AN EXPERIMENTAL STUDY ON BLENDING OF ETHANOL AND BIODIESEL WITH DIESEL IN A C.I. ENGINE

Abstract

During last decades, a substantial effort to develop alternative fuel sources, most notably biofuels, has been in progress worldwide, motivated by both economic and environmental issues. Considerable attention was focused on the development of alternative fuel sources, with particular reference to the alcohols. Blends of ethanol and biodiesel wit diesel fuel were investigated and found to be technically feasible. In the last two decades of the 20th century, major advances in engine technology have occurred, leading to greater fuel economy in vehicles. The reduction of emissions from engines has become a major factor in the development of new engines. As a result the use of alternative fuels as a means of meeting these requirements has generated much attention. In this work an experimental study on performance and emissions analysis of the various blends of biodiesel and ethanol with diesel on a diesel engine was carried out. The performance of these blends have been tested by evaluating the performance parameters like torque, brake power, brake thermal efficiency, brake specific fuel consumption and emission characteristics. Performance testing has been performed on 4-stroke, single cylinder, water cooled Kirloskar C. I. engine. Performance parameters have been obtained from the computer software “EngineSoft” which is incorporated with the engine panel box. The test results show that the thermal efficiencies of the engine fuelled by these blends were comparable with that fuelled by diesel. However fuel consumption is increased slightly. The emissions characteristics were also studied and it is found that the smoke opacity from the engine fuelled by the blends were all lower than diesel.