Performance and emission analysis of a naturally aspirated and supercharged IDI diesel engine using palm methyl ester

ABSTRACT

Tests were conducted on a naturally aspirated and supercharged Indirect Diesel Injection (IDI) diesel engine. An automobile version was used in this experiment, with neat palm biodiesel replacing the diesel fuel. Naturally aspirated and supercharged engine conditions were tallied in the light of the performance and emission evaluation with diesel fuel. Thermal efficiency suffered by 5.28% when the engine is supercharged at maximum load, and it was reduced by 2.94% at 3/4 of the maximum load. This percentage reduction progressively decreased as the load on the engine decreased. There is an obvious increase in the specific fuel consumption with the supercharged engine but it is justified with the increase in the power output. When emissions were measured, the supercharged engine performed better than the naturally aspirated engine. Hydrocarbon and NO_x levels were reduced at the top two loads by more than 2 ppm and more than 100 ppm, respectively. CO levels decreased significantly. CO₂ levels decreased by 5.92% and 4.1% at the two upper loads, respectively. There is a simultaneous decrease in CO₂ and smoke levels, indicating better usage of carbon.

KEYWORDS:

• Indirect diesel injection (IDI)
• naturally aspirated
• supercharging
• palm methyl ester (PME)
• performance and emissions

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.