EFFECT OF FUMIGATED BIODIESEL ON THE PERFORMANCE AND EMISSION CHARACTERISTICS OF A SINGLE CYLINDER DIESEL ENGINE

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1 International Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Technology (IJMET) Volume 8, Issue 12, December 217, pp , Article ID: IJMET_8_12_91 Available online at ISSN Print: and ISSN Online: IAEME Publication Scopus Indexed EFFECT OF FUMIGATED BIODIESEL ON THE PERFORMANCE AND EMISSION CHARACTERISTICS OF A SINGLE CYLINDER DIESEL ENGINE B Anirudh, M. Gowtham, C.G. Mohan and R.Prakash School of Mechanical Engineering, Vellore Institute of Technology, Vellore, Tamil Nadu, India N.Gunasekar Department of Mechanical Engineering, Sri Ramakrishna Engineering College, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India ABSTRACT Performance of the engine is considered to be as one of the most important factor for any automobile company. The current interest of most automotive industries circles around their vehicles fuel economy and tail pipe emissions. This paper presents a study which explores a conventional source of energy from biofuels which leads to better performance and emission characteristics and also provides an alternative fuel to diesel. The biodiesel fuel is obtained from the seeds of Polanga oil (Calophyllum Inophyllum) which are found mainly in southern coast of India. In the experiment the biodiesel is fumigated at 2 C and diesel fuel was used as an ignition source. For this purpose an electronically controlled fuel fumigator was fabricated and used in this investigation. The performance and emission characteristics of the diesel engine were measured and the results were compared in presented in this paper. Keywords: Biodiesel, Polonga oil, fumigated, automobile, economy. Cite this Article: B Anirudh, M. Gowtham, C.G. Mohan and R.Prakash and N.Gunasekar, Effect of Fumigated Biodiesel on the Performance and Emission Characteristics of a Single Cylinder Diesel Engine, International Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Technology 8(12), 217, pp editor@iaeme.com

2 B Anirudh, M. Gowtham, C.G. Mohan and R.Prakash and N.Gunasekar 1. INTRODUCTION In the current global scenario of motorization and industrialization, the most common parameter to assess any product is by its performance or efficiency. In the automobile sector researchers are coming up with new and improved designs of engine and other parts to reduce its weight and improve its efficiency. Furthermore, with rapid increase in the number of automobiles over the past decade has raised many concerns regarding the environment we are living which led to the need for an alternative fuel for a safer and greener environment. Alternate fuels and technology has been emerged as a major subject in research over the past few years. Many researchers have experimented blending the biodiesel with diesel in different proportions and measured its performance. These blends have proved to reduce the emission significantly but can cause problems related to the engines durability. It might as well cause problems in fuel atomization, ignition and combustion etc. The property of biodiesel that makes it a perfect choice as a sustainable alternative fuel is its ability to reduce gas emissions and perform with same efficiency as diesel fuel. In addition to that, not much of changes are required in the existing diesel engine set-up to run perfectly with biodiesel blends. Its chemical composition is completely different from the conventional diesel fuel. Biodiesels are derived from seed oils or vegetable oils and does not contain any sulphur, aromatic hydrocarbons, metals or crude oil [1-2]. The automotive sector has been identified as one of the major contributors to atmospheric pollution. The emission issues are putting great pressure on automotive sectors to develop new technologies which can reduce the emissions without compromising the vehicles performance. As said earlier that these diesel and biodiesel blends can cause problems related to the engines durability and fuel atomization. This paper is an attempt to inject the biodiesel fuel as vapour along with the air directly into the engine. This way the problems occurring in atomization can be eliminated. The biodiesel used in this experiment is Polonga biodiesel (Calophyllum Inophyllum). It is also known as Undi. It s a non-edible vegetable oil present in the seeds of Inophyllum tree. It is found along the coast regions of India, Australia and in the east Africa. This oil has a potential of metric tons and also has a high oil count of 5-73%. This oil is commonly used in villages in south India for illumination and soaps. It is made from renewable biological sources such as vegetable oils and animal fats. A large proportion of America s biodiesel requirement is met from the methyl esters derived from the Calophyllum Inophyllum seed oil [3-4]. Biodiesels have calorific values close to diesel fuel which makes it a potent candidate for replacement of diesel. However, it has very high viscosity but that can be reduced by transesterification. Another main reason of using biodiesels is their high flash point which prevents it from undergoing auto-ignition [5-6]. We know that the Oxides of Nitrogen (NOx) emissions are very high in case of diesel fuel and it is a well-accepted fact that biodiesels exhibit lower NOx emissions. The high NOx emissions form diesel fuel is due to less oxygen content at high pressure inside the cylinder which leads to incomplete combustion. On the other hand, biodiesels have greater oxygen content which leads to better soot oxidation process. Biodiesel soot can oxidize up to six times faster than the soot emitted by diesel fuel [7-8] editor@iaeme.com

3 Effect of Fumigated Biodiesel on the Performance and Emission Characteristics of a Single Cylinder Diesel Engine Advantages of using Polonga oil derived biodiesel are: Sustainable Pollution reduction Non-toxic and possesses low emission profile Savings in Foreign exchange Regional and national development There are different methods available to reduce viscosity of the vegetable oils such as Preheating, Trans-esterification, pyrolysis etc. A lot of researchers and scientists are already working on developing new and efficient methods of synthesizing biodiesel from biofuels. This biodiesel can be used as an alternate fuel. It can be directly fuelled in CI engine without much engine modifications [8-1]. 2. PRODUCTION OF BIODIESEL Initially, the bio oil or seed oil is pre-heated at 15 o C for 25minutes. By pre-heating, all the moisture content of the bio fuel removed. Now, 1liter of bio oil is mixed with 5ml of concentrated Hydrochloric acid and KOH and heated at 7 o C. Raw bio-oil has very high content of fatty acids which leads to soap formation and affects the rate of trans-esterification reaction. The product obtained from the reaction settles at the bottom of the container. This product is now mixed with methanol and KOH and stirred continuously. The final product is filtered off using separating funnel which is the required biodiesel blend to be used for engine testing. Figure 1 This figure shows the steps involved in production of biodiesel The properties of the biodiesel have been mentioned in the below table. Table 1 Properties of diesel fuel and biodiesel Property Diesel Biodiesel Calorific value (kj/kg) Kinematic Viscosity cst at 3 o C Flash point ( o C) Specific gravity at 3 o C Cloud point ( o C) Pour point ( o C.) Cetane number editor@iaeme.com

4 B Anirudh, M. Gowtham, C.G. Mohan and R.Prakash and N.Gunasekar 3. EXPERIMENTAL STEUP A single cylinder four stroke diesel engine is used to perform the experiment. The engine specifications are mentioned in table 2. Furthermore, this experiment requires biodiesel as an additional fuel, so a separate fuel tank is provided for it. Along with that, the biodiesel fuel requires to be fumigated into vapours before entering the engine. So, we have placed a fumigator in between the fuel tank and the engine. The fumigator has a temperature regulator by means of which we can adjust the temperature values according to the fuel properties. [11] Figure 2 (a) Photograph of fumigator and its temperature controller and 2 (b) Gas analyser used to measure the gas emissions The fumigator consists to two parts namely the fumigation box and the temperature controller. The fumigator is connected to the biodiesel fuel tank. The fumigation box consists of an inlet nozzle of 1 inch diameter through which fuel can be supplied from the biodiesel tank and an outlet nozzle of the same diameter as inlet nozzle through which fumigated vapors will leave. There is one more nozzle at the middle through which a thermocouple is placed. The thermocouple is connected to the temperature controller box which controls the temperature of the heating coil. The controlling unit is digital micro-processor based unit with dual display PV & SV type. The maximum temperature till which this fumigator will work effectively is 3 C. The incoming air from the air box gets mixed with the vaporized fuel and enters the engine. Since the ignition point of the biodiesel fuel is very high, it doesn t undergo autoignition. Air flow rate is measured and diesel flow rate is calculated. The gas emission is being recorded by HEXA Gas analyzer. Figure 3 schematic representing the complete experimental setup 85 editor@iaeme.com

5 Effect of Fumigated Biodiesel on the Performance and Emission Characteristics of a Single Cylinder Diesel Engine ENGINE SPECIFICATIONS Figure 4 Actual photograph of the experimental setup Table 2 The table shows the specifications of the diesel engine used for the experiment ENGINE SPECIFICATION NAME KIRLOSKAR MODEL AV2 CYCLE 4 STROKE BHP 5 RATED POWER 3.7KW RATED SPEED 15rpm BORE DIAMETER 8mm STROKE LENGTH 11mm CUBIC CAPACITY.661 litres COMPRESSION RATIO 17.5:1 4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 4.1. Performance Characteristics The variation of brake specific fuel consumption with brake power is shown in Figure 5. 2 BSFC (g/kwh) SFC (D) ND SFC (BD) ND Brake Power (kw) Figure 5 Variation of BSFC with brake power editor@iaeme.com

6 B Anirudh, M. Gowtham, C.G. Mohan and R.Prakash and N.Gunasekar It is observed from the above graph that during the initial stages, fumigated biodiesel resulted with higher fuel consumption and when it reaches full load condition the specific fuel consumption is only 4% higher than diesel operation. Brake thermal efficiency (%) BT eff (D) BT eff (BD) Brake Power (kw) Figure 6 Variation of Brake thermal efficiency with brake power The variation of brake thermal efficiency with brake power is shown in Figure 6. It is observed that the brake thermal efficiency of the diesel engine fumigated with biodiesel is lower than the diesel operation throughout the operation. The possible reason could be the lower calorific value of the biodiesel fuel fumigated. 8 7 Energy Share (%) Diesel Biodiesel Brake power (kw) Figure 7 Energy share variation with brake power The energy share of diesel and biodiesel with brake power is shown in Figure 7. It is clear from the figure that about 65 % of energy was contributed from biodiesel in the total energy editor@iaeme.com

7 Effect of Fumigated Biodiesel on the Performance and Emission Characteristics of a Single Cylinder Diesel Engine Carbon monoxide (% vol) CO(D) CO(BD) Brake Power (kw) Figure 8 Variation of carbon monoxide emissions with brake power Figure 8 depicts the variation of carbon monoxide emissions with brake power. At the initial stages the carbon monoxide emissions of fumigated biodiesel were found to be higher than diesel operation and at the full load condition, there is no variations in the carbon monoxide emissions. Oxides of Nitrogen (ppm) Brake Power (kw) Figure 9 Variation of Oxides of nitrogen with brake power NOX(D) NOX(BD) The Figure 9 shows the variation in oxides of nitrogen emission with brake power. It is observed from the graph that the oxides of nitrogen values of fumigated biodiesel operation stands lower that diesel operation over the entire range of operation. At the no load condition oxides of nitrogen values are found to be slightly higher than the diesel editor@iaeme.com

8 B Anirudh, M. Gowtham, C.G. Mohan and R.Prakash and N.Gunasekar 8 Hydrocarbon emissions (ppm) HC (D) HC (BD) Brake power (kw) Figure 1 Variation of Hydrocarbon emissions with brake power The Figure 1 shows the variation in hydrocarbon emissions with brake power. In the fumigation process can liberate high amount of hydro carbon emissions in the exhaust during the entire load ranges, when compared with the diesel fuel operation. 5. CONCLUSION The amount of diesel fuel entering the engine was unaltered and biodiesel was added separately after fumigation which led to an increase in total fuel consumption as well as specific fuel consumption. So specific fuel consumption and total fuel consumption is increased steadily. The fuel emissions have been recorded using an AVL gas analyser and the results are as follows:- 1) There has been a significant amount of reduction in emission of NOx gases at different loads except at null load condition. 2) The maximum amount of reduction was recorded as 17.3 % at a load of.9 kw and 15.1% at 1.8 kw respectively. 3) Although there has been no change the emission of carbon monoxide gas except 12.5% at.9 kw load. 4) The reduction in emission of CO 2 has been seen maximum at no load condition and 9% at.9 kw respectively. 5) There has been an increase in emission of hydrocarbon gases which is due to the rich mixture of fuel and high-air fuel ratio editor@iaeme.com

9 Effect of Fumigated Biodiesel on the Performance and Emission Characteristics of a Single Cylinder Diesel Engine REFERENCES [1] K.Srinivas, B. Balu Naik, R. Kalyani, and Kadavakollu, A Complete Elimination of Diesel in a 4-Stroke VCR Diesel Engine, Journal of Combustion, [2] L.Tarabet., K. Loubar. M.S. Lounici, S. Hanchi, and M. Tazerout, Eucalyptus Biodiesel as an Alternative to Diesel Fuel: Preparation and Tests on DI Diesel Engine, Journal of Biomedicine and Biotechnology, [3] R. Vallinayagam, S. Vedharaj, W.M. Yang, C.G. Saravanan, P.S. Lee, K.J.E. Chua, S.K. Chou Feasibility of using less viscous and lower cetane (LVLC) fuels in a diesel engine: A review. Renewable and sustainable energy, paper [4] P.K. Sahoo, L.M. Das, M.K.G. Babu, S.N. Naik., Biodiesel development from high acid value polanga seed oil and performance evaluation in a CI engine. Fuel, Vol. 86, No. 3, 27,/ , doi:1.116/j.fuel [5] B.R. Ramesh Bapu, L. Saravanakumar, B. Durga Prasad. Effects of combustion chamber geometry on combustion characteristics of a DI diesel engine fuelled with calophylluminophyllum methyl ester.journal of Atmospheric Pollution. 217, Vol. 5 No. 2, [6] P. Lingfa, L. Prasad, K. Mahendru, L.M. Das, S.N. Naik., Current status of non-edible vegetable oil-based bio-diesel as an alternative fuel for diesel engine: Indian perspective, International Journal of Engineering Sciences Research, paper [7] M. Senthil Kumar, G. Nataraj, S. Arulselvan.,"A comprehensive assessment on the effect of high octane fuels induction on engine s combustion behaviour of a Mahua oil based dual fuel engine,"thermal Science 21(): [8] R.Vallinayagam, S. Vedharaj, W.M. Yang, C.G. Saravanan, P.S. Lee, K.J.E. Chua, S.K. Chou Impact of pine oil biofuel fumigation on gaseous emissions from a diesel engine. Energy procedia, paper [9] B. George, C. Lakshmikanthan,Experimental investigation of diesel engine using Gasoline as an additive, international journal of mechanical research and robotics, paper Vol. 3, No. 3, July 214. [1] M. Abu-Qudais, O. Haddad, M. Qudaisat., The effect of alcohol fumigation on diesel engine performance and emissions, Energy Conversion and Management, 41(4) 2, editor@iaeme.com