Abstract
The temperature of the coolant is known to have significant influence on engine performance and emissions. Whereas existing literature describes the effects of coolant temperature in engines using fossil derived fuels, very few studies have investigated these effects when biofuel is used. In this study, Jatropha oil was blended separately with ethanol and butanol. It was found that the 80% jatropha oil + 20% butanol blend was the most suitable alternative, as its properties were closest to that of fossil diesel. The coolant temperature was varied between 50°C and 95°C. The combustion process enhanced for both diesel and biofuel blend, when the coolant temperature was increased. The carbon dioxide emissions for both diesel and biofuel blend were observed to increase with temperature. The carbon monoxide, oxygen and lambda values were observed to decrease with temperature. When the engine was operated using diesel, nitrogen oxides emissions correlated in an opposite manner to smoke opacity; however, nitrogen oxides emissions and smoke opacity correlated in an identical manner for biofuel blend. Brake specific fuel consumption was observed to decrease as the temperature was increased and was higher on average when the biofuel was used. The study concludes that both biofuel blend and fossil diesel produced identical correlations between coolant temperature and engine performance. The trends of nitrogen oxides and smoke emissions with cooling temperatures were not identical to fossil diesel when biofuel blend was used in the engine.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 46-57 |
Number of pages | 12 |
Journal | Journal of Sustainable Development of Energy, Water and Environment Systems |
Volume | 5 |
Issue number | 1 |
Early online date | 30 Nov 2016 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Jan 2017 |
Bibliographical note
Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. Users are granted the right to copy, use, distribute, transmit and display the Work publicly, and to create and distribute derivative works in any medium and for any responsible purpose, as long as the Author receives credit as author, and the Journal in which the Article has been published is cited as the source of first publication of the Work.Keywords
- biofuel
- compression ignition engine
- coolant temperature
- emission
- performance