Effect of prickly poppy methyl ester blends on CI engine performance and emission characteristics

Abstract

Problem statement: The aim of this research was to investigate the effect of using Prickly poppy methyl ester as a fuel blend on Diesel engine (CI engine) performance and exhaust emission. Approach: Short-term engine performance tests were conducted to evaluate and compare the use of various diesel fuel supplements at blend rations of 60/40, 70/30, 80/20, 90/10, in a standard, fully instrumented, four stroke, Direct Injection (DI), Kirlosker comet Diesel engine located at the authors' laboratory. The prickly poppy oil with high free fatty acid is not used as edible oil, it can be considered as a potential source of non edible oil for utilization as a feed stock vegetable oil for bio diesel production. The prickly poppy oil was subjected to esterification and transesterification processes and the Prickly Poppy Methyl Ester (PPME) obtained was tested as supplement. Results: The test showed that PPME blends with diesel could be conveniently used as a diesel substitute in a diesel engine. The test further showed increase in break thermal efficiency, brake power and reduction of specific fuel consumption for PPME and its blends with diesel generally, but the most significant conclusion from the study is that the 80 % Diesel / 20% PPME blend produced maximum values of the brake power, brake thermal efficiency and minimum values of the specific fuel consumption and also yielded minimum values of NOx, CO and HC emission. Conclusion: Using Prickly Poppy Methyl Ester (PPME) as a bio fuel blend with Diesel shows an improvement in performance and significant reduction in exhaust emission for the generation of cleaner environment. © 2010 Science Publications.