THE INFLUENCE OF IODINE NUMBER AND SAPHONIFICATION NUMBER ON PERFORMANCE AND EXHAUST GAS EMISSION ON A LOW SPEED STATIONER DIESEL ENGINE FUELED BY BLENDED 50% PURE PLANT OIL AND DIESEL OIL

• Main Author: NUGRAHA (NIM 231060007), TRISTA
• Format: Theses
• Language: Indonesia
• Online Access: https://digilib.itb.ac.id/gdl/view/11535
• Institution: Institut Teknologi Bandung

The world oil crisis and environmental issues resulting from the increasing demand for energy and depletion of reserves of fossil fuels, which have emerged in recent years, focus attention on the need for more research into alternative energy resources, including those obtained from plants. Fuels from plant sources are non-toxic forms of renewable energy which can be produced and utilized without contributing any net global increase in the carbon dioxide content of the atmosphere. In general, the two types of vegetable oil used as diesel fuels are termed biodiesel and pure plant oil respectively.<p>Indonesia is a tropical country with a large potential for producing vegetable oils. Pure plant oils are usually cheaper than biodiesel because there is no need to process them by the chemical reaction termed transesterification. The aim of this research project was to investigate the relationships between the iodine and saponification values of various pure plant oils and the performance and emissions of static low speed diesel engine. 50% mixtures of pure plant oils with diesel were used as the experimental fuels each being compared with standard diesel fuel as control. The pure plant oils (PPO's) compared were: palm oil, coconut oil, jatropha oil and soybean oil. Comparisons were made under full load conditions at various engine speeds as well as at a constant engine speed (1500 rpm) under varied load. Emissions were also compared under conditions of constant engine speed as well as in accordance with the European Stationary Cycle (ESC) standard for static diesel engines. At engine speeds below 1600 rpm under full load conditions the performance of 50% blends of PPO with diesel were relatively stable and slightly lower than straight diesel fuel but at higher engine speeds performance declined. This indicates that the use of PPO's is likely to be restricted to engines running at lower engine speeds.<p>The results of the experiment applying varied loads at constant engine speed indicate that higher iodine values, which reflect increases in the number of double bonds in the molecule, result in higher FVC, BSFC, BSEC and Total HC level accompanied by reduced thermal efficiency and CO values. On the other hand lower saponification values reflecting larger molecules or longer carbon chains resulted in lower FVC, BSFC, BSEC, Total HC and CO values and higher thermal efficiency. In general coefficients obtained from linear regression analyses of the data may be used to predict the performance and emission of other PPO's from iodine values and saponification numbers with the exception of smoke opacity (data not linear). This experiment also shown that diesel engine will be more efficient if running at high load than at low load but total hydrocarbon level will also increase. In the trials conducted according to ESC standards PPO's generated higher levels of emissions than diesel at all loads and engine speed indicating that PPO's are better suited for use under stable load and engine speed conditions.