Determination of effects of compression ratio variation on performance and emission characteristics of a diesel engine fueled with EDTA-doped sunflower biodiesel-petrodiesel

Abstract

This experimental study focuses on unraveling the effects of compression ratio (CR) variation on performance and emission characteristics of a variable compression ratio (VCR) diesel engine under various loads. The engine was fueled with 100% sunflower biodiesel (B100) and B100 with Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA, C 10 H 16 N 2 O 8 ) additive (B100+EDTA), separately, to determine fuel effect. Subsequent to determination of fuel properties, effects of these two fuels were compared under 3 different CRs. High hydrogen and oxygen contents, negligible chemical inactivity and high cetane number (CN) made EDTA an attractive additive for B100 in the context of engine characteristics. It was observed that, B100+EDTA depicted higher average values of 24.3%, 25.7% and 26.5% whereas they were 17.3%, 18.7% and 19.4% for B100 under CRs of 16, 17 and 18, respectively. In terms of BSFC, average B100 values were 17.3, 16.1, 14.8 (kJ/kWh) whereas 10.1, 9.2, 7.9 (kJ/kWh) for B100+EDTA under CRs of 16, 17 and 18, respectively. T e values were 265oC, 252oC and 234oC for B100+EDTA and 296oC, 281oC and 267oC for B100 at CRs of 16, 17 and 18, respectively. CO values were 110, 103 and 96 (ppm) for B100; 82, 74 and 65 (ppm) for B100+EDTA under under in-question CRs. UHC values of 124, 115 and 98 (ppm) for B100+EDTA; 141, 134 and 119 (ppm) for B100 were obtained under CRs of 16, 17 and 18, respectively. CO 2 emission values were 4.2%, 5.7% and 6.3% (by vol.) for B100+EDTA; 3.4%, 3.9% and 5.1% for B100 under CRs of 16, 17 and 18, respectively. NO x values were 170, 192 and 210 (ppm) for B100+EDTA; 104, 126 and 137 (ppm) for B100 under CRs of 16, 17 and 18 respectively. Smoke opacity values were 16%, 12% and 10% for B100+EDTA; 21%, 18% and 16% for B100 under CRs of 16, 17 and 18, respectively.