Performance and emission analysis on blends of diesel, restaurant yellow grease and n-pentanol in direct-injection diesel engine

Abstract

Yellow grease from restaurants is typically waste cooking oil (WCO) free from suspended food particles with free fatty acid (FFA) content less than 15%. This study proposes an approach to formulate a renewable, eco-friendly fuel by recycling WCO with diesel (D) and n-pentanol (P) to improve fuel-spray characteristics. Three ternary blends (D50-WCO45-P5, D50-WCO40-P10 and D50-WCO30-P20) were selected based on the stability tests and prepared with an objective to substitute diesel by 50% with up to 45% recycled component (WCO) and up to 20% bio-component (n-pentanol) by volume. The fuel properties of these ternary blends were measured and compared. The emission impacts of these blends on a diesel engine were analysed in comparison with diesel and D50-WCO50 (50% of diesel + 50% of WCO) under naturally articulated and EGR (exhaust gas recirculation) approaches. Doping of n-pentanol showed improved fuel properties when compared to D50-WCO50. Viscosity is reduced up to 45%. Cetane number and density were comparable to that of diesel. Addition of n-pentanol to D50-WCO50 presented improved brake specific fuel consumption (BSFC) for all ternary blends. Brake thermal efficiency (BTE) of D50-WCO30-P20 blend is comparable to diesel due to improved atomization. Smoke opacity reduced, HC emissions increased and CO emissions remained unchanged with doping n-pentanol in the WCO. NOx emission increases with increase in n-pentanol and remained lower than diesel and all load conditions. However, NOx can be decreased by up to threefold using EGR. By adopting this approach, WCO can be effectively reused as a clean energy source by negating environmental hazards before and after its use in diesel engines, instead of being dumped into sewers and landfills.

Experimental Investigation on the Effect of Ignition Enhancers in the Blends of Sapota Biodiesel/Diesel Blends on a CRDi Engine

“…Joy et al concluded that the emissions level decreased by the doping of alcohol in biodiesel at all load conditions because the high amount of oxygen gratified the ratio of air/fuel mixtures and enhanced atomization. Ravikumar and Saravanan concluded that smoke emission dropped at each load condition by adding n-pentanol into the blends due to better spray characteristics and atomization of fuel, which helped to reduce the viscousness of mixtures . In biodiesel, the mixing of butanol leads to decrease of smoke emission at all loads.…”

Emission and performance study emulsified orange peel oil biodiesel in an aspirated research engine

“…NO x emissions should be controlled by suitable methods to meet the emission standards (Anbarasu et al 2015). Among many techniques, an emulsion process is preferred for the instantaneous decrease in PM and NO x emissions for a biodiesel-fueled diesel engine (Ravikumar and Saravanan 2016). In this process, water is mixed with the biodiesel in a certain percentage in the presence of a nonionic surfactant, which emulsifies water and biodiesel to improve the stability of the mixture (Melo-Espinosa et al 2015; Anbarasu and Karthikeyan 2016; Appavu and Venkata Ramanan 2018).…”

Utilization of Pentanol as Biofuels in Compression Ignition Engines

“…With an objective to substitute diesel fuel by 50% with up to 45% WCO (restaurant yellow grease) and up to 20% npentanol, three ternary blends (D50WCO45P5, D50WCO40P10, and D50WCO30P20) were selected by Ravikumar and Saravanan (2017) and Dhanasekaran et al (2017) to investigate the performance, combustion, and emissions of a stationary CI engine. Addition of n-pentanol showed viscosity reduction of up to 45% and CN and density comparable to those of diesel.…”