Effect of fatty acid composition on the performance and emission characteristics of an IDI supercharged engine using neat palm biodiesel and coconut biodiesel as an additive

ABSTRACT

This paper studies the effects of Palm Methyl Ester (PME) with Coconut Methyl Ester (COME) additive replacing conventional diesel fuel in a supercharged Indirect Diesel Injection (IDI) engine. Engine efficiency and emission reductions were studied. The main motive behind adding COME to PME in small quantities is to increase the shelf life of the biodiesel, decrease NO_x and improve thermal efficiency. A radical change in fatty acid composition was observed through chromatography tests. The performance and emission characteristics of different additive blends were compared with neat diesel fuel. Experimental analysis revealed that biodiesel with 3% COME additive resulted in significant emission reductions. Apart from zero CO emissions, CO₂, NOx and smoke were reduced by 1.54%, 44 ppm and 37.6 HSU, respectively. Brake thermal efficiency was increased by 2.35% when the engine was run at maximum load defined arbitrarily without throttle control.

KEYWORDS:

• Palm biodiesel
• coconut biodiesel
• fatty acid composition
• supercharging
• IDI engine
• performance and emissions

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.