International Journal of Emerging trends in Engineering and Development

ISSN 2249-6149 Issue1, Vol. 3(November-2011)

Effect of Injection Pressure on the Performance and Emission Characterstics of Diesel Engine Running on Methyl Esters of Jatrpha oil and Diesel Blends
Nanundaiah1, Dr.D.K.Ramesha2. Dr. Ranapratap Reddy3
1

Associate Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Institute of Engineering, Mysore. E-mail- nnniemech.555@rediffmail.com

Associate Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, U.V.C.E.,Bangalore University, Bangalore.

3

Professor and Principal, Reva Institute Engineering and Technology, Bangalore.

___________________________________________________________________________

ABSTRACT
This paper deals with results of investigations carried out in studying properties of Jatropha oil, Jatropha methyl ester and its blends with conventional diesel fuel. The blends of

Jatropha oil, with conventional diesel fuel used as fuel in a single cylinder 4-stroke AVI Kirloskar make diesel engine at different injection pressures. The various properties of the Jatropha oil, Jatropha methyl ester and its blend are evaluated using ASTM standards and compare the values in relation to that of conventional diesel fuel. The engine tests have been carried out with the aim of obtaining brake thermal efficiency, BSFC, Emission levels and the behavior of the diesel engine running on Jatropha oil and its blend. This blend substantially reduces the smoke density and emission of Nox in exhaust gases. Jatropha methyl ester and its blend with diesel fuel gives better performance and performance of the engine has been improved at higher injection pressures. Keywords : Jatropha oil, Transesterification, Methyl ester, Emission, Injection pressure.
1

Performance,

corresponding author

1. INTRODUCTION
Fast depletion of fossil fuels and harmful emissions from the engines has jointly created the renewed interest among researchers to find the suitable alternative fuels. Vegetable oils have considerable potential to be considered as appropriate alternative, as they have fuel properties Page 10

International Journal of Emerging trends in Engineering and Development

ISSN 2249-6149 Issue1, Vol. 3(November-2011)

are closer to that of diesel fuel. There are two types of vegetable oils derived namely; edible oil and non-edible oils. Due to growing population there always exists great demand for edible oil and for too expensive for this application. Non-edible oils such as honge, mahua, neem and jatropha being available in India. The high viscosity of vegetable oils tends to alter the injection spray pattern inside the engine causing fuel impingement on the piston and the other combustion surfaces. One possible method to overcome the problem of higher viscosity is transesterification of oils to produce esters of respective oils. The esters of fatty acids derived from transesterification of vegetable oils have properties closer to petroleum fuels. Among several tree based oils, in this research jatropha oil has been investigated for its performance and emissions as engine fuel.

2. TRANSESTERIFICATION
Widely used and accepted process to reduce the viscosity of triglycerides is Transesterification. In the Transesterification of vegetable oils, a triglyceride reacts with an alcohol in the presence of a strong acid or base, producing a mixture of fatty acid alkyl esters and glycerol. The preparation of Biodiesel is as follows; About 6 gms of catalyst(NAOH) is dissolved in 200 ml of methanol to prepare methoxide solution, which is required to activate the alcohol. Then stirring is done vigorously in a covered container until the NAOH is dissolved completely. The alcohol-catalyst (NAOH) mixture is then transferred to the

reactor containing moisture free vegetable oil. Stirring of the mixture is continued for two hours at temperature between 60 - 65C. Provision is made to the reactor to condense the evaporating methyl alcohol. This separates the methyl ester from the glycerin. It is observed that there were two distinct layers formed, one is pale yellow at the top and the other being dark brown at the bottom. Without disturbing the funnel the bottom layer is separated out, which is glycerol, which can be sold as a resource Material for soap or paint industry. The layer, which is retained in the funnel, is Methyl ester of Jatropha oil. Water washing is done to remove any moisture. To do this, water about 30% by volume of the ester is added and heated the mixture to 120C for about one hour to make the ester free from moisture. After heating the mixture is once again transferred to the separating funnel wherein again the water with any emulsion formed settled Page 11

International Journal of Emerging trends in Engineering and Development

ISSN 2249-6149 Issue1, Vol. 3(November-2011)

at the bottom. The upper layer is pure methyl ester that is bio-diesel, ready for the use in diesel engine. The chemical reaction involved in this process is as shown in the Figure 1.

Figure 1. Basic scheme for Bio-diesel production

3. ENGINE TEST:
Table 1. Technical specifications of the engine

Make and Model General details

Kirloskar and AVI make 4-stroke, compression ignition, constant speed, vertical, water cooled, direct injection

No. of cylinder Bore Stroke Swept volume Clearence volume Compression ratio Rated output Injection pressure

One 100 mm 110 mm 553 cc 36.87 cc 16.5:1 3.7 kw at 1500 rpm 180 bar-220 bar Page 12

International Journal of Emerging trends in Engineering and Development

ISSN 2249-6149 Issue1, Vol. 3(November-2011)

Fuel injection timing Fuel Lubricating oil

270 BTDC Diesel SAE-40

The eddy current dynamometer was used for load measurement, the engine speed was sensed and indicated by an inductive pick up sensor with digital meter output. AVL make smoke meter used for smoke measurement, the carbon-di-oxide (CO2), carbon monoxide (CO), hydro carbons, nitrous oxide and oxygen content was measured by MRU air fair emission monitoring systems. The experiments were conducted at three different injection pressures (180,200,220 bar) for studying effect of injection pressure on the performance and emission characterstics of diesel engine with conventional diesel fuel and jatropha methyl ester diesel blends as fuels. analysis. Tests were repeated for three times and average value taken for

The performed data was analysed from the graph regarding Brake thermal

efficiency, Smoke density, UBHC and CO for all fuels. The results obtained with diesel fuel as base line data for comparison.

4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

In the performance tests, important properties such as density, specific gravity, kinematic viscosity, flash point, and calorific value of jatropha oil, its methyl ester (Bio-diesel) are determined and tabulated in the Table 2.

Table 2. Properties of jatropha - bio-diesel. Sl. No. 1 2 3 4 5 Property Density at 40 OC Specific gravity at 40OC Kinematic viscosity at 40 OC Calorific value Cetane number Cst. KJ/Kg Unit Kg/m3 Diesel 840 0.84 4.59 42490 45-55 Jatropha 918.6 0.918 49.93 39774 40-45 Biodiesel 863.6 0.863 5.8 40695 52-54 Page 13

International Journal of Emerging trends in Engineering and Development

ISSN 2249-6149 Issue1, Vol. 3(November-2011)

6 7 8 9

Flash point Fire point Carbon residue Ash content

O O

C C

76 84 0.1 < 0.001 Light

252 263 0.54 0.03 Light brown

140 151 0.23 < 0.01

% %

10

Colour

yellowbluish

Honey colour

The kinematic viscosity of Jatropha oil was found to be 10.87 times more than that of diesel determined at 400 C. After esterification, the kinematic viscosity reduced to 1.26 times more than that of diesel fuel. It further reduced with increase in diesel amount in the blend. Similar reduction in specific gravity was also observed. However, the calorific value of biodiesel was found to be 40695 kJ/kg which is less than the calorific value of diesel (42490 kJ/kg) and more than that of the Jatropha oil (39774 kJ/kg). As the percentage of bio-diesel in the blends increased, the calorific value decreased. Flash point of Jatropha oil and biodiesel were found to be greater than 100C, which is safe for storage and handling.

Brake Specific Fuel Consumption(BSFC): The variation of BSFC with loads is shown in Figure 2 and 3 at 3 injector-opening pressures. For all blends, BSFC decreased with increase in load. It is observed that BSFC for injection pressures 180 bar, 200 bar and 220 bar was considerably lower than diesel fuel at full load conditions. It is again decreased with the increase in injection pressure. In case of B20 and B100, the BSFC was higher than that of diesel. This was observed due to lower calorific value with increase in percentage of biodiesel in the blend. At 220 bar, the BSFC for B20 is 0.286 kg/kWh at full load

respectively, which is less than that of conventional diesel fuel at the same pressure (0.294 kg/kWh).

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International Journal of Emerging trends in Engineering and Development

ISSN 2249-6149 Issue1, Vol. 3(November-2011)

0.6
BSFC (kg / kw- hr)

0.6
BSFC (kg / kw- hr)

0.5 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.1 0 0 25 50 LOAD (%) 75 100

0.5 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.1 0 0 25 50 LOAD (%) 75 100

IP-180 kg / cm2 IP-200 kg /cm2 IP-220 kg / cm 2

IP-180 kg / cm2 IP-200 kg /cm2 IP-220 kg / cm 2

Figure 2. Variation of BSFC with loads for B100

Figure 3. Variation of BSFC with loads for B20

Brake Thermal Efficiency (BTE): The Figure 4 and 5 presents the variation of BTE with loads for fuels at 3 opening pressures. For all fuels, the BTE is improved with increase in load. This was due to reduction in heat loss and increase in power with increase in load. The maximum BTE was obtained as 29.84% and 29.49% for B20 and B100 at injection pressure 220 bar for full load condition, which were higher than that of conventional diesel fuel . The maximum BTE for 100% Jatropha methyl ester is 26.83% which is less than the diesel fuel but which is increased with increase in injection pressure.
30 25 20
BTE (%)

35 30 25 20 15

BTE (%)

15 10 5 0 0 25 50 LOAD (%)

IP-180 kg / cm2 IP-200 kg /cm2

IP-180 kg / cm2
10

IP-220 kg / cm 2
5

IP-200 kg /cm2 IP-220 kg / cm 2

0 25 50 LOAD (%) 75 100

75

100

Figure 4. Variation of BTE with loads for B100 Figure 5. Variation of BTE with loads for B20 Page 15

International Journal of Emerging trends in Engineering and Development

ISSN 2249-6149 Issue1, Vol. 3(November-2011)

Smoke Density: The variation of smoke density produced during the emission test of the engine for the fuels is presented in Figure 6 and 7. The smoke density is minimum for B20 fuel for all 3 injection pressures and also observed that for all blends the smoke density is lower than that of diesel fuel. Smoke Density is decreased with increase in injector opening pressure at full load condition .

2.5

IP-180 kg / cm2
2.5

IP-200 kg /cm2 IP-220 kg / cm 2

Smoke density (m-1)

IP-180 kg / cm2 IP-200 kg /cm2 IP-220 kg / cm 2

Smoke density (m-1)

1.5

1.5 1

0.5 0 0 25 50 LOAD (%) 75 100

0.5

0 0 25 50 LOAD (%) 75 100

Figure 6. Variation of Smoke density with loads For B100

Figure 7. Variation of Smoke density with loads for B20.

NOx Emission: The variation of NOx with loads for different fuels at 3 opening pressure is presented in Figure 8 and 9. The amount of NOx is increased with increase in load for all fuels. The amount of NO x produced for B100 was recorded as 1250 ppm, which is lower, compared to diesel (1365 ppm) for full load at injection pressure 220 bar. The NOx is increased with increase in diesel percentage in the blend. The NO x emission was increased with increase in injector opening pressure due to the fact that NOx formation is a strongly temperature dependent phenomenon. On an average 8% reduction in NO x was obtained for Biodiesel and its blends as compared to diesel. Similar trends of observations on CO production were also reported while running the diesel engines with Esterified Jatropha oil.

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International Journal of Emerging trends in Engineering and Development

ISSN 2249-6149 Issue1, Vol. 3(November-2011)

The reductions in emissions (CO, smoke density and NO x) could be due to complete combustion of fuel as compared to diesel.

1400 1200 1000

NOx (%)

IP-180 kg / cm2 IP-200 kg /cm2 IP-220 kg / cm 2

1400 1200
NOx (ppm)

IP-180 kg / cm2 IP-200 kg /cm2 IP-220 kg / cm 2

1000 800 600 400 200 0

800 600 400 200 0 0 25 50 LOAD (%) 75 100

25

50 LOAD (%)

75

100

Figure 8. Variation of NOx with loads for B100

Figure 9. Variation of NOx with loads for B20

5. CONCLUSIONS
After Transesterification of Jatropha oil, the kinematic viscosity and specific gravity reduced to 5.86cst and 0.873 from 49.93cst and 0.915 respectively. However, the calorific value of Esterified Jatropha oil increased to 40695 kJ/kg, which is about 8-9% lower than diesel. The brake specific fuel consumption increased with the increase in the concentration of methyl ester in diesel and decreased with the increase in injection pressure. The difference between fuel consumption of Biodiesel blends and diesel was not significant. For all fuels tested, the brake thermal efficiency increased with increase in load and with increase in injection pressure. Maximum brake thermal efficiency in case of Biodiesel was found to be 29.84% for B20 at an injection pressure of 220 bar . While running the

engine with 100% Biodiesel and its blends, emissions such as, smoke density and NO x were reduced as compared to diesel. These reductions of emissions could be due to complete combustion of fuel. With increase in injection pressure, emissions such as NOx, smoke density were reduced for Biodiesel and its blends.

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International Journal of Emerging trends in Engineering and Development

ISSN 2249-6149 Issue1, Vol. 3(November-2011)

REFERENCES

1). Ramesha D.K, B.J. Ranganath, N. Ranapratap Reddy, Dec 2007, Performance and Evolution of Ethanol Conditioned Mahua and Honge oils for IC Engine applications Intl CONICI-2007, JNT University, Andhra Pradesh, India, pp-57=62. 2). Consulateve workshop on Scientific strategy for production of non-edible oils for use as bio-fuels, sutra (Sustainable Transformation of Rural Area), Indian Institute of Science, Bangalire, India, September 6-7,2003. 3).Naveen Kumar, P.B. Sharma, A Sustainable source for production of bio -diesel Journal of science and research, vol 64, November 2005,pp883-889. 4).Natanam. R, Kadirvel. R, and Chandrashekaran. D, Chemical compos tion of Karanja (Pongamia glabra) Kernel and cake as animal feed, Indian Journal of Animal Nutrition,1989, pp270-273. 5). L.C. Meher, D. Vidya Sagar, S.N. Naik, Technical aspects of biodiesel production by Transesterification A review , Journal of Sustainable and Renewable energy Reviews, vol 10,pp248-268, 2006. 6). Heinrich PRANKL, Standardization of Biodiesel a final report march-2000. 7).Narayana Reddy, A. Ramesh, Paremetric studies for improving the performance of Jatropha oil-fuelled compression ignition engine Journal of Renewable energy,vol 31,pp 1994-2016, 2006.

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