Experimental Evaluation of an Unmodified Diesel

Engine using Biodiesel with Fuel Additive

H.H. Masjuki, M.A. Kalam*, M. Syazly, T.M.I Mahlia., A.H. Rahman, M. Redzuan, M. Varman
R. Saidur, and Y.H. Yau
Tribology and Engine Testing Laboratory
Department of Mechanical Engineering
University of Malaya
50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Abstract - This paper presents experimental results carried out used as fuel (B100). In 2005, Malaysia produced over 16
to evaluate the brake power, specific fuel consumption (SFC) and million tonnes of crude palm oil and the government is trying
exhaust gas emissions when running on an unmodified diesel to convert 500,000 tonnes into biodiesel. Currently, 10 percent
engine with fuel additive blended biodiesel. The multi-functional of palm oil production has been allocated for biodiesel project.
fuel additive was added (in mass basis) with B20 (20% biodiesel
and 80% ordinary diesel fuel) in a special manner to increase
Biodiesel (palm oil based) has been tested locally [1, 2] and
engine brake power. For comparisons three fuels were tested in internationally [3] as B20 and B100 form. The results showed
this investigation which are (1) B20X where X is the percentage of that B20 produces lower brake power and increases wear after
fuel additive, (2) B20 and (3) BO (0% biodiesel and 100% long duration of engine operation. The fuel B100 produces
ordinary diesel fuel). The stationary engine test bed used consists higher NOx and lower brake power due to higher °2 and water
of a multi-cylinder diesel engine, eddy current dynamometer with content. This paper will presents detailed test results of B20
computer control data acquisition system and exhaust emissions with additive to over come the above problems.
analyzer. The exhaust emissions such as CO, HC, and NOx were
measured using exhaust gas analyzer. It is found that B20X
produces higher performance (brake power) with reduction in II. EXPERIMENTAL SETUP AND TEST PROCEDURES
exhaust emissions and fuel consumption as compared to B20 and
BO fuels. Fuel "B20X" could be a 'breakthrough' and the real An indirect injection (IDI) Isuzu diesel engine was used in
solution as an alternative fuel for existing unmodified diesel this investigation. The major specifications are Bore -84 mm,
engine. Detail results including B20X fuel's physicochemical Stroke -82 mm, 4 Cylinders, Compression ratio 21 and
properties are presented with discussions. maximum power 39 kW at 5000 rpm. A variable speed range
from 1000 rpm-4000 rpm with half-throttle setting was
selected for performance test to measure brake power and SFC.
Keywords. Additive, Biodiesel, Emissions, Performance and The emission test was done with constant 50 Nm load at
Standardization. constant 2250 rpm engine speed. The same test procedure and
practice were followed for all the test fuels. A Bosch gas
*Corresponding Author: (M.A.Kalam) analyzer model ETT 008.36 was used to measure HC and CO
emissions. A Bacharach model CA300NSX gas analyzer
(Standard version, k-type probe) was used to measure NOx
I. INTRODUCTION concentration in vppm (parts per million by volume). The
major properties for all the used fuels can be seen in Table 1.
Biodiesel is becoming a new renewable and alternative fuel
to be used for heating, transportation and electricity generation. TABLE I
Biodiesel-world primarily consists of ten to fifteen countries MAJOR PROPERTIES OF FUELS
with various types of vegetable oil. The total production of Items BO B20 B20X
biodiesel from various type of vegetable oils is about 2 to 3 High calorific value, MJ/kg 46.80 45.40 45.87
million tones. The details production of biodiesel in oc Kinematic viscosity, cStA40 3.60 3.97-4.13 3.85-4.22
countrywide can be found elsewhere [1]. cetane number 53 51 51
Malaysian government is trying to build a biodiesel plant (with Specific density, g/cm3 0.832 0.848 0.843-0.858
budgetary cost about US$ 60 million) to produce biodiesel A. Additive
from palm oil. This plant will produce two types of fuel: (1)
Blending petroleum diesel (950 o) with palm oil (50 o) for local The fuel B20 was treated with 1% of Octylated/butylated
usage without any modification in diesel engines; and (2) To diphenylamine antioxidant to make additive added biodiesel
convert palm oil into methyl ester (biodiesel) which can be such as B20X. This antioxidant helps combustion at low

1-4244-0427-4/06/$20.00 ©2006 IEEE - 96 - Oct. 18 - Oct. 20, 2006 IFOST2006

temperature as it absorbs heat from short chain fatty acid
during combustion. The properties of the antioxidant are; (a)
Viscosity at 40 °C - 280 (mm2/s), (b) Density at 20 °C - 0.98
(g/m3), (c) Flash point (°C) - 185.
B. Anti Wear Characteristics
Anti wear characteristics of BO, B20 and B20X
contaminated lubricants in terms of coefficient of friction, wear
scar diameter of used balls, flash temperature parameter (FTP)
were obtained using a tribometer such as using a four ball wear
machine. The four ball wear machine was used as required by
standard IP-239. This is a simple test rig for testing the anti-
wear properties of used lubricating oils. It consists of a device
12.28 kW from B20X fuel followed by 11.93 kW (BO) and
11.8 kW (B20). This can be attributed to the effect of fuel
additive in B20 blend which influences the conversion of
thermal energy into work or increases the fuel conversion
efficiency by improving the fuel ignition and combustion
quality (complete combustion).
12
5
11.5
O

by means of which a ball bearing is rotated in contact with m

three fixed ball bearings which are immersed in the sample. 11
Different loads are applied to the balls weights on a load lever
that gives a correlative pressure-act similar to the condition in 10.5'
the piston cylinder frictional zone. Hence, the results obtained i ooo 1 500 2000 2500 3000 3500 4000
from four balls test machine will give an indication of fuel's Engine speed [revlmin]
contaminated lube oil quality that is being used in the engine.
Lubricants sample composition is shown in Table 3. The Fig. 1. Brake power output vs. engine speed
detailed about four-ball experimental setup can be seen
elsewhere [4]. Specific Fuel Consumption
Figure 2 shows specific fuel consumption (SFC) for all the
TABLE II fuels. It can be seen that the behavior of fuels B20 and B20X
LUBRICANT TEST SAMPLE SPECIFICATIONS FOR TESTING OF FOUR BALL MACHINE
are similar as BO fuel until the engine speed of 2250 rpm. After
that, fuel consumption of B20 increases. Fuel B20X shows
similar SFC as BO fuel until engine speed of 3500 rpm.
No Sample Specifications
1 BO 100% commercial lubricant (SAE 40 grade) 1 ooo
2 1%B20 1% of fuel B20 and 99% of pure lubricant 900 -BO
3 2%B20 2% of fuel B20 and 98% of pure lubricant - 820
4 3%B20 3% of fuel B20 and 97% of pure lubricant 800 - B20X
5 1%B20X 1% of fuel B20X and 99% of pure lubricant 700
6 2%B20X 2% of fuel B20X and 98% of pure lubricant
7 3o%B20X 03% of fuel B20X and 97% of pure lubricant O 600

5001
III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 4001
300
All the tests and data analysis were performed for different 1 000 1 500 2000 2500 3000 3500 4000
Engine speed [revlmin]
fuels in the Tribology Laboratory, Department of Mechanical
Engineering, University of Malaya. The data were used to Fig.2. Specific fuel consumption vs. Engine Speed
evaluate differences in these fuels and to serve as a basis for
comparison of the blended fuels. It can be explained that 1% additive in fuel B20 produces
fuel conversion similar to BO fuel and up to 3500 rpm and then
produces higher fuel conversion as compared to BO fuel at
Brake Power Output engine speed higher than 3500 rpm. The lowest SFC is
The results of brake power output from diesel engine for every obtained from B20X fuel followed by BO and B20 fuels. The
test fuel are shown Figure 1. It can be seen that fuel B20X average SFC value all over the speed range are 405 g/kW.h,
produces higher brake power over the entire speed range in 426.69 g/kW.h and 505.38 g/kW.h for B2OX, BO and B20
comparison to other fuels. It is found that fuel B20X produces fuels respectively.
an average of 11.82 kW brake power over the entire speed
range followed by B20 (11.38 kW) and BO (11.50 kW). It is Oxides ofNitrogen (NO,) Emission
calculated that fuel B20X produces 2.93% higher brake power The effect of additive in biodiesel blended fuel on oxides of
than fuel B20 which is the effect of 1% antioxidant additive in nitrogen (NOx) emission is shown in Figure 3. It is found that
fuel B20. The maximum brake power obtained at 2500 rpm is the NOx concentration decreases with B20X fuel (92 ppm)

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which is lower than B20 (119 ppm) and BO (115 ppm) fuels. It Figure 5 shows HC emission for all the fuels. It is found that
can be examined that NOx increases due to high combustion fuel B20X produces lowest HC emission (29 ppm) followed by
temperature with lean burn condition. Hence, individual fuels B20 (34 ppm) and BO (41 ppm). The difference between B20
combustion temperature is responsible to produce NOx and B20X is 5 ppm, revealing that fuel B20X produce better
emission. It can be revealed from test results that 1% additive combustion than B20 fuel.
is helpful to reduce combustion temperature by allowing high
fuel conversion into thermal work as compared to B20 fuel. 42.5
41
Hence, additive is effective in B20 fuel. Similar result was 40
observed by Gvidonas et al. [5].
37.5 F

140
34
115 119
120
100 92
30 [ 29
80
r0
B0 B20 82OX
40 Fuels

20 Fig.5. HC emission at constant load of 50 Nm and engine speed of 2250 rpm

BO B20 Wear Scar Diameter

Fuels Figure 6 shows WSD of used ball for all the lubricant samples
with contaminated fuels. It is found that the highest WSD
Fig.3. NOx emission at constant load of 50 Nm and engine speed of 2250 rpm (3.7481 mm) is produced by pure lubricant as lubricant sample
BO (Table 3). All the B20 contaminated lubricants such as
Carbon Monoxide (CO) Emission 1%B20, 2%B20 and 3%B20 produce WSD 3.5253 mm, 3.452
Carbon monoxide forms during combustion process with rich mm and 3.5147 mm respectively.
air-fuel mixtures region and when there is insufficient oxygen
to fully burn all the carbon in the fuel to CO2. 38 .7481
0.4 3.7
0.35
356
0.3 B 03.5 2 5 3 3 51 47
0.25
0.2
o.
z

0
3.4
0.15
0.1 3.3
co
314 91 So sz So So So
0.1
0.05 3.2
BO0 1 %B20 2%B20 3%B20 1 %B20X 2%B20X 3%B20X
0 Contaminated Fuels
BO B20 920X
Fuels
Fig.6. Wear scar diameter (WSD) of used ball with various contaminated
Fig.4. CO at constant load otl 50 Nm and engine speed ot 2250 rpm fuels at constant load of 50 Nm.
However, a diesel engine normally uses more oxygen The lowest WSD (3.4191 mm) is obtained from 2%B2OX and
(excessive air) to burn fuel which has little effect on CO it can be said that all the additive based fuel's contaminated
emissions. Since the operating conditions are exclusively lean lubricants produce comparatively lower WSD than B20 as well
[1.8 x stoichiometric], the CO concentration value for all the as BO fuel's contaminated lubricants, which is the effect of 1%
fuels is less than I1% as shown in Figure 4. It is found that additive in B20.
among all the fuels, B20X produces lowest level of CO
emission which is 0.1% followed by B20 (0.2%) and BO Flash Temperature Parameter
(0.35%0). It can be explained that 1% additive in biodiesel Figure 7 shows flash temperature parameter (FTP) for all the
blended fuel produces complete combustion as compared to BO fuel's contaminated lubricants. From the figure, it can be seen
fuel. that the maximum and minimum FTP were obtained from
2%B2OX and BO contaminated lubricants respectively. The
Hydrocarbon (HC) Emission maximum FTP value means that good lubricating performance
occurs, indicating less possibility of lubricant film breakdown.

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This phenomenon was also observed by another researcher [4]. IV. CONCLUSIONS
This
The major conclusions in this investigation can be drawn as
9.1 : 8.94 follows:
3.9 8.32 3~~~~~~~~.85 8.75 * Palm diesel with additive (B2OX) produces higher
3.7 85
brake power and lower SFC as compared to BO and
B20 fuels.
8.5
8.9 8l .82 .. * Palm diesel with additive (B2OX) reduces NOx, CO
8 .3 and HC emissions
3.1 * From the lubricant test results, it is found that from
78 1% to 3% of B20X contaminated fuels into lubricant
7.9
acts as anti-wear additive through reducing WSD,
7.7 coefficient of friction and increasing FTP.
Hence, additive is effective in B20 fuel and is suitable to be
B0 1 %B20 2%B20 3%B20 1 %B20X 2%B20X 3%B2OX used in diesel engine.
Contaminated fuels
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Fig.7. Flash temperature parameter (FTP) for contaminated fuel's lubricant at
constant load of 50 Nm.
The authors wish to thank the Ministry of Science, Technology
and Innovation of Malaysia for IRPA Grant and University of
seems to indicate that additive in fuel has the potential to Malaya which made this study possible.
behave as an anti-wear additive in lubricating oil. From 1% to
3% of B20X contaminated lubricants show better FTP as
compared to B20 and BO contaminated lubricants. REFERENCES

Friction Properties
Figure 8 shows the variation of friction coefficient for all the
fuels contaminated lubricant. The lowest level of coefficient of
friction is found from B20X fuel's contaminated lubricants.
The lower coefficient friction means developing low friction
torque by lubricant within the frictional surfaces. The
maximum coefficient of friction was produced by BO and
3%B20 fuels' contaminated lubricants. The lowest coefficient
of friction is found from 1%B2OX contaminated lubricants as
well as by 2%B2OX and 3%B20X. Hence, it can be ensured
that additive in B20 fuel is effective in reducing coefficient of
friction.
[1] Kalam, M. A, and Masjuki, H.H., "Recent Development on Biodiesel in
Malaysia," Journal of Scientific & Industrial Research, vol. 64, pp. 920-
927, India, 2005.
[2] Choo et al. "Recent Development on Palm Biofuel". Proc. ofchemistry and
technology conference, Malaysia, pp. 311-319, 2005.
[3] Ramadhas , A.S., Jayaraj, S., Muraleedharan, C., "Theoretical Modeling
and Experimental Studies On Biodiesel-Fueled Engine", Renewable
Energy, vol. 31,pp.1813-1826, 2006.
[4] Masjuki, H.H., and Maleque,M.A., "Investigation Of Anti-Wear
Characteristics Of Palm Oil Methyl Ester Using A Four Ball Tribometer
Test", Wear 206, pp. 179-186, 1997.
[5] Gvidonas, L., and Stasys, S., "Influence of Fuel Additives on Performance
of Direct-Injection Diesel Engine and Exhaust Emissions When Operating
on Shale Oil", Energy Conversion & Management, vol.46, pp.1731-1744,
2005.

0.25
0.24 0.236 0.235 U234
0 233

U22 ~U ~ ~02
021
0.23 0205
018E 1-
0) .2
* 199

0.19 .1 85
0.1 8 M
BO 1 %B2U 2%B20 3%B2U 1 %B2OX 2%B2OX 3%B20X
Contaminated fuels

Fig.8 Coefficient of friction for various contaminated fuel's lubricants at

constant load of 50 Nm.

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