Effects of fuels produced from fish and cooking oils on performance and emissions of a diesel engine

In this study, two fuels called as FOME (Fish Oil Methyl Ester) and COME (Cooking Oil Methyl Ester) were produced from waste fish and cooking oils using the transesterification method. Commercial D2 (Diesel fuel) and two fuel samples obtained by blending the FOME and COME with the D2 with a ratio of 25% on volume basis were used as fuels in a Diesel test engine. An experimental study was performed for investigating the performance and exhaust emissions of the Diesel engine using the fuels. According to the test results, it was observed that the fish oil based fuel indicated better performance and exhaust emission parameters than those of cooking oil. Results clearly showed that the engine power and torque values were lower than those of the Diesel fuel with values of 3.05% and 1.25% for FB25, and 4.07% and 2.2% for CB25, respectively. Also, brake specific fuel consumption for the produced fuels increased up to 5.69% compared to Diesel fuel. However, HC and CO emission reductions compared to the Diesel fuel were found to be around 16.24% and 19.81%, respectively. But, the amount of increase in NOx emissions for the same biodiesel fuels reached up to 17.2%. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.