Experimental Investigation of the Power Quality of Diesel Engines Operating with Straight Jatropha Curcas Oil

Abstract

Local vegetable oils have become alternative fuels for diesel engines in rural areas of sub-Saharan Africa countries. Many studies have been published on this issue and showed the potential and merits of these renewable fuels. However, most of these studies were mainly focused on energy efficiency, socio-economic and environmental aspects without any allusion to the power quality of engines running with vegetable oils. This paper examines the power quality of diesel engines operating with straight jatropha curcas oil which is one of the main vegetable oils produced in Burkina Faso and mostly used to feed diesel engines in rural electrification. Experimentations have been conducted on a diesel engine of nominal power of 9.2 kW. The diesel engine was equipped with a dual fueling system to operate both with straight jatropha curcas oil and diesel oil. The Power quality parameters of the system under studied namely grid’s voltage and frequency as well as the total voltage harmonic distortions have been investigated and discussed in accordance with the standard EN 50160. The results obtained indicate that straight jatropha curcas oil offers globally a better performance in terms of power quality than diesel oil and could consequently substitute validly this later in diesel engines for the electricity generation.