CSO BIODIESEL PRODUCTION THROUGH HYBRID REACTOR AND PERFORMANCE TESTING AT VARIABLE COMRESSION RATIO

Abstract

The increasing industrialization and motorization of the world has led to a steep rise for the demand of petroleum products. Petroleum based fuels are obtained from limited reserves. These finite reserves are highly concentrated in certain regions of the world. Therefore, those countries not having these resources are facing a foreign exchange crisis, mainly due to the import of crude oil. Hence, it is necessary to look for alternative fuels, which can be produced from materials available within the country. This project deals with development of a biodiesel production test rig based on combined hydrodynamic cavitation and mechanical stirring method and comparison of performance of various blends of Cotton Seed oil with diesel (B20, B40 and B60) also has been made against pure diesel at variable compression ratios. The performances of these biodiesel blends have been tested by evaluating the performance parameters like torque, brake power, brake thermal efficiency and brake specific fuel consumption, brake specific energy consumption, exhaust gas temperature, air fuel ratio and emission characteristics like smoke opacity. Performance testing has been performed on 4-stroke, single cylinder, water cooled Kirloskar C.I. engine. Performance parameters has been obtained from the computer (software is “Engine soft”) which is incorporated with the engine panel box. Smoke opacity has been checked by the A.V.L smoke meter. The results obtained show that various blends of Cotton seed oil with diesel (B20, B40 and B60) can be acceptably used as an alternative fuel when C.I engine is operating at high compression ratios.