Performance of direct-injection off-road diesel engine on rapeseed oil

Abstract

This article presents the comparative bench testing results of a naturally aspirated, four stroke, four cylinder, water cooled, direct injection Diesel engine operating on Diesel fuel and cold pressed rapeseed oil. The purpose of this research is to study rapeseed oil flow through the fuelling system, the effect of oil as renewable fuel on a high speed Diesel engine performance efficiency and injector coking under various loading conditions. Test results show that when fuelling a fully loaded engine with rapeseed oil, the brake specific fuel consumption at the maximum torque and rated power is correspondingly higher by 12.2 and 12.8% than that for Diesel fuel. However, the brake thermal efficiency of both fuels does not differ greatly and its maximum values remain equal to 0.37–0.38 for Diesel fuel and 0.38–0.39 for rapeseed oil. The smoke opacity at a fully opened throttle for rapeseed oil is lower by about 27–35%, however, at the easy loads its characteristics can be affected by white coloured vapours. Oil heating to the temperature of 60 °C diminishes its viscosity to 19.5 mm 2 s −1 ensuring a smooth oil flow through the fuel filter and reducing the brake specific energy consumption at light loads by 11.7–7.4%. Further heating to the temperature of 90 °C offers no advantages in terms of performance. Special tests conducted with modified fuel injection pump revealed that coking of the injector nozzles depends on the engine performance mode. The first and second injector nozzles that operated on pure oil were more coated by carbonaceous deposits than control injector nozzles that operated simultaneously on Diesel fuel.