, four stroke direct injection compression ignition engine with a compression ratio of 16.5: 1 and developing 3.7 kW power at 1500 rpm was used for this work (Figure. 1). The specification of the test engine is shown in table 2. The engine was coupled with an eddy current dynamometer .Fuels used were diesel, corn oil methyl ester and blends at pre heated to 50C, 70C, 90C. Load was applied in 5 levels namely, 20%, 40%, 60%, 80% and 100%. Load, speed, air flow rate, fuel flow rate, exhaust gas temperature, exhaust emissions of HC, CO and smoke were measured at all load conditions. The Redwood Viscometer is used to measure the viscosity of fuels at various temperatures. The exhaust gas analyzer model Horiba MEXA-584L was used to measure carbon monoxide (CO) and hydrocarbon (HC) levels. The analyzer is a fully microprocessor controlled system employing non destructive infrared techniques. Table.2: Specification of test engine Make Type Max.power Displacement Bore x Stroke Compression ratio Fuel injection timing Loading device Kirloskar AV-1 Single cylinder, water cooled, 3.7 kW at 1500 rpm 550 CC 80 x 110 mm 16.5:1 21deg BTDC Eddy current dynamometer Diesel 46.22 4.56 0.83 54 64 COME 42.56 42.2 0.875 143 149

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International Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Technology (IJMET), ISSN 0976 6340(Print), ISSN 0976 6359(Online) Volume 5, Issue 1, January (2014), IAEME

Figure.1: Schematic of Experimental setup 3. RESULT AND DISCUSSION 3.1 Variation of Kinematic Viscosity with temperature

Figure.2: The variation of viscosity of diesel, COME and blends at various temperatures The figures.2 shows the variation of kinematic viscosity with temperature of diesel and various blends of biodiesel namely COME20, COME40, COME60, COME80, COME100. The diesel and blends of biodiesel are preheated for the temperature of 30C, 50C,70C and 90C. The results shown that the kinematic viscosity of fuels decreased as preheated temperature increased. The reduction percentage of kinematic viscosity increased upto the preheated temperature of 70C. But the variation of kinematic viscosity from 70 to 90C is very small. The kinematic viscosity of COME20, COME40, COME60, COME80 and COME100 are 3.1, 3.3, 4.6, 4.8, 4.8 and 8.3 mm2/s respectively at preheated temperature 70C. The kinematic viscosity of COME20 blends falls from 8.3 to 3.1% at 70C, which 62.65 % less than COME100 at the same temperature.
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International Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Technology (IJMET), ISSN 0976 6340(Print), ISSN 0976 6359(Online) Volume 5, Issue 1, January (2014), IAEME 3.2 Optimization of preheating temperature The biodiesel and diesel are mixed in the proportion of 20% biodiesel and 80% diesel is called B20. This blend was heated to the temperature 50C, 70C and 90oC.The performance test was conducted for all the above preheated blend for different load. The variation of BSFC and BTE are shown in figure 3 and 4 respectively. The results shown that the BSFC decreased for the blends of B20 at the preheated temperature of 70C compared to other preheated temperature namely 50C and 90C. This is due to reduction of viscosity by heating the blend and hence better fuel spray causes the reduction of fuel consumption. But in higher temperature namely for 90C the fuel consumption is more due to vapor locking in the fuel injection line. The BTE increased for the preheated blend temperature of 70C. This is because of better combustion taking place due to improved spray characteristics of low viscosity fuel. But for other preheated temperatures namely 50C and 90C the BTE decreased due to poor mixture formation of higher viscosity of fuel. Hence the optimum preheated temperature of 70C is choosed for all blends for further test.

Figure.3: Variation of BSFC with brake power

Figure.4: Variation of Brake thermal efficiency with brake power at B20

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International Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Technology (IJMET), ISSN 0976 6340(Print), ISSN 0976 6359(Online) Volume 5, Issue 1, January (2014), IAEME 3.3 Compression of performance and emission of all blends of biodiesel with diesel 3.3.1 Brake Specific fuel consumption The variation of BSFC with brake power for different COME are presented in Fig.5. Here the optimized preheated temperature of 70C blends was used for test. The BSFC of all COME is higher than that of diesel for all loads. For all COME tested, BSFC is found to decrease with increase in the load. This is due to more blended fuel which is used to produce same power as compared to diesel. The BSFC increased from 0.23Kg/Kwhr to 0.284Kg/Kwhr for diesel and COME 100 respectively at full load. This is due to the effect of higher viscosity and poor mixture formation of COME.

Figure.5: Variation of Brake specific fuel consumption with brake powerat 70C 3.3.2 Brake thermal efficiency The variations of BTE of COME20, COME40, COME60, COME80, COME100 with reference to diesel fuel are shown in Fig.6.The increase in BTE with COME operations can also be attributed to the good combustion characteristics of bio-diesel owing to their decreased viscosity and improved volatility by means of preheating process. It is seen that the BTE of COME decreased as increasing the biodiesel quantity with diesel. The BTE of COME100 decreases 12.18 % as compared to diesel at full loads. But BTE of COME 20 decreased 3.2% as compared to diesel at full load.

Figure.6: Variations of brake thermal efficiency with brake power

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International Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Technology (IJMET), ISSN 0976 6340(Print), ISSN 0976 6359(Online) Volume 5, Issue 1, January (2014), IAEME 3.3.3 Exhaust gas temperature The figure.7. shown the variation of exhaust gas temperature with power for all blends. There is an increase Exhaust gas temperature with neat COME compared to other blends and diesel full load. This is mainly due to higher viscosity of COME leads to delayed burning of fuel. In the exhaust pipe. The exhaust gas temperature reduces as the proportion of diesel is raised due to the better vaporization of mixture. The exhaust gas temperature increased 7.7% for COME100 compared to diesel at full load. The reduction in the exhaust gas temperature of the blends shows that the premixed combustion of the blend has improved. This is mainly due to the reduction in the viscosity of the fuel.

Figure.7: Variation of exhaust gas temperature with brake power 3.3.4 Smoke density The variation of smoke density for different COME is shown in Fig. 8. The Smoke density of COME is lower than that of the diesel oil. The smoke density increased as the concentration of the COME increased. This is due to poor mixture formation and uneven fuel spray pattern in the combustion chamber. The smoke density increases from 76.9 to 81.8 HSU for diesel and COME100 at full load.

Figure.8: Variation of Smoke density with brake power

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International Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Technology (IJMET), ISSN 0976 6340(Print), ISSN 0976 6359(Online) Volume 5, Issue 1, January (2014), IAEME 3.3.5 CO, HC and NOx emissions The CO emissions are shown in Fig. 9. As seen in the figure, the CO emission increase with increase of engine load, due to rich fuel air mixture. Compared with the diesel fuel, the CO emissions of COME are higher, because of the poor combustion. Therefore, the CO emissions increased due to incomplete combustion.. The CO emission of COME 100 is 16.66 % higher than the diesel at full load. The CO emission of COME 20 is 0.134 % by v and it is very close to diesel CO emission.

Figure.9: Variation of CO emission with brake power

Figure.10: Variation of HC emission with brake power Fig. 10 shows the variation of HC emissions. Similar to the CO emissions, the HC emission increases with increases % of the engine load. Compared with diesel fuel, COME give lower HC emission. The HC emission of COME100 decrease 25.5 % at the maximum load of the engine in comparison with diesel fuel. The higher oxygen content of COME leads to better combustion, resulting in lower HC.
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International Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Technology (IJMET), ISSN 0976 6340(Print), ISSN 0976 6359(Online) Volume 5, Issue 1, January (2014), IAEME

Figure.11: Variation of NOx emission with brake power Fig.11 shows the variation of the NOx emissions of the test engine for COME with reference to diesel fuel. It is seen that the COME operations usually yield higher NOX emissions at all loads compared to diesel fuel operations. The increase in NOx emissions with COME may be attributed to various reasons, such as better combustion of biodiesel due to its high oxygen content and higher temperatures in the cylinder as a result of preheating. The maximum increase in NOX emissions were obtained in COME100. The NOX emissions with COME100 increase approximately 14.04 % as compared to diesel fuel at full load. 5. CONCLUSION Corn oil methyl ester (COME) was produced by means of transesterification process using corn oil, which can be described as a renewable energy source. The viscosity of COME was reduced by preheating it before supplied to the test engine. After the fuel properties of COME has been determined, various performance parameters and exhaust emissions of the engine fuelled with COME and COME blends preheated at different temperatures were investigated and compared with those of diesel fuel. The experimental conclusions of this investigation can be summarized as follows: Preheating of COME makes significant decrease in its kinematic viscosity and a small decrease in specific gravity. It is almost nearer to the values of diesel fuel. The preheated temperature of COME20 was optimized for 70C by considering maximum BTE and minimum BSFC. The Brake Specific Fuel Consumption (BSFC) increased from 0.23 kg/kwhr to 0.284 kg/kwhr for diesel and COME100 respectively at full load. Lower BTE is found with the COME100 is 30.12 % compared to diesel 34.3 %. However for the blend of COME20 the increases of 9.27% as compared with neat COME100. The use of COME20 produced a considerable decrease in CO emissions. CO emissions obtained with COME20 operations were 14.12 % lower than that of neat COME100 and 2.98 % higher than diesel fuel operations. Compared with diesel fuel, COME100 gives nearly 25.5 % lower value of HC emissions at the maximum load of the engine.
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International Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Technology (IJMET), ISSN 0976 6340(Print), ISSN 0976 6359(Online) Volume 5, Issue 1, January (2014), IAEME NOx emissions were increased due to higher combustion temperatures caused by preheating and oxygen content of COME100. The maximum increase in NOx emissions were obtained in the case of COME100. The smoke density of COME60 preheated oil is approximately equal to the neat diesel fuel operations at full load. The exhaust gas temperature COME100 increased 7.7% compared to diesel at full load. In general, if is concluded that the preheated temperature of COME20 blends was optimized from 70C. Based on the performance and emission results of COME20 blends was choosed for experiments. 7. REFERENCES 1. 2. 3. 4. Nadir Yilmaz, Byron Morton. (2011). Effects of preheating vegetable oils on performance and emission characteristics of two diesel engines Biomass and Bioenergy 35: 2028-2033. M.M, Conceicao, R.A, Candeia, HJ, Dantas, L.E.B, Soledade, VJ, Fernandes, A.G. Souza. (2005). Rheological behaviour of castor oil biodiesel Energy & Fuels 19: 2185- 2188. Yuan W., A.C. Hansen, Q. Zhang. 2005. Vapour pressure and normal boiling point predictions for pure methyl esters and biodiesel fuels. Fuel. 84: 943-950. T.W, Ryan, T J, Callahan, L.G. Dodge. (1982). 'Characterization of vegetable oils for use as fuel in diesel engines, Proceedings International Conference on Plaint Oils as Fuels American Society of Agricultural Engineers, 82-4: 70-81. S. Puhan, N. Vedaraman, G. Sankaranayanan, B.V. Bharat Ra. (2005). Performance and emission study of mahua oil (madhucaindica oil) ethyl ester in a 4 stroke natural aspirated direct injection engine, Renewable Energy 30 : 269-1278. M.E.G. Gomez, R.H. Hildige, J.J. Leahy, T.O. Reilly, B. Supple, M. Malon. (2000) Emission and performance characteristics of a diesel van operating on esterified waste oil and diesel fuel, Environment Monitoring and Assessment 65: 13-20. S. Kalligeros, F. Zannikos, S. Stournas, E. Lois, G. Anastapoulas, C. Teas, F. Sakellaropoulos. (2003) An investigation of using biodiesel/marine diesel blends on the performance of a stationary diesel engine, Biomass and Bio energy 24 : 141-149. Y. Lin, Y.G. Wu, C. Chang. (2007) . Combustion characteristics of waste-oil produced biodiesel/diesel fuel blends, Fuel 86: 1772-1780. M.P. Dorado, E. Ballesteros, J.M. Arnal, J. Gomez, F.J. Lopez.(2003). Exhaust emissions from a diesel engine fuelled with transesterified waste olive oil, Fuel 82 : 1311-1315. M.N. Nabi, M.S. Akhter, M.M.Z. Shahadat.(2006). Improvement of engine emissions with conventional diesel fuel and diesel-biodiesel blends, Bio resource Technology 97: 372-378. Deepak Agarwala, LokeshKumarb, Avinash Kumar Agarwalb. (2008). Performance evaluation of a vegetable oil fuelled compression ignition engine Renewable Energy 33: 11471156 K. Babu and G. Devaradjane.. (2003). Vegetable oil and their derivatives of fuel for C.I engines: An Overview, SAE Technical Paper Series, Paper No. -01-0767 Dilip Kumar Bora, Milton Polly, VikasSandhuja and L. M. Das. (2004). Performance evaluation and emission characteristics of a diesel engine using mahua oil methyl ester (MOME), SAE Technical Paper Series-28-0034. M. Martin, D. Prithviraja.(2011) . Performance of Pre-heated Cotton seed Oil and Diesel Fuel Blends in a Compression Ignition Engine, JJMIE, 5: 235-240

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International Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Technology (IJMET), ISSN 0976 6340(Print), ISSN 0976 6359(Online) Volume 5, Issue 1, January (2014), IAEME 15. D. Subramaniama, A. Murugesanb, A. Avinasha, A. Kumaravela. (June 2013) Bio-diesel production and its engine characteristicsAn expatiate view. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 22: Pages 361370 16. Schwab A.W., M.O. Bagby, B. Freedman. (1987). Preparation and properties of diesel fuels from vegetable oils. Fuel. Vol. 66, pp. 1372-1378. 17. Antolin G., I.V. Tinaut, Y. Briceno, V. Castano, C. Perez, A.I. Ramirez. (2002). Optimization of biodiesel production by sunflower oil transesterification. Bioresource Technology. 83: 111-114. 18. V.Narasiman, S.Jeyakumar, M.Mani and K.Rajkumar, Impact of Combustion on Ignition Delay and Heat Release Curve of a Single Cylinder Diesel Engine using Sardine Oil as a Methyl Ester, International Journal of Mechanical Engineering & Technology (IJMET), Volume 3, Issue 3, 2012, pp. 150 - 157, ISSN Print: 0976 6340, ISSN Online: 0976 6359. 19. A. Swarna Kumari, Ch.Penchalayya, A.V. Sita Rama Raju and D.Vinay Kumar, Performance Characteristics for the use of Blended Safflower Oil in Diesel Engine, International Journal of Advanced Research in Engineering & Technology (IJARET), Volume 4, Issue 3, 2013, pp. 26 - 32, ISSN Print: 0976-6480, ISSN Online: 0976-6499. 20. K Srinivasa Rao, Dr. A Ramakrishna and P V Rao, Performance and Emission Characteristics of Di-Ci Diesel Engine with Preheated Chicken Fat Biodiesel, International Journal of Mechanical Engineering & Technology (IJMET), Volume 4, Issue 3, 2013, pp. 177 - 190, ISSN Print: 0976 6340, ISSN Online: 0976 6359. 21. Sanjay Patil, Effect of Injector Opening Pressure on Performance, Combustion and Emission Characteristics of C.I. Engine Fuelled with Palm Oil Methyl Ester, International Journal of Mechanical Engineering & Technology (IJMET), Volume 4, Issue 1, 2013, pp. 233 - 241, ISSN Print: 0976 6340, ISSN Online: 0976 6359. 22. Mahesh P. Joshi and Dr. Abhay A. Pawar, Experimental Study of Performance-Emission Characteristics of Ci Engine Fuelled with Cotton Seed Oil Methyl Ester Biodiesel and Optimization of Engine Operating Parameters, International Journal of Mechanical Engineering & Technology (IJMET), Volume 4, Issue 1, 2013, pp. 185 - 202, ISSN Print: 0976 6340, ISSN Online: 0976 6359.

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