Author : M.V.S. Murali Krishna, D. Srikanth, and P.Ushasri

Increased environmental awareness and depletion of resources are driving industry to develop alternative fuels that are environmentally more acceptable Investigations were carried out to evaluate the performance of a low grade low heat rejection (LHR) diesel engine with ceramic coated cylinder head with different operating conditions [normal temperature and pre-heated temperature] of cotton seed biodiesel with varied injector opening pressure and injection timing. Performance parameters [brake thermal efficiency, brake specific energy consumption, exhaust gas temperature, coolant load and volumetric efficiency] were evaluated at different values of brake mean effective pressure (BMEP) of the engine. Comparative studies were made with conventional engine (CE) with biodiesel and also with mineral diesel operation working on similar operating conditions. Engine with LHR combustion chamber improved its performance when compared with CE with biodiesel operation. Engine with LHR combustion chamber at optimum injection timing of 30o bTDC with biodiesel operation increased peak brake thermal efficiency by 7%, decreased coolant load at full load by 15% and reduced volumetric efficiency at full load by 6% in comparison with CE with neat diesel operation at manufacturer’s recommended injection timing of 27o bTDC.

Keywords: Crude vegetable oil; biodiesel, LHR combustion chamber, fuel performance

Article published in International Journal of Current Engineering and Technology, Vol.4, No.6 (Dec-2014)