Open AccessCrude Castor Oil as Blend Component in Diesel/Ethanol Fuel Blend: Combustion Characteristics and Exhaust Emissions
Author(s) -
Niti Klinkaew,
Ekarong Sukjit,
Teetut Dolwichai
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
iop conference series. materials science and engineering
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1757-899X
pISSN - 1757-8981
DOI - 10.1088/1757-899x/717/1/012003
Subject(s) - diesel fuel , castor oil , brake specific fuel consumption , diesel engine , combustion , materials science , lubricity , winter diesel fuel , waste management , environmental science , pulp and paper industry , chemistry , composite material , automotive engineering , combustion chamber , diesel cycle , organic chemistry , engineering
Some properties such as poor lubricity and low viscosity limit the use of ethanol as an alternative fuel in diesel engines. To improve such inferior properties, crude castor oil with excellent lubricity and extremely high viscosity was added to diesel-ethanol fuel blend. Investigation on combustion characteristics, engine performance and exhaust emissions of a four-stroke single cylinder diesel engine fueled with ternary blend of diesel-ethanol-castor oil was carried out in this research. The blend of 80% diesel, 10% ethanol and 10% castor oil (D80E10C10) was selected for the study. The results on fuel properties showed that the presence of 10% castor oil in diesel-ethanol blend can improve the properties of the blend and meet the diesel fuel specification. The delay in start of combustion was obtained with the use of the ternary blend with respect to diesel fuel combustion, resulting in the lower peak of in-cylinder pressure and temperature. The reduction in nitrogen oxides (NOx) and smoke was found when the engine was operated with the ternary blend at all conditions tested. Carbonaceous gas emissions, carbon monoxide (CO) and unburnt hydrocarbons (HC), was increased with the combustion of ternary blend at low engine operating loads. However, the difference in CO and HC with the combustion of diesel fuel and ternary blend was decreased as the engine loads increased. The addition of crude castor oil to diesel-ethanol blend used as alternative fuel in the diesel engine did not show the significant difference in brake specific fuel consumption and brake thermal efficiency compared to diesel fuel.