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Abstract
This research is aimed to investigate experimentally the performance, and exhaust emission characteristics of a direct injection (DI) diesel engine when fuelled with rice bran oil biodiesel (RBD) and its 2.5%, 5%, and 7.5% ethanol blends over the entire load range. The experimental test results showed that the maximum brake thermal efficiency was obtained with 2.5% ethanol blended with RBD and are 6.98% and 3.93% higher than that of diesel fuel (DF) and biodiesel, respectively, at full load of the engine. Among the ethanol blends the minimum brake specific fuel consumption of 0.339 was observed with 2.5% ethanol. The exhaust gas temperature of the biodiesel was reduced by the ethanol blending. The lowest carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons and unused oxygen emissions were recorded with 2.5% ethanol blend. The smoke of the biodiesel was reduced by 20% when blended with 7.5% of ethanol. The intensity of sound with biodiesel and its ethanol blends was lower than that of DF at full load of the engine. The maximum reduction of smoke was 27.47% with 2.5% ethanol blending. Hence the 2.5% ethanol blended with biodiesel could improve the performance and reduce the emissions of the diesel engine.
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