Utilization of palm oil for diesel fuel

Abstract

From an ecological point of view, vegetable oils are a renewable, biodegradable and nontoxic fuel with the potential to reduce the emissions of CO2 Palm oil is one of effective vegetable oils as alternative diesel fuel because of the high productivity and low cost. In this study, to utilize palm oil methyl ester (PME) as a diesel fuel, the engine performance with PME and the exhaust emissions from PME are investigated using a DI diesel engine. In addition, the investigation is carried out in comparison with rapeseed oil methyl ester (RME) and gas oil. The results show that ignition delay of PME is shorter than those of RME and gas oil, that brake thermal efficiency with PME is about the same as one with gas oil, and that NOx and Smoke emissions from PME simultaneously are lower than those from gas oil. Therefore, PME can be used as an alternative fuel of petroleum diesel fuels.