Use of an additive in biofuel to evaluate emissions, engine component wear and lubrication characteristics

Abstract

This paper presents the results of experiments carried out to evaluate the effect of adding an anticorrosion additive to blended biofuel and lubricating oil on emissions, engine component wear and lubrication characteristics. The blended biofuels consist of 7.5 and 15 per cent palm olein (PO) with ordinary diesel oil (OD). Pure OD was used for comparison purposes. Exhaust emission gases such as NOx, CO and hydrocarbons (HCs) were measured by an exhaust emission analyser for engine operation on 50 per cent throttle at speeds of 800-3600 r/min. To measure engine component wear and lubricating oil characteristics, the engine was operated at 50 per cent throttle at a speed of 2000 r/min for a period of 100 h with each of the fuel samples. The same lubricating oil, conventional SAE 40, was used in all the fuels. A multielement oil analyser (MOA) was used to measure the increase in wear of metals (Fe, Cu, Al, Pb) and the decrease in lubricating oil additives (Zn, Ca) in the lubricating oil used. An ISL automatic Houillon viscometer (ASTM D445) and potentiometric titration (ASTM D2896) were used to measure viscosity and total base number (TBN) respectively. The results show that the addition of anticorrosion additive with biofuel and lubricating oil improves the emission and engine wear characteristics; both the exhaust emission gases (NOx, CO and HCs) and the wear of metals (Fe, Cu, Al and Pd) decrease with the blended fuels in comparison with the base fuel OD. Detailed results, including engine brake power, are discussed.