Performance and Emission Characteristics of a Di Diesel Engine Fuelled with Cashew Nut Shell Oil (CNSO)-Diesel Blends with Diethyl Ether as Additive

Abstract

Cashew nut shell oil (CNSO) is potential alternative fuel for diesel engine. Its drawback is incomplete combustion and low brake thermal efficiency (BTE) due to high viscosity. To overcome this problem the CNSO was blended with diethyl ether (DEE) which is less viscous and burns easily. The influence of blends on CO, NOx and smoke emission is investigated by emission tests. The fuel containing 20% CNSO and 80% diesel fuel (B20), 95% B20 and 5% DEE by volume (B20D5), 90% B20 and 10%DEE by volume (B20D10) 85% and B20 and 15% DEE by volume (B20D15) are tested. Initially the experiment was conducted with different blends of CNSO-diesel blends like 10%, 20%, & 30% by volume basis in a diesel engine.The aim for the research of alternative fuel is to replace the sufficient amount of diesel fuel without affecting the existing engine performances. Increasing CNSO diesel blends performances reduces marginally. B10 shows more closer performances to diesel fuel, but replacement of 10% only diesel is not much. Using B30 and higher blends gives poor result. Hence it was decided to be B20. In the second stage B20 as a base fuel and it is blended with DEE 5%, 10% & 15% by volume basis at different load conditions. The result shows that B20D15 has BTE 26.50% which is very close to the base diesel fuel. The B20D15 emits 1200 PPM of NOx while diesel emits 1195 PPM but B20 emits 1450 PPM of Nox. Carbon monoxide (CO) emission also reduces for different blends of DEE. The smoke emission is 3.96, 3.38, 3.15 FSN of B20, B20 D15 and diesel respectively.