Improving the Quality of Rapeed Oil for Use in a Diesel Engine

Abstract

This article presents experimental studies on changing such chemical properties of vegetable (rapeseed) oil, such as viscosity, for its use as a fuel in diesel engines. With the help of hydrothermal technology, samples of vegetable oil were obtained and laboratory studies were carried out on a viscometer, which showed a decrease in viscosity up to 16%. Oil samples were obtained at different pressures up to 90 atm. and temperatures up to 130 C. All samples were passed through a liquid activator installed at the outlet of the reactor, which, due to spargers located in the path of the flow, provided the appearance of a gaseous and liquid mixture with an increased ability to mix and conduct chemical reactions. The reactor was a metal flask with a wall thickness of 10 mm, a volume of 6 liters, with installed temperature and pressure sensors, and a heating element for heating oil. The pressure was provided by a gear pump driven by a 3 kW electric motor. For the safety of testing, an automatic pressure and temperature regulator in the reactor, installed in the control panel, was developed. In order to compare with pure cold-pressed rapeseed oil, comparative tests were carried out on bench equipment of the laboratory, which showed the effectiveness of this technology and obtaining the characteristics of engine operation on rapeseed oil as close as possible to diesel fuel. During the research, quantitative indicators of the ingress of rapeseed oil into the engine crankcase were also determined. When using cold-pressed rapeseed oil, this figure after eight-hour tests at idle at different speeds was 3.21 liters. After the processing of rapeseed oil in the reactor and repeated tests, the oil in the engine crankcase was measured, where it was 1.92 liters, which was 60% of the previous experience