Renewable Energy 34 (2009) 242245

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Renewable Energy
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/renene

Performance, emission and combustion characteristics of a compression ignition engine operating on neat orange oil
K. Purushothaman a, *, G. Nagarajan b
a b

Department of Mechanical Engineering, St. Peters Engineering College, Chennai, Tamil Nadu 600 054, India Department of Mechanical Engineering, Anna University, Chennai, India

a r t i c l e i n f o
Article history: Received 15 May 2007 Accepted 11 March 2008 Available online 30 June 2008 Keywords: Diesel engine Orange oil Combustion Performance Emission

a b s t r a c t
Biomass derived fuels are preferred as alternate fuels for I.C Engines due to their abundant availability and renewable nature. Fuels such as methanol and ethanol have proved to be suitable alternate fuels in the transport sector. In the present work the performance, emission and combustion characteristics of a single cylinder, constant speed, direct injection diesel engine using orange oil as an alternate fuel were studied and the results are compared with the standard diesel fuel operation. Results indicated that the brake thermal efciency was higher compared to diesel throughout the load spectra. Carbon monoxide (CO) and hydrocarbon (HC) emissions were lower and oxides of nitrogen (NOx) were higher compared to diesel operation. Peak pressure and heat release rate were found to be higher for orange oil compared to diesel fuel operation. 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction Compression ignition engines are employed particularly in the eld of heavy transportation and agriculture on account of their higher thermal efciency and durability. However, diesel engines are the major contributors of oxides of nitrogen and particulate emissions. Hence more stringent norms are imposed on exhaust emissions. Following the global energy crisis in the 1970s and the increasingly stringent emission norms, the search for alternative renewable fuels has intensied. Vegetable oils have been found to be a potential alternative to diesel. They have properties comparable to diesel and can be used to run a compression ignition engine with minor modications [1,2]. The use of vegetable oils will also reduce the net CO2 emissions. Altin Recep et al. studied the effect of vegetable oil fuels and their methyl esters injected in a diesel engine. They observed that vegetable oils lead to problems such as gum formation, ow, atomization and high smoke and particulate emissions [3]. Due to its complex structure and composition, gas phase emissions are higher. Combustion duration and ignition delay increased with vegetable oils as compared to diesel [4]. Attempts have been made in the past to evolve suitable methods for using vegetable oils in diesel engines, for example, transesterication of vegetable oils showed improved performance and

* Corresponding author. Tel.: 91 44 2655 8080; fax: 91 44 2655 5430. E-mail address: purukrishnan@yahoo.co.in (K. Purushothaman). 0960-1481/$ see front matter 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.renene.2008.03.012

reduced emissions. It has been reported that methyl esters of vegetable oils give lower smoke levels with higher thermal efciency [5]. A study showed that the substitution of sunower oil methyl ester for diesel oil resulted in increased pressures and the rate of pressure rise [6]. Similar results were noticed with soybean oil ester as well [7]. Methanol and ethanol are two accepted alternative fuels, which possess the potential to be produced from biomass sources. In order to use these fuels in diesel engines, high compression ratio and ignition assistance devices are required [8,9]. India is an agricultural based country and orange skin is available in large quantities. Hence the disposal of these wastes is a problem. Oil is extracted from orange skin and at present they are used in the manufacture of perfumes, chemicals and so on. Orange oil has been used as a fuel for spark ignition engines, since most of its properties are closer to gasoline. Poola et al. [10] suggested that orange oil and eucalyptus oil can be the potential candidates for spark ignition engines. The high-octane value of these fuels can enhance the octane value of the blend when it is blended with low-octane gasoline. As a result, the knock limited compression ratio (CR) can be increased further. Results indicate that gasolineorange oil blend with catalytic coating performs better when compared to the normal lean burn engine. The percentage improvement in the brake thermal efciency is about 6% with orange oil blend, at 2 kW and 3000 rpm as compared to normal gasoline fuel. The fumigation technique offers the advantage of easy conversion of the diesel engine to work in the dual fuel mode with volatile

K. Purushothaman, G. Nagarajan / Renewable Energy 34 (2009) 242245 Table 1 Chemical composition of orange oil Components Moisture Mineral matter Carbon Hydrogen Nitrogen Sulphur Oxygen Percentage of components Nil Nil 84.28 12.47 0.19 0.007 3.05

243

8 4 5 15 16 14 1 13 7 6

3 11 12 2

10

fuels and vegetable oils. The dual fuel engine with appropriate conversion has superior characteristics than those of straight fuel operation [11]. Orange oils are fumigated up to 35% and high cetane number fuel was injected as pilot fuel for ignition. In this study diesel, Jatropha oil and methyl ester of Jatropha oil are used as pilot fuels [12]. It is reported that the maximum brake thermal efciency for Jatropha oil is 29% with 33% orange oil induction, for methyl ester of Jatropha, it is 30.4% with 31% orange oil induction and for diesel in the dual mode it is 31.5% with 30% of orange oil induction at maximum output. The ame propagation through the orange oil air mixture leads to rapid heat release rates. Signicant reduction in smoke emissions were noticed with orange oil admission. With orange oil carburetion there was an increase in hydrocarbon and carbon monoxide emissions for all the pilot fuel injection. Ignition delay increased with orange oil induction because of the reduction in the intake mixture temperature due to the vaporization of orange oil. In the present work, experiments were conducted to study the performance, emissions and combustion characteristics of orange oil as an alternate fuel in a diesel engine. 2. Test fuel D-limonene is the major component of orange oil. A few common methods used to derive orange oil from orange fruit and peel are (i) juice extraction process, (ii) steam distillation and (iii) cold press. In the market three commercial grades of orange oil are available. These are (i) natural (or) raw orange oil, (ii) two fold orange oil and (iii) ve fold orange oil. Number of folds refers to the number of distillation process carried out in the raw orange oil to increase the purity. Since raw orange oil is cheapest among the different types of orange oils available, it is used in the present study. The chemical composition of orange oil is given in Table 1. The properties of orange oil compared to diesel fuel are shown in Table 2. 3. Experimental setup Experiments were carried out on a single cylinder, air cooled, direct injection stationary diesel engine that has a bore of 87.5 mm, stroke of 110 mm and displacement of 661 cc. The schematic diagram of the experimental setup is shown in Fig. 1. The engine (1) has a rated output of 4.4 kW at 1500 rpm with compression ratio 17.5:1, injection pressure 215 bar and injection timing at 23

Fig. 1. Experimental setup.

before top dead center, as set by the manufacturer. The engine was coupled to an electrical dynamometer (2) to provide the brake load with an electric panel (3). A fuel switching circuit (7) was used to change over from one fuel to another while the engine was running. The fuel consumption was measured with the aid of a burette (5, 6) and a stopwatch arrangement. The exhaust gas temperature was measured using a ChromelAlumel thermocouple (10). The combustion chamber pressure was measured by installing a KISTLER make water cooled piezoelectric pressure transducer (13) that has a sensitivity of 14.80 pC/bar into the cylinder head which was connected to a charge amplier (14) and a TDC encoder (12) xed on the ywheel of the engine. These analogue signals were converted into digital signals and fed to a Cathode Ray Oscilloscope (CRO) (15). A printer (16) was used to get the signal output of CRO. For emission measurements, a Five Gas Analyzer (11) Make KANE International Ltd., QRO-401 Exhaust Gas Analyzer (CO, HC, CO2 NDIR Method, O2, NOx Electro Chemical Method) was used to measure the level of HC, CO2, CO, O2 and NOx. The accuracy of this instrument is 5 ppm and the resolution is 1 ppm.

Experimental setup (Fig. 1) 1. Test engine 2. Dynamometer 3. Panel board 4. Orice ow meter 5. Diesel burette 6. Orange oil burette 7. Fuel shifting valve 8. Diesel tank 9. Orange oil tank 10. Exhaust gas thermocouple 11. Five gas analyzer 12. Crank angle encoder 13. Piezoelectric transducer 14. Charge amplier 15.Cathode ray oscilloscope 16. Printer

Table 2 Comparison of properties of orange oil with diesel Properties Caloric value, kJ/kg Density at 30  C kg/l Viscosity at 40  C, cSt Flashpoint, C by PMCC method Fire point, C by PMCC method Cetane number Diesel 43,000 0.8284 2.7 52 65 49 Orange oil 34,650 0.8169 3.52 74 82 47

4. Results and discussion 4.1. Combustion analysis 4.1.1. Pressure variation Fig. 2 shows the cylinder pressure for the engine run with orange oil and diesel fuel at full load. It is observed that orange oil exhibits a higher cylinder pressure compared to that of diesel fuel. The peak pressure for orange oil is about 80 bar which occurs at

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K. Purushothaman, G. Nagarajan / Renewable Energy 34 (2009) 242245

Heat Release Rate (J/deg CA)

9  CA after top dead center whereas for diesel it is 71 bar which occurs at 4.5  CA after top dead center. Higher peak pressure in the case of orange oil may be attributed to higher ame velocity that leads to a complete combustion of orange oil [10]. Ignition delay is longer for orange oil compared to that of diesel fuel operation. The relative volatility characteristics of orange oil possibly make the physical delay longer than the chemical delay. 4.1.2. Heat release rate The heat release rate at full load is shown in Fig. 3. It is noticed that the heat released during the premixed combustion period is higher for orange oil than the diesel fuel due to longer ignition delay. In addition the oxygen present in the orange oil would result in an increase in the heat release rate in the premixed combustion phase, and this behaviour tends to be more at high engine loads [14]. The peak heat release rate for orange oil is 52 J at top dead center and for diesel it is 39 J at 9  CA before top dead center. 4.1.3. Peak cylinder pressure Table 3 shows the peak cylinder pressure of orange oil and diesel fuel. It is noticed that the peak cylinder pressure of the orange oil is higher than that of the diesel fuel. Higher ignition delay of orange oil would increase the amount of fuel burnt during the premixed combustion phase, while at higher loads more fuel would be burnt during the premixed combustion phase. Hence there is an increase in peak pressure. The peak pressures at full load are 80 bar and 71 bar for orange oil and diesel fuel, respectively. 4.1.4. Maximum rate of pressure rise From Table 3 it can be observed that the maximum rate of pressure rise is higher for the orange oil than the diesel fuel due to longer ignition delay of orange oil. In Fig. 3 it is shown that the heat release rate is more for the orange oil than the diesel fuel. This leads to an increase in the rate of pressure rise for orange oil. For orange oil, the maximum rate of pressure rise is 4.6 bar/ CA and for diesel fuel it is 3.8 bar/ CA at full load. In a compression ignition engine, the rate of pressure rise depends on the combustion rate in the initial stages, which in turn is inuenced by the amount of fuel taking part in the uncontrolled combustion. The uncontrolled or premixed combustion phase is governed by the delay period. It is also affected by the mixture preparation during the delay period. 4.1.5. Maximum heat release rate It is noticed from Table 3 that the maximum rate of heat release of orange oil is the same as that of diesel fuel at lower loads and increases with increase in engine load for orange oil. At full load, the maximum rate of heat release is 52 J/ CA for orange oil and for diesel it is 39 J/ CA.

50

Diesel 100% Orange Oil

30

10

-10 -27 -18 -9 0 9 18 27 36

Crank Angle (degree)

Fig. 3. Variation of heat release rate with crank angle.

This trend may be due to higher ignition delay with better evaporation of orange oil, which would result in an increase in the maximum rate of heat release during the premixed, burning phase. 4.2. Performance analysis 4.2.1. Brake thermal efciency Table 4 shows the brake thermal efciency with brake power for orange oil and diesel fuel. The brake thermal efciency is higher by about 2.4% for orange oil than the diesel fuel at full load because of better evaporation and mixture preparation of the orange oil resulting in rapid heat release rates [12]. It can be seen that the improvement in brake thermal efciency is more signicant at higher brake outputs. It is known that at higher engine brake outputs, the combustion chamber surface is relatively hot and this might assist in better vaporization of the fuel and hence an improvement in the brake thermal efciency [10]. 4.2.2. Brake specic energy consumption Table 4 also shows the brake specic energy consumption with brake power. It is seen that the brake specic energy consumption (BSEC) is lower for orange oil because of better combustion of orange oil which has compensated for the additional energy supplied for the same output. At low load the BSEC is 24 MJ/kW h for diesel and for orange oil it is 21.7 MJ/kW h. At full load the BSEC is 12.7 MJ/kW h for diesel and for orange oil it is 11.3 MJ/kW h. 4.3. Emission analysis 4.3.1. Carbon monoxide The carbon monoxide (CO) emission with brake power is shown in Table 5. Generally, diesel engines produce lower CO due to excess air. The CO emissions are lower for orange oil at all the load conditions compared to diesel fuel because of lower viscosity and complete combustion of orange oil. The smaller fuel droplets would have mixed thoroughly throughout the combustion chamber,

80

Pressure (bar)

60

40 Diesel 100% Orange Oil

Table 3 Comparison of combustion parameters Brake power (kW) Peak in cylinder pressure (bar) Diesel Orange oil 63.6 69.5 75.5 77.5 80.1 Maximum rate of pressure rise (bar/ CA) Diesel 3.44 3.53 3.32 3.48 3.65 Orange oil 3.65 3.99 4.32 4.56 4.61 Maximum rate of heat release (joules/ CA) Diesel 30.8 26.5 22.5 24.0 39.25 Orange oil 33.57 33.03 50.28 45.19 52.42

20

0 -30

-20

-10

10

20

30

40

Crank Angle (degree)

Fig. 2. Variation of cylinder pressure with crank angle.

1.082 2.164 3.247 3.788 4.329

61.33 62.86 67.96 69.53 71

K. Purushothaman, G. Nagarajan / Renewable Energy 34 (2009) 242245 Table 4 Comparison of performance parameters Brake power (kW) Brake thermal efciency (%) Diesel 1.082 2.164 3.247 3.788 4.329 14.96 23.13 27.82 28.51 28.22 Orange oil 16.90 25.22 29.13 29.88 31.70 Brake specic energy consumption (MJ/kW h) Diesel 24.05 15.56 12.93 12.62 12.75 Orange oil 21.30 14.26 12.35 12.04 11.35

245

orange oil thus enhancing the combustion resulting in higher combustion temperature. Another probable reason for the increase in NOx may be due to higher cylinder pressure, which in turn causes higher peak combustion temperature. The NOx emission for orange oil is 16.7 g/kW h and for diesel it is 14.9 g/kW h at full load. 5. Conclusion A single cylinder compression ignition engine was operated successfully using orange oil as an alternative fuel and the performance, emissions and combustion characteristics were compared with diesel fuel. The following conclusions are drawn based on the experimental results:  Orange oil exhibits a longer ignition delay and higher combustion duration compared to diesel. The heat release rate is higher for orange oil than the diesel.  The brake thermal efciency at full load (4.4 kW) is 31.7% for orange oil and 29.3% for diesel.  HC and CO emissions are reduced for orange oil compared to those of diesel.  Smoke emissions are reduced marginally for orange oil than the diesel fuel. For diesel, the smoke is 0.89 BSU at full load and for orange oil it is 0.8 BSU.  NOx emissions are higher for orange oil than the diesel.

hence resulting in complete combustion in addition to the fact that the oxygen present in the orange oil supports the combustion process thereby reducing carbon monoxide. It is noticed that CO varies from 2.7 g/kW h at low load to 0.87 g/kW h at full load for diesel fuel and for orange oil it varies from 2.2 g/kW h at low load to 0.59 g/kW h at full load. 4.3.2. Hydrocarbon The hydrocarbon (HC) emission with brake power for orange oil and diesel is shown in Table 5. The HC level reduces with increase in load for both the fuels. It is seen that the HC emissions for diesel fuel is 0.21 g/kW h at low load and 0.06 g/kW h at full load and for orange oil it is 0.09 g/kW h at low load and 0.02 g/kW h at full load. For orange oil, the HC emissions are lower than that of diesel fuel; this may be due to complete combustion. There are normally some regions within the combustion chamber of an engine fueled with diesel where the mixture is either too lean or too rich to ignite the partially decomposed and oxidized fuel in the exhaust. These unburnt species are collectively known as unburnt hydrocarbon emissions. As the ignition delay period lengthens, for example, due to a reduction in the fuel cetane number, a proportion of the mixture may become over-mixed with air and leaner than lean combustion limit. Often this may occur at the perimeter or periphery of the fuel spray, where vaporized fuel may be stripped off and carried away by the swirling air. This may be the reason for the reduction in HC emission for orange oil than the diesel [15]. 4.3.3. Smoke The smoke emission with power output is shown in Table 5. With orange oil the smoke emission is reduced at all the load conditions. Smoke level at the maximum power output is 0.8 Bosch Smoke Unit (BSU) with orange oil whereas for diesel it is 0.85 BSU. This may be due to more complete combustion and the presence of oxygen in the orange oil. And also at lower load the smoke is 0.05 BSU for orange oil and for diesel it is 0.3 BSU. 4.3.4. Oxides of nitrogen The emission of oxides of nitrogen (NOx) is signicantly inuenced by the cylinder gas temperature and the availability of oxygen during combustion [13]. It is observed from Table 5 that there is an increase in NOx emissions due to the presence of oxygen in the
Table 5 Comparison of emission parameters Brake Carbon power (kW) monoxide (g/kW h) Diesel 1.082 2.164 3.247 3.788 4.329 2.7035 1.7904 0.9247 0.8632 0.8773 Hydrocarbon (g/kW h) Smoke (BSU) Oxide of nitrogen (g/kW h)

Acknowledgements The authors thank the management of St. Peters Engineering College, Avadi, Chennai and College of Engineering, Guindy, Anna University, Chennai for carrying out the experiments. References
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Orange Diesel oil 2.2949 1.3514 0.8557 0.7520 0.5920 0.2151 0.1136 0.0811 0.0739 0.0606

Orange Diesel Orange Diesel Orange oil oil oil 0.0922 0.0469 0.0317 0.0275 0.0243 0.26 0.328 0.457 0.65 0.85 0.05 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 12.6 11.6 12.7 13.7 14.9 20.810 17.585 17.311 17.921 16.738