Abstract
Using renewable oxygenated fuels such as ethanol is a proposed method to reduce diesel engine emission. Ethanol has lower density, viscosity, cetane number and calorific value than petroleum diesel (PD). Microalgae oil is renewable, environmentally friendly and has the potential to replace PD. In this paper, microalgae oil (10%) and ethanol (10%) have been mixed and added to (80%) diesel fuel as a renewable source of oxygenated fuel. The mixture of microalgae oil, ethanol and petroleum diesel (MOE20%) has been found to be homogenous and stable without using surfactant. The presence of microalgae oil improved the ethanol fuel demerits such as low density and viscosity. The transesterification process was not required for oil viscosity reduction due to the presence of ethanol. The MOE20% fuel has been tested in a variable compression ratio diesel engine at different speed. The engine test results with MOE20% showed a very comparable engine performance of in-cylinder pressure, brake power, torque and brake specific fuel consumption (BSFC) to that of PD. The NOx emission and HC have been improved while CO and CO2 were found to be lower than those from PD at low engine speed.
Highlights
The increasing demands on fuels have encouraged the researchers and industry to focus on renewable alternative fuels
Microalgae biodiesel 20% was tested in diesel engines by Rinaldini and Mattarelli [1]; the results showed a slight reduction in the engine torque at high load and slight increase in SFC
Al-lwayzy and Yusaf [2] reported no significant difference in tractor diesel engine performance parameters with microalgae biodiesel 20% compared to petroleum diesel (PD), and a significant reduction in CO, CO2 and NOx emission was found when microalgae 20% was used
Summary
The increasing demands on fuels have encouraged the researchers and industry to focus on renewable alternative fuels. Rinaldini and Mattarelli [1] highlighted a current increased pressure on the engine manufacturer to limit the CO2 and other emissions from the diesel engine, which can only be achieved by enhancing the engine technology to increase the energy efficiency and/or reduce the carbon to hydrogen ratio. Renewable oxygenated fuels such as alcohol and vegetable oil are proposed to reduce diesel engine emission. High viscosity was reported to reduce the fuel flow rate, which makes the engine starve for fuel under certain operating conditions, especially at low temperatures [5]. Al-lwayzy and Yusaf [2] reported no significant difference in tractor diesel engine performance parameters with microalgae biodiesel 20% compared to PD, and a significant reduction in CO, CO2 and NOx emission was found when microalgae 20% was used
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