Characteristics of a Direct Injection Diesel Engine Fuelled with Esterified Cotton Seed Oil

Vegetable oils are renewable in nature and can be directly used as fuels in diesel engines. However, their high viscosity and poor volatility lead to reduced thermal efficiency and increased hydrocarbon, carbon monoxide and smoke emissions. Transesterification is one of the methods by which viscosity could be drastically reduced and the fuel could be adopted for use in diesel engine. This Esterified vegetable oil is popularly known as Bio-diesel. Though there are wide varieties of alternative fuels available, the research has not yet provided the right renewable fuel to replace diesel. The cotton seeds are available in India at cheaper price. In this work, neat cotton seed oil was converted into Bio diesel by the transesterification process and the viscosity was reduced from 43.4 mm2/s to 4.3 mm2/s. A single cylinder watercooled variable compression ratio direct injection diesel engine developing a power output of 5.2 KW at 1500 rpm was used for the experimental investigations. Methyl ester of cottonseed oil is blended with the commercially available Normal diesel and Xtramile diesel. Cottonseed oil methyl ester (CSOME) is blended in four different compositions varying from 10% to 40% in steps of 10 vol%. Using these eight blends, normal diesel and Xtramile diesel brake thermal efficiency (BTE) and brake specific fuel consumption (BSFC) are determined at 17.5 compression ratio and the results were compared and discussed. Keywords--Bio-diesel, CSOME, Transesterification, Brake Thermal Efficiency, Brake Specific Fuel Consumption