The International Journal of Engineering and Science (The IJES)

The International Journal Of Engineering And Science (IJES)
|| Volume || 2 || Issue || 11 || Pages || 01-06 || 2013 ||
ISSN (e): 2319 – 1813 ISSN (p): 2319 – 1805

Performance Evaluation of a Low Heat Rejection Diesel Engine
with Jatropha as Fuel
1

R. Ganapathi, 2Dr. B. Durga Prasad, 3B.Omprakash

1

Lecturer, Mech. Engg. Dept, JNTUA College of Engineering, Anantapuramu.
Professors, Mech.Engg. Dept, JNTUA College of Engineering, Anantapuramu.
3
Assistant Professor, Mech.Engg. Dept, JNTUA College of Engineering, Anantapuramu.
2

-------------------------------------------------------ABSTRACT--------------------------------------------------Increasing industrialization, growing energy demand, limited reserves of the fossil fuels and
increasing environmental pollution have jointly necessitated for exploration of some substitute of conventional
liquid fuels. Vegetable oils had been considered as one of the appropriate feasible substitute diesel fuel since
very early. The vegetable oil based substitute fuels, popularly known as biodiesel, are commercially available
in the developed world due to their distinct advantages over conventional diesel fuel. Vegetable oils present very
promising alternative fuels to diesel. Properties of these oils compare favourably with characteristics required
for C.I.engine fuels. The usage of vegetable oil in an engine depends on the properties of the oil. Jatropha oil
properties are almost closer to diesel, particularly cetane rating and heat values. These oils are renewable and
are produced easily in rural and forest areas An objective of this work aims to find out suitability of Jatropha
oil in an insulated engine. An Air gap liner and PSZ coated head and valves have been used in the present study.
Experimental investigations have been carried out to assess the suitability of Jatropha oil as C.I. Engine fuel.
Experiments were conducted on the base engine and also in an insulated engine. A solemn attempt has been
made in this research to study the usage of Bio-diesel of Jatropha oil in place of diesel so as to study the engine
performance.

Key Notes: Low heat rejection, Jatropha, alternative fuel.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Date of Submission: 20 November 2013
Date of Acceptance: 30 November 2013
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I.
INTRODUCTION
Jatropha oil is non-edible oil and has a cetane number which is comparable to diesel and makes it an
ideal alternative fuel as compared to other edible oils. It is significant to point out that, the non-edible vegetable
oil of Jatropha has the requisite potential of providing a promising and commercially viable alternative to diesel
to as it has the desirable physicochemical and performance characteristics compared to diesel.
Jatropha oil will be a renewable and low capital input alternative to diesel as compared to other
sources. It will not require massive infrastructure for its distribution as it has the advantage that it can be
produced almost everywhere in India in a decentralized manner.
The major problems to use raw oil as bio diesel are its high viscosity, high flash point, high pour point,
low volatility. Due to these problems, Jatropha oil is not directly used because these may affect the engine
performance which leads to poor fuel atomization and inefficient mixing with air which contributes incomplete
combustion, poor cold engine start up, deposit formation, ring sticking and lube oil dilution and degradation.
The initial flash point of Jatropha oil is 1100C as compared to 500C in case of diesel. Due to
higher flash point Jatropha oil has certain advantages over Petroleum crude lie greater safely during storage,
handling and transport. However, the higher flash point may create only initial starting problem of the machine.
Similarly, higher viscosity of Jatropha oil could pose problems of smooth flow of oil in fuel supply pipes and
nozzles.

II.

NEED OF THE PRESENT WORK

Agricultural and transport sectors are almost Diesel dependent. The transport sector remains the most
problem sector as no alternative to petroleum based fuel has been successful so far. The various alternative fuel
options researched for Diesel are mainly biogas, producer gas and vegetable oils. India still imports huge quantity of
edible oils, therefore, the use of vegetable oils like Jatropha oil has been tried in this research.

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Performance Evaluation of a Low Heat Rejection Diesel Engine with Jatropha as Fuel

III.

OBJECTIVE OF THE WORK

An objective of this work aims to find out suitability of Jatropha oil in an insulated engine. A solemn
attempt has been made in this research to study the usage of vegetable oils in place of Diesel with Jatropha oil in
a base engine and in an insulated engine, so as to study the engine performance.

IV.

FABRICATION OF INSULATED COMPONENTS

A detailed study was carried out as a preliminary to the design of the insulated components. The
insulated engine components which include Liner, cylinder head and valves are fabricated to constitute the
combustion chamber of the low heat rejection engine. There are three major concepts that have been adopted for
an adiabatic diesel engine to reduce the heat loss.
4.1 Cylinder Liner Insulation
In this case air with its low thermal conductivity was used as the insulating medium. A thin
mild steel sleeve was circumscribed over the cast iron liner maintaining a 2mm layer of air in the annular space
between the liner and the sleeve. The joints of the sleeve were sealed to prevent seepage of cooling water into
the air-gap region. Fig. 1 shows the constructional details of the air gap liner. Insulation of the liner brought
about considerable reduction in the heat lost to the cooling water and an increase in overall thermal efficiency of
the engine.
4.2 Cylinder Head Insulation
Ceramic coating is a simpler method of insulation for cylinder head compared with other
methods. The head was insulated by coating the area exposed to the combustion chamber with PSZ. The
combustion chamber area f the cylinder head was machined to a depth of 0.5 mm. The surface was then sand
blasted to form innumerable pores for ceramic deposition.
4.3 Insulation of Valves
The bottom surfaces of the valves were machined to a depth of 0.5mm and coated with PSZ material of
equal thickness. With the valves assembled on the cylinder head the area of the combustion chamber was about
90-92% of the total area.

V.

EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATIONS

The photographic view of the experimental set up for diesel operation and the instrumentation are
shown in Fig.2. The engine used for the experimental investigations was a Kirloskar, single cylinder, four
stroke, water cooled, vertical and direct injection diesel engine. This engine can with stand higher pressures
encountered and also used extensively in agricultural and industrial sectors. Therefore this engine is selected for
carrying experiments. Moreover necessary modifications on the liner and the cylinder head can be easily carried
out in this type of engine. Hence this engine is selected for the present work. Exhaust temperature was measured
by an iron-constantan thermocouple fitted very near the cylinder head in the exhaust manifold and was
measured directly from a mill voltmeter in degree Celsius calibrated for iron-constantan thermocouple.
Four
gas analyzer, for evaluation of the pollutants in the exhaust gas was attached to the engine. This analyzer was
used to measure four important pollutants that is Carbon Monoxide (CO), Carbon Dioxide (CO 2), un burnt
Hydrocarbons (HC) and Nitrogen Oxides (NOx).Smoke meter is used to test the characteristics of the smoke. The
different characteristic includes opacity, absorptivity. Opacity measures the darkness of the smoke. So with this
meter we could measure the intensity of darkness of smoke.
At a rated speed of 1500rpm all the variable load tests are conducted. The outlet temperature of the
cooling water is maintained at 700C. For all the experiments, the lubrication oil temperature is maintained at
600C. The load on the dynamometer, air flow rate, fuel flow rate, exhaust temperature, manifold pressure,
cooling water flow rate, cylinder head and cylinder liner temperatures, HC, CO and smoke readings are noted
and recorded after allowing sufficient time for the engine to stabilize.

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The experimental set-up is designed to suit the requirements of the present investigations. Experiments
were conducted on the standard engine and also in an insulated engine with diesel and jatropha. The engine was
operated under no load for the first 20 minutes and for each load the engine was operated long enough to
stabilize the condition. All the tests were conducted at the rated speed of 1500 rpm.

VI.

RESULTS

The experimental results obtained for both the conventional engine and partially insulated engine.
Also the performance curves (graphs) and heat balance sheets for both conventional engine and semiadiabatic engine are shown. The results obtained for both engines have been compared, analyzed, and discussed
in this section. The results obtained from the experiments conducted on 3.68 KW KIRLOSKAR single cylinder,
4-stroke, water cooled conventional diesel engine and semi-adiabatic engine are tabulated and the
corresponding graphs are plotted and are shown in Exhibit 1 through Exhibit 6.

VII.

ANALYSIS & DISCUSSIONS

Exhibit 1 shows a plot representing the relation between the brake output. It is clear from the plot that
the brake power of the insulated Engine is more than that of the base engine.
THIS IS FIG. 2 PHOTOGRAPHIC VIEW OF EXPERIMENTAL SETUP
Due to less heat rejection in semi-adiabatic engine compared to the conventional engine. The study
suggests that the insulation provided on the engine reduces heat losses and in turn the brake thermal efficiency
of the engine increases.
The plot representing the relation between the Brake Power and the Specific energy consumption is
shown in the Exhibit 2. It reveals that the Specific energy consumption is less for insulated engine than that of
base engine. This is possible due to high temperature prevailing in the cylinder which increases the combustion
efficiency and further leads to the instantaneous high pressure in the chamber.
The variation of exhaust smoke intensity (opacity and absorptivity) for different insulated
configurations compared to base engine configurations is shown in Exhibit 3 and Exhibit 4. It is clear from the
Figures that the pollutants smoke intensity (opacity and absorptivity) were found to be highest in case of Diesel
and least in case of insulated configuration. Better oxidation of the soot particles due to higher operating
temperatures is the main reason for reduction in smoke levels. And the other reasons may be better combustion
in insulated engines.
The HC emissions of different insulated configurations are compared in Exhibit 5. The main sources
of these emissions in CI engine are lean mixing, burning of lubricating oil, and wall quenching. Because of
hotter combustion chamber, HC formation is found to be less in all the insulated engines.
The Carbon dioxide emissions of different insulated configurations are compared in Exhibit 6. Because
of better and complete combustion in the insulated engines, Carbon dioxide levels are higher for insulated
engines. It indicates that the level of Carbon dioxide (CO2) in the exhaust is highest for insulated configuration.
Higher Carbon dioxide (CO2) in the exhaust is an indication of complete or better combustion
Carbon monoxide levels in the exhaust of base engine and all the insulated configurations are shown
in Exhibit 6.Because of better and complete combustion in the insulated engines, CO levels are lower. Lowest
CO emissions are observed in the case of insulated configurations compared to part loads, the reduction is more
at higher loads.

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Due to the insulation of the engine cylinder, the exhaust gas temperatures are bound to be
higher in insulated engines. Exhaust temperatures increase with the engine load. The variation of exhaust gas
temperature for all the configurations is shown in Exhibit 8.The exhaust temperature changes are shown against
the brake power output.
The peak pressure variation with respect to the power output is shown in Exhibit 9. The peak
pressure is higher for the base engine compared to the insulated configurations. This may be due to the drop in
ignition delay and hence reduction in the fuel accumulated during the delay phase of combustion.

VIII.

CONCLUSIONS

The following conclusions can be drawn from the processed results of the experimentation.
 Insulated engines performed better when compared to base engine with Jatropha
 For the insulated configuration (an Air gap liner and PSZ coated head and valves), the brake thermal
efficiency improvement is found to be 22% at the full load operation compared with the base engine.
 All insulated configurations resulted in a good reduction of smoke emissions.
 Insulated configurations have shown reduced HC emission levels, the maximum reduction is observed
for the insulated configuration which is around 250 ppm at the full load when compared with the base
engine.
 As a result of better combustion, insulated configuration with jatropha has shown a significant
reduction in the CO emission and is about 0.28% by volume.
 Exhaust temperatures are higher in all insulated configurations when compared relatively with the base
engine because of insulation of the engine.
 From the experimental investigations, it can be concluded that the insulated configuration with Jatropha
performs well.

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Exhibit.2 Comparison of Specific Energy Consumption with Power Output

Exibt.2 Compression of Specific fuel consumption with power out put

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