A. Sanjid

Thermal Balancing of a Multi-Cylinder Diesel Engine Operating on Diesel, B5 and Palm Biodiesel Blends

Energy crisis and global warming are the two most important issues that threaten the peaceful existence of the human species. More dependency on alternative fuels and energy loss minimization can be an effective solution to this affair. In this regard, thermal balance study of an internal combustion (IC) engine using different biodiesels is worthy of investigation. This manuscript provides an in-depth analysis of the engine heat losses in different subsystems of the engine. Finally, thermal balancing of the engine has been done by showing all energy flows in and out of the engine. The investigation was conducted in a four cylinder diesel engine fuelled with pure diesel, B5 (5% Palm biodiesel + 95% Diesel), 10% (PB10) and 20% (PB20) palm biodiesel blends at full load and in the speed range 1000 to 4000 RPM. The water heat loss and lubricating oil heat loss increased whereas the engine brake power, exhaust heat loss and unaccounted heat loss decreased with the increase of biodiesel percentage in the blends.

Assessing Effects of Idling of a Diesel Engine Operated with Optimized Blend of Palm and Mustard Biodiesel

Palm is an edible feedstock which is immensely popular in Malaysia as an alternative fuel which can substitute diesel fuel. However, use of Palm biodiesel in diesel engine have a negative effect on food security, thus, in this study authors used Mustard biodiesel, which has poor fuel properties, with Palm biodiesel to produce an optimum blend. This blend will have better fuel properties compared to Mustard biodiesel and will help eliminate dependency of Palm biodiesel. To ensure that optimized blend achieves better fuel properties MATLAB optimization tool was used to find out the optimum blend ratio. Linear relationship among the fuel properties was considered for MATLAB coding. The resultant optimum blend is represented by PM. Optimum blend revealed improved fuel properties compared to mustard biodiesel. Fuel consumption and exhaust emission of diesel engine operated by the produced optimized blend blends at high idling conditions with and without a turbocharger installed, were evaluated. Optimized blend achieved lower CO, HC and NO X emission compared to Mustard biodiesel blends and also improved fuel consumption at idling conditions. When the engine was turbocharged it further decreased CO, HC and fuel consumption, but significantly increased NO X emission.