Effect of Ethanol On The Combustion Characteristic Of Palm Biodiesel

The use of diesel fuel has contributed to the environmental degradation due to its harmful emission. Particularly, the main pollutants emitted from the burning of diesel fuel include particulate matter (PM), carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen oxide (NOx) and unburnt hydrocarbons (UHC). In addition, the...

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Main Author: Chee, Kong Meng
Format: Final Year Project / Dissertation / Thesis
Published: 2020
Subjects:
Online Access:http://eprints.utar.edu.my/4106/
http://eprints.utar.edu.my/4106/1/1504365_fyp_report_%2D_KONG_MENG_CHEE.pdf
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author Chee, Kong Meng
author_facet Chee, Kong Meng
author_sort Chee, Kong Meng
building UTAR Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description The use of diesel fuel has contributed to the environmental degradation due to its harmful emission. Particularly, the main pollutants emitted from the burning of diesel fuel include particulate matter (PM), carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen oxide (NOx) and unburnt hydrocarbons (UHC). In addition, the increasing global demand for diesel fuel has caused the depletion crisis of the fossil fuels. Therefore, there is a need in searching of an alternative fuel for diesel engines. Biodiesel-ethanol blends may be a solution to the aforementioned issues. The present study aims to investigate the effect of ethanol on the combustion characteristics of palm biodiesel. In which palm biodiesel and its blend with ethanol at 10 %, 20 % and 30 % blending ratios are the fuels under investigation. Single droplet combustion experiment was adopted to study the combustion characteristics of the test fuels, through a time-based image capturing method. Thereafter, the images of the combustion process were then going through image processing using MATLAB to obtain the temporal variation of droplet area and diameter during combustion. Finally, classical D2 law was used for the computation of burn rate constant for the test fuels. In regard to the experimental results, BE blends (palm biodiesel-ethanol blended fuel) have shown an adverse effect on the ignition delay. The prolonged ignition delay is likely attributed to the higher latent heat of vaporization and lower cetane number of the ethanol. Yet, BE blends have shown improved performance on the burning rate and combustion duration, with a maximum improvement of 23.15 % (increased burn rate constant) and 16.39 % (reduced combustion duration) respectively at 30 % ethanol composition, owing to their high oxygenated content that promotes a cleaner and more complete burning process. While these are not the only gains, it is found that the micro-explosion events occurred more intensively with increasing ethanol content, resulting to an enhanced evaporation rate of fuel and improved air-fuel mixing process.
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format Final Year Project / Dissertation / Thesis
id utar-4106
institution Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman
institution_category Local University
last_indexed 2025-11-15T19:32:46Z
publishDate 2020
recordtype eprints
repository_type Digital Repository
spelling utar-41062021-06-11T17:53:08Z Effect of Ethanol On The Combustion Characteristic Of Palm Biodiesel Chee, Kong Meng TJ Mechanical engineering and machinery The use of diesel fuel has contributed to the environmental degradation due to its harmful emission. Particularly, the main pollutants emitted from the burning of diesel fuel include particulate matter (PM), carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen oxide (NOx) and unburnt hydrocarbons (UHC). In addition, the increasing global demand for diesel fuel has caused the depletion crisis of the fossil fuels. Therefore, there is a need in searching of an alternative fuel for diesel engines. Biodiesel-ethanol blends may be a solution to the aforementioned issues. The present study aims to investigate the effect of ethanol on the combustion characteristics of palm biodiesel. In which palm biodiesel and its blend with ethanol at 10 %, 20 % and 30 % blending ratios are the fuels under investigation. Single droplet combustion experiment was adopted to study the combustion characteristics of the test fuels, through a time-based image capturing method. Thereafter, the images of the combustion process were then going through image processing using MATLAB to obtain the temporal variation of droplet area and diameter during combustion. Finally, classical D2 law was used for the computation of burn rate constant for the test fuels. In regard to the experimental results, BE blends (palm biodiesel-ethanol blended fuel) have shown an adverse effect on the ignition delay. The prolonged ignition delay is likely attributed to the higher latent heat of vaporization and lower cetane number of the ethanol. Yet, BE blends have shown improved performance on the burning rate and combustion duration, with a maximum improvement of 23.15 % (increased burn rate constant) and 16.39 % (reduced combustion duration) respectively at 30 % ethanol composition, owing to their high oxygenated content that promotes a cleaner and more complete burning process. While these are not the only gains, it is found that the micro-explosion events occurred more intensively with increasing ethanol content, resulting to an enhanced evaporation rate of fuel and improved air-fuel mixing process. 2020 Final Year Project / Dissertation / Thesis NonPeerReviewed application/pdf http://eprints.utar.edu.my/4106/1/1504365_fyp_report_%2D_KONG_MENG_CHEE.pdf Chee, Kong Meng (2020) Effect of Ethanol On The Combustion Characteristic Of Palm Biodiesel. Final Year Project, UTAR. http://eprints.utar.edu.my/4106/
spellingShingle TJ Mechanical engineering and machinery
Chee, Kong Meng
Effect of Ethanol On The Combustion Characteristic Of Palm Biodiesel
title Effect of Ethanol On The Combustion Characteristic Of Palm Biodiesel
title_full Effect of Ethanol On The Combustion Characteristic Of Palm Biodiesel
title_fullStr Effect of Ethanol On The Combustion Characteristic Of Palm Biodiesel
title_full_unstemmed Effect of Ethanol On The Combustion Characteristic Of Palm Biodiesel
title_short Effect of Ethanol On The Combustion Characteristic Of Palm Biodiesel
title_sort effect of ethanol on the combustion characteristic of palm biodiesel
topic TJ Mechanical engineering and machinery
url http://eprints.utar.edu.my/4106/
http://eprints.utar.edu.my/4106/1/1504365_fyp_report_%2D_KONG_MENG_CHEE.pdf