Diesel Engine Run with Waste Cooking Oil (WCO) and Jatropha Biodiesel Blended Fuel

Abstract

This project has been study the performance of diesel engine which runs with waste cooking oil (WCO) blends with jatropha biodiesel. The presence of jatropha biodiesel improved the fuel properties of WCO in blended fuel. Jatropha biodiesel was prepared through transesterification process from jatropha crude oil (JCO) by adding 20% amount of methanol and seven gram of potassium hydroxide per liter of JCO. The blended ratio of WCO started from 5%, 10%, 15%, 20%, 25% and 30% which were compared to jatropha biodiesel. The properties of blended WCO and jatropha biodiesel than WCO were improved in terms of kinematic viscosity (reduce between 3 to 13%), density (reduce between 6 to 8%) and calorific value (increase between 3.5 to 3.8%) as increases the volume of jatropha biodiesel in the fuel blends. The blended fuels were tested on YANMA L48N diesel engine at constant speed (1500 rpm) but different engine loads of 2 Nm, 3 Nm, 4 Nm, 5 Nm and 6 Nm. The performance of diesel engine with the blended fuel was compared to the petroleum diesel fuel in terms of brake specific fuel consumption (BSFC), Brake Thermal Efficiency (BTE) and exhaust emissions. The exhaust emission characteristics of blended fuels were significant to environmental benefit as the amount of CO2 emission was found reduced approximately between 11 to 33%. This project found that the optimum blending ratio is at low volume of WCO than jatropha biodiesel in the range of 5 to 10%.