Elsevier

Applied Energy

Volume 88, Issue 11, November 2011, Pages 3694-3703
Applied Energy

Effect of metal based additive on performance emission and combustion characteristics of diesel engine fuelled with biodiesel

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2011.04.043Get rights and content

Abstract

This study investigates the use of ferric chloride (FeCl3) as a fuel borne catalyst (FBC) for waste cooking palm oil based biodiesel. The metal based additive was added to biodiesel at a dosage of 20 μmol/L. Experiments were conducted to study the effect of ferric chloride added to biodiesel on performance, emission and combustion characteristics of a direct injection diesel engine operated at a constant speed of 1500 rpm at different operating conditions. The results revealed that the FBC added biodiesel resulted in a decreased brake specific fuel consumption (BSFC) of 8.6% while the brake thermal efficiency increased by 6.3%. FBC added biodiesel showed lower nitric oxide (NO) emission and slightly higher carbon dioxide (CO2) emission as compared to diesel. Carbon monoxide (CO), total hydrocarbon (THC) and smoke emission of FBC added biodiesel decreased by 52.6%, 26.6% and 6.9% respectively compared to biodiesel without FBC at an optimum operating condition of 280 bar injection pressure and 25.5o bTDC injection timing. Higher cylinder gas pressure, heat release rate and shorter ignition delay period were observed with FBC added biodiesel at these conditions.

Highlights

Diesel engine was investigated using FBC added biodiesel. ► The chosen fuels showed identical brake thermal efficiency as that of diesel fuel. ► Lower emission characteristics were achieved using FBC added biodiesel. ► Test fuels yielded higher cylinder pressure and heat release rate at full load. ► FBC added biodiesel can be used as an alternative to diesel.

Introduction

Exploration of non-conventional energy sources are continuously expanding owing to the increasing demands in the use of petroleum product, mounting petroleum price, global climatic changes and environmental pollution [1], [2], [3]. Biodiesel is a well known alternative for diesel and has an advantage over the later because of its biodegradable and less toxic nature, superior lubricity and better emission characteristics [4], [5], [6]. However, manufacturing cost of biodiesel is high due to the cost of vegetable oil. 78% of biodiesel production cost depends up on the corresponding feed stock [5]. Use of non edible oil as a feed stock for biodiesel production is also restricted because using agricultural lands for biodiesel production indirectly affects food production. Reuse of waste cooking palm oil (WCO) not only lowers the production cost of biodiesel significantly but also helps in waste disposition public sewer maintenance and oily waste water treatment. Large quantities of WCO was obtained from restaurants, food processing industries and fast food shops to carry out this experiment.

Many researchers have produced biodiesel from waste cooking oils by an alkali-catalyzed transesterification process [5], [7], [8], [9], [10]. Free fatty acid (FFA) content of the WCO was within the acceptable limit (0.5–5%) for alkaline esterification [11], [12], [13]. Potassium hydroxide (KOH) and sodium hydroxide (NaOH) are the most commonly used alkali catalysts but higher yield has been reported with KOH [14], [15]. Methanol and ethanol are the alcohols generally used in transesterification process. However methanol was preferred for the biodiesel production due to its low cost and higher reactivity compared to ethanol [16], [17].

Based on various researches conducted earlier, it is found that the biodiesel fuelled engines emit less carbon monoxide, total hydrocarbon, and particulate matter (PM) as compared to diesel but there is a slight increase in nitric oxide (NO) emission [18], [19]. Reduction of NO can be attained while using biodiesel can be achieved by improving the diesel engine design and combustion chamber. But the reduction rates achieved have not been adequate to meet the emission standards. Further reduction in emission and improvement in engine efficiency can be achieved by use of fuel additives. Metal based additives have been employed as combustion catalyst to promote the combustion and to reduce fuel consumption and emissions for hydrocarbon fuels. These metal based additives include cerium (Ce), cerium–iron (Ce–Fe), platinum (Pt), platinum–cerium (Pt–Ce), iron (Fe), manganese (Mn), barium, calcium and copper [20]. The reduction of emission while using metal based additive may be either due to the fact that the metals react with water vapour to produce hydroxyl radicals or serve as an oxidation catalyst thereby reducing the oxidation temperature that results in increased particle burnout [21], [22], [23].

Kelso et al. [24] investigated the effect of platinum based additive on diesel engine and the results revealed that the use of platinum based additive improved BSFC and reduced CO and UHC emission. May and Hirs [25] performed tests on compression ignition engine using iron-manganese catalyst and it was noticed that there was more efficient combustion which resulted in increased power, improved fuel economy and reduced smoke emissions. Keskin et al. [26] analyzed the effects of tall oil biodiesel with Mn and Ni based additives on fuel consumption and emissions. It was found that there was a reduction in CO emission and smoke opacity. Okuda et al. [27] examined the effect of platinum–cerium bi metallic fuel additives on the diesel engine exhaust particle. It was observed that the use of additives significantly reduced the emission of particulates and carbonaceous particle. Guru et al. [28] determined the influence of Mg based additive on diesel engine using waste chicken fat biodiesel. The tests results showed that the engine torque was not changed significantly with the addition of 10% chicken fat biodiesel, while the specific fuel consumption increased by 5.2%. CO and smoke emissions decreased by 13% and 9% respectively, although NO emissions increased by 5%. Kalam et al. [29] discussed the effect of palm biodiesel with Nonyl phenoxy acetic acid (NPAA) additive on diesel engine. It was found that higher brake power and lower specific fuel consumption could be achieved with use of NPAA additive compared to diesel. Reduction in NO, CO and HC emissions were also observed. Gvidonas and Stasys [30] examined the influence of fuel additive on performance and exhaust emissions when operating on shale oil. The results revealed that there was reduction in NO, HC emissions along with slight increase in CO with the use of multifunctional fuel additives. Our present study demonstrates the effect of metal based additive on performance, emission and combustion characteristics of direct injection diesel engine powered by waste cooking palm oil based biodiesel at different engine operating conditions.

Section snippets

Materials and methods

The waste cooking palm oil (WCO) was obtained from a local restaurant near Dindigul, Tamilnadu, India. Analytical reagent (AR) grade catalyst and methanol were used for the transesterification process. The base catalyst KOH was used in pellet form. A four-necked round bottom glass flask with a capacity of five liter was employed as a batch reactor for the production of biodiesel from WCO. This reactor was equipped with Liebig condenser, a mechanical stirrer with tachometer, a thermometer pocket

Engine setup and measurements

The experimental investigation were carried out on a single cylinder, four-stroke water cooled, naturally aspirated, direct injection diesel engine. A schematic representation of experimental set up is shown in Fig. 1. The engine had a compression ratio of 17.5:1 and was capable of developing 5.2 kW power at a constant speed of 1500 rpm. The injection nozzle has 3 holes of diameter 0.3 mm each with a spray angle of 120°. The injector opening pressure and static injection timing as specified by the

Fuel properties

The effect of FBC on kinematic viscosity, pour point and flash point of biodiesel was investigated by dosing the metal based additive from 5 to 50 μmol/L in increments of 5 μmol/L to biodiesel. The comparison between the fuel properties of biodiesel with and without additive is presented in the Table 3. The fuel properties of biodiesel with the metal based additive were determined at Indian Oil Corporation Limited, Trichy, India. FBC added biodiesel showed slight improvement in cetane index and

Conclusions

The main objective of the study was to investigate the effect of metal based additive on direct injection diesel engine performance, emission and combustion characteristics at different operating conditions. Based on the results, the following conclusions can be drawn:

  • (1)

    Slight improvement in BSFC, BSEC and brake thermal efficiency was observed with FBC added biodiesel at optimized operating condition.

  • (2)

    Although slight increase in NO and CO2 emission was observed with FBC added biodiesel compared to

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