Investigation of Performance and Emission Characteristics of CI Engine Using Diesel and Waste Cooking Oil Blends

Reusing waste cooking oil (WCO) as fuel in compression ignition (CI) engine offers a sustainable solution for energy scarcity and environmental protection. WCO and n-pentanol ternary blends deliver are attractive prospects in utilization as bio-components and recycled components to moderately substitute diesel fuel. The current study intends to investigate the performance and emission characteristics of a single cylinder CI engine, having constant load at a uniform speed of 1300 rpm, using diesel-waste cooking oil n-pentanol blends. Blends chosen and analogized with diesel oil as reference fuel and their contents were the following: (1) D95-WCO5 (95%vol. diesel, WCO5%vol. waste cooking oil, (2) D65-WCO20-Pe15 (65%vol. diesel, 20%vol. waste cooking oil, and 15%vol. n-pentanol) and (3) D60-WCO20-Pe20 (60%vol. diesel, 20%vol. waste cooking oil and 20%vol. n-pentanol). The experimental results revealed that with the DF95-WCO5 blend the BSFC improved by 0.32%. However, with the addition of n-pentanol as a ternary blend; DF65-WCO20-Pe15 and DF60-WCO20-Pe20 resulted in improvements of 0.49% and 0.68% respectively. The BTE for DF95-WCO5 increased by 38.7%, while the increase was 39.2% for DF65-WCO20-Pe15 and 39.6% for DF60-WCO20-Pe20, which was less, as compared with diesel fuel. The lowermost level of CO discharge was achieved when the engine was fueled with DF65-WCO20-Pe15 and DF60-WCO20-Pe20, due to the highest level of saturation. CO2, in the cases of DF65-WCO20-Pe15 and DF60-WCO20-Pe20, increased, as compared to diesel fuel under the same engine operating conditions. However, the binary blend DF95-WCO5 resulted in decreased CO2 as analogized to diesel, because of incomplete combustion of the fuel. During experimental work it could be observed that the DF95-WCO5 binary blend produced higher Particulate material (PM-1, PM-2.5, PM-7 and PM-10) emissions, compared to DF100. Moreover, with the addition of n-pentanol as a ternary blend in the ratio of 15 to 20%, emission was further reduced. This indicated that direct exertion of WCO in engines must be promoted, as it is an impressive choice for waste recapture.

Automated summary

Reusing waste cooking oil in compression ignition engines as fuel offers a sustainable solution and can provide an alternative to diesel fuel. The addition of n-pentanol as a blend can improve performance and reduce emissions.