ARTICLE IN PRESS

Renewable Energy 33 (2008) 1147–1156

www.elsevier.com/locate/renene

Performance evaluation of a vegetable oil fuelled

compression ignition engine
Deepak Agarwala, Lokesh Kumarb, Avinash Kumar Agarwalb,
a
Environmental Engineering and Management Program, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, Kanpur 208 016, India
b
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, Kanpur 208 016, India
Received 28 June 2007; accepted 29 June 2007
Available online 6 August 2007

Abstract

Fuel crisis because of dramatic increase in vehicular population and environmental concerns have renewed interest of scientific
community to look for alternative fuels of bio-origin such as vegetable oils. Vegetable oils can be produced from forests, vegetable oil
crops, and oil bearing biomass materials. Non-edible vegetable oils such as linseed oil, mahua oil, rice bran oil, etc. are potentially
effective diesel substitute. Vegetable oils have high-energy content. This study was carried out to investigate the performance and
emission characteristics of linseed oil, mahua oil, rice bran oil and linseed oil methyl ester (LOME), in a stationary single cylinder, four-
stroke diesel engine and compare it with mineral diesel. The linseed oil, mahua oil, rice bran oil and LOME were blended with diesel in
different proportions. Baseline data for diesel fuel was collected. Engine tests were performed using all these blends of linseed, mahua,
rice bran, and LOME. Straight vegetable oils posed operational and durability problems when subjected to long-term usage in CI engine.
These problems are attributed to high viscosity, low volatility and polyunsaturated character of vegetable oils. However, these problems
were not observed for LOME blends. Hence, process of transesterification is found to be an effective method of reducing vegetable oil
viscosity and eliminating operational and durability problems. Economic analysis was also done in this study and it is found that use of
vegetable oil and its derivative as diesel fuel substitutes has almost similar cost as that of mineral diesel.
r 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Vegetable oil; Blending; Biodiesel; Transesterification; Particulate matter

1. Introduction However, petroleum was discovered later, which replaced

Energy demand is increasing due to ever increasing
number of vehicles employing internal combustion engines.
Also, world is presently confronted with the twin crisis of
fossil fuel depletion and environmental degradation. Fossil
fuels are limited resources; hence, search for renewable
fuels is becoming more and more prominent for ensuring
energy security and environmental protection. For the
developing countries of the world, fuels of bio-origin can
provide a feasible solution to the crisis. When Rudolf
Diesel invented the diesel engine more than a century ago,
he demonstrated the principle of compression ignition
engine by employing peanut oil as fuel and suggested that
vegetable oils would be the future fuel for diesel engines.
Corresponding author. Tel.: +91 512 259 7982; fax: +91 512 259 7408.
E-mail address: akag@iitk.ac.in (A.K. Agarwal).
vegetable oils as engine fuel due to its abundant supply.
Thus, it is highly desired in present context to direct the
research towards renewable fuels of bio-origin, which are
environment friendly, provide improved performance,
while being used as diesel substitute and must not be
harmful to human health.
India is producing a host of non-edible oils such as
linseed, castor, mahua, rice bran, karanji (Pongamia
glabra), neem (Azadirachta indica), palash (Butea mono-
sperma), kusum (Schlelchera trijuga), etc. Some of these oils
produced even now are not being properly utilized, and it
has been estimated that some other plant-based and forest
derived oils have a much higher production potential [1].
Vegetable oils have comparable heat content, cetane
number, heat of vaporization, and stoichiometric air/fuel
ratio with mineral diesel. Heat values decrease with
increasing un-saturation as a result of fewer hydrogen

0960-1481/$ - see front matter r 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.renene.2007.06.017
 ARTICLE IN PRESS
1148 D. Agarwal et al. / Renewable Energy 33 (2008) 1147–1156
atoms in their molecular structure. The structure of typical
vegetable oil molecule is given below:
O
CH2 –O--C—R1
O additive to improve its properties. Even a low percent
CH—O—C—R2
O for low sulfur diesel [11].
CH2—O—C—R3
Here R1, R2 and R3 represent straight chain alkyl
groups. Free fatty acids are also found in vegetable oils.
The large molecular sizes of the triglycerides results in the
oils having higher viscosity and low volatility compared to
mineral diesel. Proportion and location of double bonds
affects cetane number of vegetable oils [1].
Problems associated with vegetable oils during engine
tests can be classified into two broad groups, namely,
operational and durability problems. Operational pro-
blems are related to starting ability, ignition, combustion
and performance. Durability problems are related to
deposit formation, carbonization of injector tip, ring
sticking and lubricating oil dilution. It has been observed
that the straight vegetable oils when used for long hours
tend to choke the fuel filter because of high viscosity and
insoluble present in the straight vegetable oils. The high
viscosity, polyunsaturated character, and extremely low
volatility of vegetable oils are responsible for the opera-
tional and durability problems associated with its utiliza-
tion as fuels in diesel engines. High viscosity of vegetable
oils causes poor fuel atomization, large droplet size and
thus high spray jet penetration. The jet tends to be a solid
stream instead of a spray of small droplets. As a result, the
fuel is not distributed or mixed with the air required for
burning in the combustion chamber. This result in poor
combustion accompanied by loss of power and economy.
Blending, cracking/pyrolysis, emulsification or transes-
terification of vegetable oils may overcome these problems.
Heating and blending of vegetable oils reduce the viscosity
and improve volatility of vegetable oils but its molecular
structure remains unchanged hence polyunsaturated char-
acter remains. Blending of vegetable oils with diesel,
however, reduces the viscosity drastically (depending on
level of blending) and the fuel handling system of engine
can handle the vegetable oil-diesel blends without any
problems. On the basis of experimental investigations, it is
found that converting vegetable oils into simple esters is an
effective way to overcome all the problems associated with
the vegetable oils. Most of the conventional production
methods for biodiesel use basic or acidic catalyst. A
reaction time of 45 min to 1 h and reaction temperature of
55–65 1C are required for completion of reaction and
formation of respective esters [1–10].
Biodiesel consists of alkyl ester of fatty acids pro-
duced by the transesterification of vegetable oils. The use
of biodiesel in diesel engines require no hardware
modifications. In addition, biodiesel is a superior fuel than
diesel because of lower sulfur content, higher flash point
and lower aromatic content. Biodiesel fuelled engine emits
fewer pollutants. Biodiesel can be used in its pure form or
as a blend with diesel. It can also be used as a diesel fuel
blend, such as 2% biodiesel will provide sufficient lubricity
Saka and Kusdiana [2] prepared biodiesel using rapeseed
oil and supercritical methanol to investigate the possibility
of converting the triglycerides of the rapeseed oil to
rapeseed oil methyl esters (ROME). Murayama et al. [3]
evaluated waste vegetable oils as a feedstock for biodiesel
production. This research was focused on the engine
performance and emission characteristics of esterified
vegetable oil, when used in a diesel engine. When blends
of biodiesel and diesel are used in diesel engines, a
significant reduction in hydrocarbons (HC) and particulate
matter (PM) are observed but NOx emissions are found to
have increased. In general, engine performance and power
remains unchanged [1,4–7,12]. Akasaka et al. [4] found that
under partial load conditions, soybean methyl ester (SME)
addition increases PM emissions.
Agarwal [1,6,7] observed significant improvement in
engine performance and emission characteristics for the
biodiesel-fuelled engine compared to diesel-fuelled engine.
Thermal efficiency of the engine improved, brake specific
energy consumption reduced and a considerable reduction
in the exhaust smoke opacity was observed. Prasad et al.
[13] used non-edible oils such as Pongamia and Jatropha
oils in low heat rejection (LHR) diesel engine. Esterifica-
tion, preheating and increase in injection pressure have
been tried for utilization of vegetable oils in diesel engines.
The emission of smoke and NOx has been found to
increase.
2. Blending
Undoubtedly, transesterification is well-accepted and
best method of utilizing vegetable oils in CI engine with-
out any long-term operational and durability problems.
However, this adds to the cost of production because
of the chemical process involved. In rural and remote
areas of developing countries, where grid power is not
available, vegetable oils can play a vital role in decen-
tralized power generation for irrigation and electrification
purposes. In these remote areas, different types of
vegetable oils are available locally but it may not be
possible to chemically process them due to logistics
problems. Hence, using blended vegetable oils is an
attractive alternative. Keeping these facts in mind, a set
of engine experiments were conducted using different
typical oils available in rural areas on a type of engine,
which is very frequently used for agricultural, irriga-
tion and electricity generation purposes. The engine
performance is also compared with the transesterified
fuel.
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D. Agarwal et al. / Renewable Energy 33 (2008) 1147–1156 1149

3. Transesterification in water, which was separated. Moisture was removed from

The formation of methyl esters by transesterification of
vegetable oils requires 3 moles of alcohol stoichiometri-
cally. However, transesterification is an equilibrium reac-
tion in which excess alcohol is required to drive the
reaction close to completion. The vegetable oil was
chemically reacted with an alcohol in presence of a catalyst
to produce vegetable oil esters. Glycerol was produced
as a by-product of transesterification reaction. The
chemical reaction of the transesterification process is
shown below:
O O
CH2 —O—C—R1 CH2 — OH R 4 –O—C—R1
O Catalyst O For diesel, cost was taken as the 2007 fuel price in
2 4 4
CH—O—C—R + 3 R OH CH — OH + R –O—C—R2
O O
CH2—O—C—R3 CH 2 —OH R4 –O—C—R3
Triglyceride Alcohol Glycerol Esters
The mixture was stirred continuously and then allowed
to settle under gravity in a separating funnel. Two distinct
layers form after gravity settling for 24 h. The upper layer
was of ester and lower layer was of glycerol. The lower
layer was separated out. The separated ester was mixed
with some warm water (around 10% volume of ester) to
remove the catalyst present in ester and allowed to settle
under gravity for another 24 h. The catalyst gets dissolved
this purified ester using silica gel crystals. The ester was
then blended with mineral diesel in various concentrations
for preparing biodiesel blends to be used in CI engine for
conducting various engine tests. The process of transester-
ification brings about a drastic change in the density of
linseed oil and the linseed oil methyl ester (LOME) has
almost similar density as that of mineral diesel.
4. Economic analysis
The cost of making biodiesel from linseed oil is shown in
Table 1. However cost of different vegetable oils keeps
fluctuating since the markets are small. The costs of
different fuels assumed in this study are given in Table 2.
India.
The cost of vegetable oils is slightly higher than diesel
because of the fragmented nature of vegetable oil market.
There are several middle-men involved which increase the
cost of vegetable oils. The cost of diesel is relatively lower
because of the cross-subsidy offered by administered price
mechanism of the government. If same subsidy is given to
vegetable oils to be used as substitute fuel then it can be
seen from Table 2 that its cost comes near to that of
mineral diesel. Table 2 also shows that cost of vegetable
oils per kilogram is lower than diesel but calorific value of
vegetable oil is also lower than diesel hence cost per unit of
energy produced is almost same for the vegetable oils and
diesel. Therefore, use of vegetable oil or biodiesel in diesel

Table 1
Cost of biodiesel produced from linseed oil

Biodiesel from linseed oil Cost (Rs/l)

Linseed oil (98% yield of ester) 38.75

Methanol 4.05
Reagents 0.85
Electricity 0.20
Purification 0.35
Labor 1.20
Sub total 45.4
Revenue from by-product (glycerol) sales 4.35
Total (cost less revenue) 41.05
Cost in USD/l 0.933

Table 2
Cost of different CI engine fuels

Diesel Linseed oil Mahua oil Rice bran oil Linseed oil methyl ester (LOME)

Cost (USD/l) 0.787 0.866 0.844 0.977 0.933

Cost after subsidy (USD/l) 0.787 (already included) 0.735 0.713 0.846 0.802
Density (kg/l) 0.842 0.8945 0.9040 0.9163 0.874
Cost (USD/kg) 0.935 0.822 0.789 0.923 0.918
Calorific value (MJ/kg) 45.343 39.75 38.863 39.5 40.37
Cost (USD/MJ) 0.0206 0.0207 0.0203 0.0234 0.0227
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1150 D. Agarwal et al. / Renewable Energy 33 (2008) 1147–1156

Table 3
Fuel properties

Fuel Properties

Specific Calorific value Carbon residue Ash content Pour point Flash point Water content Kinematic viscosity (cSt at
gravity (MJ/kg) (%) (%) (1C) (1C) (%) 40 1C)

Mahua oil 0.9040 38.863 0.4215 0.021 15 238 Trace 37.18

Linseed oil 0.8645 39.75 0.4222 0.034 5 108 Trace 16.23
Rice bran 0.9163 39.5 – – – – Trace 44.52
oil
Diesel 0.842 45.343 0.0337 0.006 o 5 47 Trace 2.44

Table 4
Specifications of the compression ignition engine

Manufacture Kirloskar, India

Engine type Single cylinder, four stroke, water cooled, diesel engine
Bore/stroke (mm) 87.5/110
Displacement volume (l) 0.662
Rated speed (rpm) 1500
Rated power (kW) 4
Nozzle pressure (bar) 200
Inlet valve opens/inlet valve closes 4.51 BTDC/35.51 ABDC
Exhaust valve opens/exhaust valve closes 35.51 BBDC/4.51 ATDC

engine costs almost same as mineral diesel. If the vegetable
oil crop cultivation program is implemented under a
cooperative structure, the use of vegetable oils to partially
substitute mineral diesel will also make economic sense.
Various researchers have also shown that use of vegetable
oils and their derivatives is economical and comparable to
mineral diesel [14–17].
5. Experimental setup
The present study was carried out to investigate the
performance and emission characteristics of linseed oil,
mahua oil, rice bran oil and LOME in a stationary single
cylinder four-stroke diesel engine and compare it with
baseline data of diesel fuel. Specific gravity of different
fuels was measured using a precision hydrometer. Kine-
matic viscosity was measured using kinematic viscometer
(Setavis, UK). Calorific value and flash point were
measured using bomb calorimeter and pensky marten’s
closed cup flash point apparatus respectively. Karl
fischer titrator was used to measure water content. Carbon
residue was measured using Conradson carbon residue
tester. To measure ash content, 10 g sample of fuel was
taken in a crucible and heated at 600 1C for 2 h. Ash
formed after heating and combustion was weighed to
determine ash content of the fuel. Cloud and pour point
apparatus was used to measure pour point of dif-
ferent fuels. Fuel properties of these oils and diesel are
compared in Table 3. The linseed oil, mahua oil, rice bran
oil and LOME were blended with diesel in different
proportions.
Considering the specific features of diesel engine, a
typical engine that is widely used in agricultural sector,
was selected for present investigation. Technical specifi-
cations of the engine are given in Table 4. The engine was
coupled to an electrical generator (Fig. 1). The major
pollutants in the exhaust of a diesel engine are smoke and
oxides of nitrogen. AVL 437 smoke meter was used to
measure the smoke density of the exhaust from diesel
engine. It works on the light extinction principle. Light
from a source is passed through a standard tube contain-
ing the exhaust gas sample from the engine. A photovol-
taic device measures intensity of transmitted light at its
other end.
The engine was operated on diesel first and then on
vegetable oils and LOME blends. The different fuel blends
and mineral diesel were subjected to performance and
emission tests on the engine. The performance data were
then analyzed from the graphs recording thermal efficiency,
brake-specific energy consumption, and smoke density for
all fuels. The optimum condition was found out from the
graphs based on maximum thermal efficiency and smoke
density considerations.
The brake-specific fuel consumption is not a very reliable
parameter to compare different fuels, as the calorific values
and the densities are different. Hence, brake-specific energy
consumption (BSEC) is a more reliable parameter for
comparison. Based on thermal efficiency, BSEC, and
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D. Agarwal et al. / Renewable Energy 33 (2008) 1147–1156 1151

Fuel Burette
Fuel
Tank Fuel Valve

Orifice Meter Exhaust

Temperature
Exhaust Gas
Air Box

To Smoke Opacity Meter

U-Tube Water
Manometer

AC Load
I
Generator Bank
V

Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of experimental setup.

smoke density, all the curves were compared to base-line
diesel curve in order to optimize blend concentration.
6. Results and discussion
Different blends of linseed oil (10, 20, 30, and 50%, v/v),
mahua oil (10, 20, and 30%, v/v), rice bran oil (10, 20, and
30%, v/v) and LOME (10, 20, 30, 50, and 100%, v/v) with
mineral diesel were prepared. Engine experiments were
conducted at a constant speed of 1500 rpm at different
loads.
6.1. Performance and emission characteristics for linseed oil
blends
All linseed oil blends showed almost similar thermal
efficiency at lower loads (as shown in Fig. 2). Fifty percent
linseed oil blend is found more efficient than other blends
with maximum thermal efficiency. BSEC is also almost
similar for all blends (as shown in Fig. 3). BSEC is also
found lowest for 50% linseed oil blend. However, in Fig. 4,
smoke density is higher for 50% blend compared to all
other linseed oil blends.
efficient. Fig. 6 shows that 30% mahua oil blend shows
marginally better BSEC than other blends. However, it can
be observed that BSEC is better at lower loads and it is
near to BSEC for diesel at higher loads. Fig. 7 shows that
smoke density is higher for mahua blends compared to
diesel at lower loads. Smoke density increased with
proportion of mahua oil in diesel.
6.3. Performance and emission characteristics for rice bran
oil blends
The characteristics curves for rice bran oil blends are
shown in Figs. 8–10. Fig. 8 shows almost similar thermal
efficiency for all rice bran oil blends. Similarly, in Fig. 9,
20% rice bran oil blend showed minimum BSEC than
other blends. In Fig. 10, 20% rice bran oil showed an
improved performance as far as smoke density is con-
cerned. Smoke density first decreases with addition of rice
bran oil in diesel and then increases with further addition
of rice bran oil in diesel.
6.4. Performance and emission characteristics for LOME
blends

6.2. Performance and emission characteristics for mahua oil
blends
It can be observed in Fig. 5 that all mahua oil blends
have almost similar thermal efficiency. Compared to all
blends, 30% mahua oil blend is found to be most thermally
The trend of the thermal efficiency curve (Fig. 11)
generally improved by mixing biodiesel in mineral diesel.
The thermal efficiency of the engine is found to improve by
increasing concentration of biodiesel in the blend. Twenty
percent biodiesel blend showed maximum thermal effi-
ciency. However, thermal efficiency decreased with further
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1152 D. Agarwal et al. / Renewable Energy 33 (2008) 1147–1156

35

Thermal Efficiency (%)

30
25
20 Diesel
15 10% Linseed
20% Linseed
10
30% Linseed
5
50% Linseed
0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
B.M.E.P. (N/m2x104)

Fig. 2. Thermal efficiency for diesel and different blends of linseed oil.

40
Diesel
BSEC (kJ/hr/kWx103)

35
10% Linseed
30 20% Linseed
30% Linseed
25 50% Linseed

20

15

10
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
2x104)
B.M.E.P. (N/m

Fig. 3. BSEC for diesel and different blends of linseed oil.

90
Diesel
75
Smoke Density (%)

10% Linseed
60 20% Linseed
30% Linseed
45 50% Linssed

30

15

0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
2x104)
B.M.E.P. (N/m

Fig. 4. Smoke density for diesel and different blends of linseed oil.

addition of biodiesel to mineral diesel. An important
observation is that all biodiesel blends have thermal
efficiency higher than mineral diesel. The possible reason
for improved thermal efficiency may be more complete
combustion, and additional lubricity of biodiesel [18]. The
molecule of biodiesel has some oxygen that takes part in
combustion and results in complete combustion. In Fig. 12,
BSEC also shows similar trends. It decreased with
increasing concentration of biodiesel in mineral diesel.
BSEC is found minimum for 20% biodiesel blend.
However, BSFC is slightly higher for biodiesel blends than
mineral diesel. The reason for higher BSFC is lower
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D. Agarwal et al. / Renewable Energy 33 (2008) 1147–1156 1153

35

Thermal Efficiency (%)

30
25
20
15 Diesel
10% Mahua
10 20% Mahua
5 30% Mahua

0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
B.M.E.P. (N/m2x104)

Fig. 5. Thermal efficiency for diesel and different blends of mahua oil.

40

35 Diesel
BSEC (kJ/hr/kWx103)

10% Mahua
30 20% Mahua
30% Mahua
25

20

15

10
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
B.M.E.P. (N/m2x104)

Fig. 6. BSEC for diesel and different blends of mahua oil.

75
Diesel
60
Smoke Density (%)

10% Mahua
20% Mahua
45
30% Mahua

30

15

0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
2x104)
B.M.E.P. (N/m

Fig. 7. Smoke density for diesel and different blends of mahua oil.

calorific value of biodiesel compared to mineral diesel. It
can be observed in Fig. 13 that smoke density for biodiesel
blends is generally lower than that of diesel. Twenty
percent LOME showed improved smoke emission perfor-
mance than other blends. However, at lower loads, 100%
LOME showed slightly higher smoke density than other
blends. At higher loads, all blends of LOME showed better
emission performance than that of diesel. The reason for
lower smoke density for biodiesel blend may be better and
complete combustion of fuel due to oxygen atom present in
the molecule of biodiesel itself.
7. Conclusions
The prospects for large-scale vegetable oil-based fuel
production are very attractive for developing countries like
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1154 D. Agarwal et al. / Renewable Energy 33 (2008) 1147–1156

35

30

Thermal Efficiency (%)

25

20

15 Diesel
10% Rice bran
10 20% Rice bran
30% Rice bran
5

0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
B.M.E.P. (N/m2x104)

Fig. 8. Thermal efficiency for diesel and different blends of rice bran oil.

40
Diesel
BSEC (kJ/hr/kWx103)

35
10% Rice bran
30 20% Rice bran
30% Rice bran
25

20

15

10
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
B.M.E.P. (N/m2x104)

Fig. 9. BSEC for diesel and different blends of rice bran oil.

75
Diesel
60
Smoke Density (%)

10% Rice bran

20% Rice bran
45 30% Rice bran

30

15

0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
B.M.E.P. (N/m2x104)

Fig. 10. Smoke density for diesel and different blends of rice bran oil.

India. In the present investigation, a host of blends of
different vegetable oils, ester with mineral diesel oil were
prepared and tested on a single-cylinder constant speed
diesel engine for its performance and emission. The
performance and emission parameter for different fuel
blends were found to be very close to diesel. Smoke density
and BSFC were slightly higher for vegetable oil blends
compared to diesel. However, BSEC for all oil blends was
found to be lower than diesel. Vegetable oil blends showed
performance characteristics close to diesel. Therefore,
vegetable oil blends can be used in compression ignition
engines in rural areas for agriculture, irrigation and
electricity generation. Economic analysis was also con-
ducted to find out cost of biodiesel after transesterification.
Comparative study of cost for different vegetable oils,
biodiesel and mineral diesel shows that cost per unit energy
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D. Agarwal et al. / Renewable Energy 33 (2008) 1147–1156 1155

35

Thermal Efficiency (%)

30
25
Diesel
20 10% LOME
15 20% LOME
30% LOME
10
50% LOME
5 100% LOME
0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
B.M.E.P. (N/m2x104)

Fig. 11. Thermal efficiency for diesel and different blends of LOME.

40
Diesel
BSEC (kJ/hr/kWx103)

35
10% LOME
30
20% LOME
25 30% LOME
50% LOME
20
100% LOME
15

10
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
B.M.E.P. (N/m2x104)

Fig. 12. BSEC for diesel and different blends of LOME.

75
Diesel
Smoke Density (%)

60 10% LOME
20% LOME
45
30% LOME
50% LOME
30
100% LOME
15

0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
2x104)
B.M.E.P. (N/m

Fig. 13. Smoke density for diesel and different blends of LOME.

produced is almost similar for all fuels. Modified main-
tenance schedule may be adopted to control carbon
deposits formed during long-term usage of vegetable oil
blends. Esterification is a process, which changes molecular
structure of the vegetable oil molecules thus reduces
viscosity and unsaturation. A diesel engine can perform
satisfactorily on biodiesel blends without any engine
hardware modifications. Twenty percent LOME blend
was found to be the optimum concentration, which
improved the thermal efficiency of the engine, reduced
the smoke density and BSEC. Using primary ester of
vegetable oil also eliminates the durability problems
associated with the vegetable oil thus making it a safe
and suitable fuel for long-term usage in CI engine.
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1156 D. Agarwal et al. / Renewable Energy 33 (2008) 1147–1156
Acknowledgments
The authors acknowledge help, assistance, and sugges-
tions of Mritunjay Shukla of Engine Research Laboratory,
IIT Kanpur. Grant from Department of Science and
Technology, Government of India, for conducting these
experiments is highly acknowledged.
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