Comparative performance evaluation of diesel, Amoora rohituka and Calophylluminophyllum biodiesel-ethanol blends in a compression ignition engine

Abstract

The depletion of fossil fuels and increasing environmental concerns have motivated the exploration of biodiesel and ethanol as renewable alternative fuels for diesel engines. The renewable alternative fuels like Amoora rohituka (Amoora) biodiesel, and Calophyllum inophyllum (Surahonne) biodiesel and pure diesel blended with ethanol to know the effect on performance parameters of a single-cylinder, four-stroke CI engine running at a constant speed of 1500 rpm. The ratio of fuels used for the tests are pure diesel (D100), diesel-ethanol blends (D95E5, D92E8, D90E10, D88E12), pure biodiesels, and biodiesel-ethanol blends (B95E5, B92E8, B90E10, B88E12). The performance parameters such as Brake Horse Power (BHP), Brake-Specific Fuel Consumption (BSFC), Brake Thermal Efficiency (BTE), and heat balance were calculated and results were compared with each other. The results revealed that D95E5 achieved the highest BHP (4.796 kW), while D88E12 exhibited the maximum BTE (15.26%). BSFC was lowest for D95E5 (0.502 kg/kW/hr) and highest for Amoora B100 (0.814 kg/kW/hr) and the Heat balance sheet indicated lower unaccounted heat losses for diesel-ethanol blends as compared to biodiesels. Overall, ethanol-diesel blends registered superior performance in terms of engine performance parameters, whereas biodiesel-ethanol blends showed prominence with optimized combinations of fuel blends.