Biodiesel Production Process Using Plasma Method on Engine Performance and Exhaust Gas Emissions

Abstract

Crude Palm Oil is one of the renewable energy sources that is widely used as an environmentally friendly energy source, one form of utilization is by processing crude palm oil into biodiesel. However, biodiesel has drawbacks in terms of performance which is less good than fossil fuels. This study aims to improve the performance of the engine produced by biodiesel and maximize the utilization of crude palm oil in biodiesel. In improving the performance of diesel engines, the treatment method used in producing biodiesel affects the physical properties of the biodiesel produced. This study uses a mixture of Dexlite fuel with plasma biodiesel in a ratio of 1:1, which produces B50 biodiesel. To measure the performance using a TV1 diesel engine and a gas analyzer OPA 100 with a compression ratio of 1:18, 1:14, and a load of 1 kg, 3 kg, 5 kg, 7 kg, and 9 kg. The results showed that the maximum effective power (BP) occurred at a load of 9 kg with a ratio of 1: 14, which was 2.38 kW, and the minimum specific fuel consumption (SFC) occurred at a compression ratio of 1: 18 and loading 9 which is 0.240 Kg/kWh, the maximum volumetric efficiency (ηvo) occurs at 9 kg loading with a compression ratio of 1: 14 with the addition of 0% methanol solvent which is 70.61%, and thermal efficiency (ηth) maximum loading occurred at 9 kg loading with a compression ratio of 1: 18 using 0% methanol solvent, which is 44,74%.