International Journal of Engineering Trends and Technology (IJETT) – Volume 17 Number 3 – Nov 2014
Performance and Emission Analysis of Flex Seed
Oil Blended With Diesel Using Methyl Esters as
Additive On VCR Engine
B.Bharath Kumar1, M.Rajesh2, K.Srinivas3
1
M.Tech Student, Thermal engineering, V.R Siddhartha Engineering College, JNTU
Assistant Professor, Mechanical Engineering, V.R Siddhartha Engineering College, JNTU
3
Assistant Professor, Mechanical Engineering, V.R Siddhartha Engineering College, JNTU
Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh, India
Abstract— Environmental concern and availability of petroleum depletion of fossil fuel reserves have forced researchers to not
fuels have caused interest in the search for alternative fuels for only look into engine optimization, but also find alternative
internal combustion engine. Many alternate fuels are tried by resources to tackle the energy crisis. Biodiesel has gained a
various researches. Based on literature review it is found that for growing interest as one of the most promising solutions. Its
diesel engine Bio Diesel is most promising fuel. In this project primary advantages are biodegradable, renewable, carbon
works prospects and opportunities of utilizing biodiesel and
neutral and do not produce hazardous toxic gases [2]. Among
increasing biodiesel-diesel blend ratio as fuel in VCR diesel
this, biodiesels have received increasing attention as
engine by varying compression ratio to find performance and
exhaust emissions has been practically conducted on(a single alternative fuel because they can be employed in diesel engine
cylinder, direct ignition, four stroke, vertical, water cooled, 1.1 Benefits of biodiesel as an alternate fuel
naturally aspirated, variable compression ratio diesel engine).
Biodiesel is nontoxic, degrades four times faster than
Experiments performed for varying compression ratio i.e. 14 and diesel[1]. Blending of bio-diesel with diesel fuel increases
19 using biodiesel diesel blends with methyl ester as additive engine efficiency[1]. 90% reduction in cancer risks, according
i.e.B20, B30, with load variation from no load to full load and to Ames mutagenicity tests [1]. Biodiesel does not produce
compared with base cases i.e. engine using diesel as a fuel. The green house effects, because the balance between the CO2
parameters which will study in performance brake power, brake emissions and CO2 absorbed by the plants producing
specific fuel consumption and brake thermal efficiency, vegetable oil is equal[1]. The high flash point makes the
mechanical efficiency. In emission hydro carbon, nitrogen oxide, storage safer [1].
sulphur oxide. As per the experimental analysis B30 has better
1.2 Challenges of biodiesel as an alternative fuel
brake thermal efficiency where B30 has better specific fuel
Slight decrease in fuel economy on energy basics (about
consumption and coming to the mechanical efficiency also B30
10%
for pure bio-diesel)[3]. Density is more than diesel fuel
has better for both CR. And coming to emissions lowest NOX
in
cold
weather, but may need to use blends in sub-freezing
emissions are obtained for diesel at CR19 and lowest SO X
conditions[3].
More expensive due to less production of
emissions for B30 at CR14 and the HC emission obtained from
vegetable
oil[3].
the blends is low as compared to diesel.
1.3 Process and Types of biodiesel
Vegetable oil is converted into biodiesel through a
Keywords- Bio fuels, flex seed oil, methyl tert-butyl ether(MTBE),
chemical process that transesterification and produces methyl
engine performance and emissions.
ester or ethyl ester. Palm seed oil, Cotton seed oil, Rape seed
oil, Soybean oil, Sunflower oil, Olive oil, Karanji oil,
I.
INTRODUCTION
Vegetable oil, Jatropha etc.
Diesel engine dates back to 1892 when Rudolf Diesel
1.4 Objective of the study
invented the compression-ignition engine [1]. It is widely used
The aim of the experimentation is to check feasibility of
in power generation, transportation and agricultural machinery
biodiesel
in C.I. engine fuelled with diesel-biodiesel blends as
sectors. As of today, diesel engine is playing a more and more
more
biodiesel
as possible. The experimental work under this
dominant role due to its superior thermal efficiency and fuel
project
consists
of two parts, Generation of base line
economy. However, its exhaust emissions have become the
performance data and emission analysis from the C.I engine
major concerns due to their environmental impacts. As such,
fuelled by diesel, Compare different Diesel-biodiesel blend
emission regulations have been made more and more stringent data with base line data. Optimize the best blend out of given
during the past few years, and this has posed serious different blends.
challenges to the researchers and engine manufacturers. As
advance technologies becoming available, researchers are
LITERATURE SURVEY
looking into new strategies such as common rail fuel injection,
multiple injections and low temperature combustions to
 W.M.Yang et al. studied that the variation of brake
reduce the harmful emissions and increase the engine
power with engine speed at full load conditions for
efficiency. However, the rising oil prices and concerns on the
different tested fuels. It can be seen that the
2
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International Journal of Engineering Trends and Technology (IJETT) – Volume 17 Number 3 – Nov 2014
maximum output power at full load conditions are
nearly the same for B10 and diesel fuel, and a slight
increase in BP is found for B10, indicating an
improved combustion with the addition of biodiesel.
However, when the biodiesel blend ratio is increased
to 50% or 100%, there is an obvious drop in BP at all
engine speeds.
K.J.Chua et al. studied that BSFC can be thought of
as power specific fuel consumption which quantifies
the fuel efficiency. The BSFC of the test engine
while running with diesel, B10, B20, B50 and B100
fuels at full load conditions. It indicates that the
BSFC generally increases with the biodiesel blend
ratio, and the average increase in BSFC over all
engine speeds are 2.1%, 1.5%, 3.5% and 9.6% for
B10, B20, B50 and B100 respectively. The
experimental results show that no general correlation
can be confirmed between the BTE and biodiesel
blend ratio, however, it can be observed that the BTE
values of B100 are consistently lower compared to
diesel under lower load conditions and the
percentage reduction increases as the engine load
decreases. At higher load conditions, B100 even has
a better BTE than diesel.
Raheman (2008) studied the performance of richardo
E6 engine using biodiesel obtained from Mahua
oil(B100) and its blend with high speed diesel at
varying compression ratio, injection timing and
engine loading. The brake specific fuel consumption
and exhaust gas temperature increased, whereas
brake thermal efficiency decreased with increase in
the proportion of biodiesel in the blends for all
compression ratios(18:1-20:1)
Arul mozhi selvan (2009) compared the combustion
characteristics of single cylinder, four stroke, direct
injection variable compression ratio engine under
compression ratios of 15:1, 17:1 and 19:1 when using
diesel and biodiesel-ethanol blends as fuel. It has
been observed that the cylinder gas pressure,
maximum rate of pressure rise and heat release rate
increase with higher ethanol concentration due to
longer ignition delay. The exhaust gas temperature
was found to be less.
mixed with the flexseed oil [4]. The total reaction time was
180 minutes. Almost total conversion to flexseed oil bio diesel
was achieved quickly after a few minutes from the start of the
reaction, depending on the ambient conditions.
The chemical formula for biodiesel Transesterification is:
II.
BIO DIESEL PRODUCTION PROCESS
The chemical process commonly used make bio-oils less
viscous, turning them into “biodiesel” is called
“Transesterification” [8].
A. Description of test rig
The diesel engine is a high speed, four stroke, vertical,
water cooled type. The loading is by means of an electrical
dynamometer. The fuel tank is connected to graduated burette
to measure the quantity of fuel consumed in unit time.
An orifice meter with U-tube manometer is provided along
with an air tank on the suction line for measuring air
consumption. An PEA205 smoke meter is provided for
measuring exhaust gases. The test rig is installed with
ENGINE TEST TED software for obtaining various curves
and results during operation. A gas analyser is used to obtain
the exhaust gas composition.



A. Transesterification Process
Flaxseed oil was used as the raw oil to be transesterified
with methanol in a reacting tank. The temperature values are
below the boiling point of methanol (630C), to prevent the
methanol in the reactant mixture from evaporating [6].
The potassium hydroxide was stirred with methanol for 10
minutes using an electric-magnetic stirrer to form potassium
methoxide, which was then poured into the reacting tank and
ISSN: 2231-5381
B. Properties of biodiesel comparison with diesel
Properties
Flex oil
Pure diesel
Density at150c
(kg/m3)
904.6
843
Viscosity at 400c
(Centi stokes)
11.32
4.3
Flash point
(0C)
190
47
Fire point
(0C)
200
54
Cetane number
52
50-55
Calorific value
( KJ/kg)
37,187
44,800
III.
EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION
In order to evaluate and compare the performances and
emission characteristics of the fuel, the experiments were
conducted using a VCR diesel engine in thermal laboratory.
This section deals with description of the experimental set up,
various instruments and software used for testing.
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International Journal of Engineering Trends and Technology (IJETT) – Volume 17 Number 3 – Nov 2014
B. Results and discussions
B. Test engine specifications
Type: four stroke single cylinder vertical water cooled
diesel engine.
1. Performance characteristics:
The Brake thermal efficiency variation with Brake power
for the flex seed oil blends and diesel are shown in figure1. It
can be seen that in the beginning with increasing load of the
engine the brake thermal efficiency of various concentration
of blends and pure diesel were increased. The maximum brake
thermal efficiency of the engine was 38.2% for flex seed oil
B30 at full load where it is slightly less for diesel. This is due
to improved atomization fuel vaporization, better spray
characteristics and improved combustion through mixture.
TABLE I
Rated power
Rated speed
Bore Dia (D)
Stroke(L)
Compression ratio
Orifice diameter
Coefficient of
discharge(Cd)
3.7 KW
1500 rpm
80 mm
110 mm
12:1 to 20:1
13.6 mm
0.6
A. Test methodology
The present set of experiments was conducted on a 4stroke single cylinder vertical water cooled diesel engine
equipped with a computer. First the maximum torque of
the engine is calculated and the engine is started under no
load condition by hand cranking using de-compression
lever. The engine will run under no load condition for a
few minutes so that the speed stabilizes at rated value.
Now by increasing the load from zero to maximum and
setting the compression ratio to 14 and 19 the respected
values are automatically saved in a computer and also the
exhaust emissions are noted down by using digital gas
analyzer indicator. The two types of blends (B20, B30)
were used in this experiment. The different parameters
required for evaluation of fuel was noted.
Line diagram of experimental setup
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Fig.1 Brake thermal efficiency against Brake power at CR 14
Brake thermal efficiency against load at CR 19 for the flex
seed oil blends and pure diesel is shown in fig.2. It is observed
that the brake thermal efficiency for diesel is found to increase
with increase in load. Among the blends B20 and B30 shows
the maximum brake thermal efficiency is achieved at full load
for B30 i.e., 36.9% than other blends and pure diesel. This
may be due to better combustion and with variation of CR to
maximum the fuel compresses to high temperature.
Fig. 2 Brake thermal efficiency against Brake power at CR 19
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International Journal of Engineering Trends and Technology (IJETT) – Volume 17 Number 3 – Nov 2014
Brake specific fuel consumption at CR 14 for the flex
seed oil blends and pure diesel is shown in fig.3.The plot
reveals that as the load increases the fuel consumption
decreases. The minimum brake specific fuel consumption is
for B30 is 0.24 kg/kw-hr as to that of diesel is 0.25kg/kw-hr.
The brake specific fuel consumption of flex seed oil blend
B30 is low when compared to diesel at full load condition.
the efficiency increased slightly this may be due to decrease in
heat loss due to lower flame temperature of the blends than
that of diesel.
Fig.5 Mechanical efficiency against Brake power at CR 14
Fig.3 Brake specific fuel consumption against Brake power at CR 14
Brake specific fuel consumption at CR 19 for the flex
seed oil blends and pure diesel is shown in fig.4.The plot
reveals that as the load increases the fuel consumption
decreases. The minimum brake specific fuel consumption is
for B30 is 0.25 kg/kw-hr as to that of diesel is 0.26kg/kw-hr.
The brake specific fuel consumption of flex seed oil blend
B30 is low when compared to diesel at full load condition.
Mechanical efficiency at CR 19 for the flex seed oil and
pure diesel is shown in fig5. Here with the increase in load the
mechanical efficiency increases and the maximum mechanical
efficiency is obtained at B30 which is 68.7% and for B20
which is slightly less with 67.2% and comparing with diesel
the efficiency increased slightly this may be due to improved
quality of spray, high reaction activity in the fuel rich zone.
Fig.6 Mechanical efficiency against Brake power at CR 19
Fig.4 Brake specific fuel consumption against Brake power at CR 19
Mechanical efficiency at CR 14 for the flex seed oil and
pure diesel is shown in fig5. Here with the increase in load the
mechanical efficiency increases and the maximum mechanical
efficiency is obtained at B30 which is 66.7% and for B20
which is slightly less with 65.6% and comparing with diesel
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2. Emission Characteristics
The variation of Hydrogen carbon with Brake power of the
engine is shown in fig 7. It is observed that HC Emission
increases with the load and the emission obtained from the
blends is low as compared to diesel. The lowest emission of
blends is 26ppm for B20 and 30ppm for B30.The increased
quantity of fuel at higher loads contributes to higher
hydrocarbon emissions.
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International Journal of Engineering Trends and Technology (IJETT) – Volume 17 Number 3 – Nov 2014
Fig. 7 Hydro carbon emission against Brake power at CR 14
Fig. 9 Nitrogen oxide emission against Brake power at CR 14
The variation of Hydrogen carbon with Brake power of the
engine is shown in fig 8. It is observed that HC Emission
increases with the load and the emission for diesel at no load
condition is some what less but looking at the overall emission
the blends have performed well. Decreases in air fuel ratio
resulting in more un-burned hydrocarbon
The Nitrogen oxide variation with Brake power for the flex
seed oil and diesel are shown fig.10 the Nitrogen oxide
emission are lower for diesel as compared to blends. The
lowest value of NOX was 38ppm at no load for B20 and it was
70.5ppm for diesel and at full load diesel has lowest value of
NOX which is 129ppm when compared with 175ppm of B30.
Higher combustion chamber temperature leads to higher NOX
levels in exhaust
Fig. 8 Hydro carbon emission against Brake power at CR 19
The variation of Nitrogen Oxide with Brake power of the
engine is shown in fig.9. It is observed that Nitrogen oxide
emission increase with increase of load. The Minimum
nitrogen oxide value is 11ppm for Diesel and where as it was
51ppm for B30 and at full load the lowest emission value is
139ppm for diesel. This is a result of accurate mixing of
biodiesel with diesel during combustion.
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Fig. 10 Nitrogen oxide emission against Brake power at CR 19
The Sulphur oxide variation with load for the flex seed oil
and diesel are shown fig.11 the Sulphur oxide emissions are
lower for all the blends for the flex seed oil compared with
diesel. The lowest value of NOX was 141ppm at no load for
B30 and it was 175ppm for diesel and at full load B30 has
lowest value of SOX which is 1813ppm when compared with
2194ppm of diesel. This result depends on oxygen quantity
and fuel viscosity, in turn atomization.
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International Journal of Engineering Trends and Technology (IJETT) – Volume 17 Number 3 – Nov 2014



Fig. 11 Sulphur oxide emission against Brake power at CR 14
The Sulphur oxide variation with Brake power for the flex
seed oil and diesel are shown fig.12 the Sulphur oxide
emissions are lower for all the blends for the flex seed oil
compared with diesel. The lowest value of NOX was 195ppm
at no load for B20 and it was 201ppm for diesel and at full
load B30 has lowest value of SOX which is 2121ppm when
compared with 3255ppm of diesel. This result depends on
oxygen quantity and fuel viscosity, in turn atomization.
Fig. 12 Sulphur oxide emission against Brake power at CR 19
IV.
Conclusions
The performance and emission characteristics of diesel and
biodiesel were investigated on four stroke single cylinder
vertical water cooled diesel engine. The conclusions of this
investigating at are as follows.
 The maximum brake thermal efficiency 38.2% was
observed with the blend B30 at CR14 as compared to
pure diesel and the other blend at the brake power
3.47kw of the engine. This is due to improved
atomization fuel vaporization, better spray
characteristics and improved combustion through
mixture.
 The specific fuel consumption of the 0.24kg/kw-hr
was observed with the blend B30 at CR14 the SFC is
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
lower for above blend than that of other blends and
pure diesel.
Highest mechanical efficiency is observed at CR 19
for B30 which is 68.7% and at CR 14 where it is
66.7%. This may be due to decrease in heat loss due
to lower flame temperature of the blends than that of
diesel.
The lowest Hydro carbon emission of blends is
26ppm for B20 and 30ppm for B30 at CR 14.The
increased quantity of fuel at higher loads contributes
to higher hydrocarbon emissions.
The NOX percentage increased with increase of loads.
The minimum value occurred at Diesel which is
11ppm at CR14 and for B20 it is 38ppm at CR14
which is relatively high but somewhat better. Higher
combustion chamber temperature leads to higher
NOX levels in exhaust
The SOX percentage increased with increase of load
and the lowest value occurred at B30 at CR14 which
is 1813ppm. This result depends on oxygen quantity
and fuel viscosity, in turn atomization.
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