Experimental investigations of comparative performance, emission and combustion characteristics of a cottonseed biodiesel-fueled four-stroke locomotive diesel engine

Abstract

A large-bore, four-stroke, medium-speed, compression-ignition railway traction locomotive engine was fueled with cottonseed methyl ester (Biodiesel). The cottonseed methyl ester was stored for 6 months under ordinary storage conditions, and various fuel properties of this seasoned cottonseed methyl ester were evaluated. Various blends of cottonseed methyl ester (B10, B20, B50 and cottonseed methyl ester) were evaluated for engine performance, emissions and combustion characteristics of the locomotive engine compared to baseline diesel. Correlation of the fuel-injection performance parameters with the physical properties of biodiesel has been carried out. The engine was able to operate on cottonseed methyl ester without noticeable power loss. With cottonseed methyl ester, the thermal efficiency decreased marginally by 0.7% and the brake-specific energy consumption increased by 0.1 MJ/kWh at the rated power. Due to the lower calorific value of biodiesel, brake specific fuel consumption (BSFC) increased by 13.4% at eighth engine notch, nitrogen oxide emissions increased by 8% and particulate matter emissions decreased by 32% vis-a-vis mineral diesel. Nitrogen oxide emissions were found to be a function of injection timings, global oxygen/carbon ratios, time of the maximum mean in-cylinder temperatures and apparent heat release. Particulate matter emissions were found to depend on the air–fuel mixture’s oxygen/carbon ratio, fuel bound oxygen and fuel-injection pressure. The experiments were carried out to evaluate the in-cylinder pressure, heat-release rate, cumulative heat release, fuel-injection pressure, needle lift and fuel-injection velocities. Increased fuel-injection pressures (1000 bar compared to 900 bar for mineral diesel), advanced fuel-injection timings, shorter combustion duration, advanced in-cylinder pressures and higher heat-release rates were observed for biodiesel and blends. The findings of the present study have provided further insights into the combustion of biodiesel in locomotive engines.

Potential for using a tyre pyrolysis oil-biodiesel blend in a diesel engine at different compression ratios

“…At full load, the values of the HRR for diesel and the blend are found to be about 56. 4 The HRR of 55.6 J/°CA is obtained for the blend at the compression ratio of 18.5, which is 10.3% higher than that of the original compression ratio at full load. The higher compression ratio enhanced the HRR for the blend due to the reduction in viscosity, and this might promote a better spray formation as the intake air temperature increases with a higher compression ratio [35].…”

“…In order to overcome these problems extensive research works were carried out in the last two decades. Several researchers suggested that the use of liquid biofuels in small quantities with the conventional diesel fuel or as a sole fuel after a necessary fuel or engine modification would certainly help to solve these problems [3,4]. Biodiesel, in particular has a significant potential to be used as an alternative fuel for CI engines.…”

Review of Experimental and Computational Studies on Spray, Combustion, Performance, and Emission Characteristics of Biodiesel Fueled Engines

“…In the investigations of optimization of SoI timing, 2 deg crank angle (CA) retardation in SoI timing resulted in 2.8% increase in peak torque and 5% Fig. 17 Effect of Karanja biodiesel blend concentration on engine brake torque [128] Cottonseed biodiesel Decreased Increased [127] Journal of Energy Resources Technology DECEMBER 2018, Vol. 140 / 120801-13 reduction in peak cylinder pressure for B50 (Soybean biodiesel blend) in comparison to standard injection timing for mineral diesel, while 1 deg CA retardation in SoI for B100 resulted in negligible increase in torque and 4.4% reduction in peak cylinder pressure.…”

Effect of Injection Parameters: Injection Timing and Injection Pressure on the Performance, Emission and Combustion Characteristics of CRDI Diesel Engine Operate with Palm Oil Methyl Ester (POME)

“…Some of emission norms are developed by various agencies to control the pollution from diesel engines (Mani et al, 2011). To resolve all problems of CI engines, many research works has been carried out worldwide with various fuel combinations and injection strategies (Atmanli et al, 2014;Gautam and Agarwal, 2013). Trans-esterified biodiesel fuel has very stringent potential in CI engines, hence as many as countries uses the varieties of edible and non-edible oils such as palm, soybean, Jatropha curcas, pongamia pinnata and linseed °BTDC IT as compared with base line shape in diesel engine (Kumar, 2017).…”