COMPARISON OF BIODIESEL B-20 AND B-30 ON DIESEL ENGINE PERFORMANCES AND EMISSIONS

Abstract

Biodiesel is renewable energy that is made from renewable sources such as vegetable oil (palm oil, soybean oil or jathropa oil) through a trans-esterification reaction. Biodiesel can be used as a substitute for diesel fuel or as a mixture with diesel fuel. B-20 and B-30 fuel are a biodiesel mixture with diesel fuel which contains 20% biodiesel and 80% diesel fuel and 30% biodiesel and 70% diesel fuel respectively. The aim of this study is to compare the performance tests of B-20 and B-30 on a diesel engine. Comparison of their performance comprises engine power, engine torque, specific fuel consumption (SFC) in various loads and emissions. Result shows that the B-20 and B-30 performance is affected by the chemical-physical characteristics of fuel, such as kinematic viscosity, cetane number, density and calorific values. Performance test results show that B-30 has 1.69% lower engine power and 0.62% higher SFC than B-20 at a full load condition. In contrast, B-30 has better emissions than B-20 with a 6.71% decrease in smoke opacity.