Detailed study of performance and emission characteristics of diesel engine fuelled with biodiesel and additive

The use of biofuels, namely alcohols and biodiesel, leads to lower efficiency and higher nitric oxide (NO) emissions compared with the use of diesel. The objective of this study was to reduce the emissions and enhance the performance from neat coconut oil biodiesel. To begin, the diethyl ether (oxygenated additive, OA) was blended with transesterified coconut oil biodiesel (CBD100). The OA was varied in CBD at 5% and 10% on a volume basis. The results revealed that the addition of the OA to CBD resulted in no phase separation in all working conditions. Further, adding 10% OA to CBD resulted in lower carbon monoxide (1.7%), smoke (2.1%), NO (2.7%), and hydrocarbon (1.9%) emissions than neat CBD. In addition, efficiency increased (1.2%) and fuel consumption lowered (1.3%) by blending the OA with CBD at all loads.