Proceedings of the
International Conference on Mechanical Engineering 2009
(ICME2009) 26- 28 December 2009, Dhaka, Bangladesh

ICME09-TH-30

PRODUCTION AND PERFORMANCE OF BIODIESEL AS AN
ALTERNATIVE FUEL FOR DIESEL ENGINE

A. Forhad , A. R. Rowshan, M. A. Habib, M. A. Islam
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology,
Dhaka, Bangladesh.

ABSTRACT

The increasing demand for fossil fuel can be reduced by introducing renewable and environment friendly bio-fuels, obtained from different vegetable oils. In this study, Soybean oil is used for the production of “bio-diesel” through “Transesterification” reaction. Refined vegetable oil like soybean oil contains less than 0.005% free fatty acid which is very effective for bio-diesel production. Thermo-physical properties of bio-diesel are determined and compared with those of conventional diesel. The density and viscosity of bio-diesel are found higher than diesel, which is considered as the main obstacle for using it directly as CI engine fuel. It can be overcome by preheating. In the present study, preheating technique is employed to the biodiesel blends and their effects on engine performance is investigated on an unmodified direct injection 4 stroke single cylinder engine at different load conditions with rated rpm. Specific fuel consumption increases with the increase of percentage of bio-diesel in the blends at 85ºC preheat temperature. Emission quality of the exhaust gas is tested by using IMR2800P Gas Analyzer. CO2 emission rate shows a decreasing trend with increase of bio-diesel percentage. Unburned O2, excess air, NOx emission also follows the same trend. Technically diesel fuel can be replaced with preheated bio-diesel but the major obstacle is the high cost of Soybean oil relative to diesel fuel.

Keywords: Biodiesel, Transestarification, Diesel Engine, Preheating, Performance, Emission Quality.

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