Combustion Behavior of Off-Highway CI Engines Using Biodiesel 2009-26-0035

The sales of diesel powered vehicles are increasing day by day, so is the demand for diesel fuel. In contradiction, worldwide sources of diesel fuel are diminishing at a rapid pace and are expected to last no longer than few decades. In this situation, Biodiesel has come up as a promising alternative for diesel fuel and research in automotive industry will be focused on development of combustion systems utilizing Biodiesel as working substance, replacing conventional diesel fuel. Theoretical analysis and experimentation was done to explore various characteristics of Biodiesel as fuel in Internal Combustion (CI) engines. This paper focuses on Injection and combustion analysis and exhaust emission analysis of Biodiesel as fuel. Blends of Biodiesel with conventional diesel with proportion of Biodiesel varying from 5 - 100% were used for the analysis. Combustion parameters like injection pressure, Start of Injection (SOI), Start of Combustion (SOC), Ignition delay were studied for various blends in injection and combustion analysis. Reduction in ignition delay, advancement of SOI and SOC were observed with increasing proportion of Biodiesel with those of conventional diesel. Finally, emission tests were conducted on CI engine with different blends of Biodiesel and conventional diesel. Trends of the emission were in agreement with the findings of combustion analysis. Emission of soot, which is typical for CI engine was reduced with increasing percentage of Biodiesel, engine performance comparable to that with conventional diesel can be achieved. Biodiesel has the potential to replace diesel as fuel for CI engines in the near future.