Combustion of the Rape-Seed Oil in a Diesel Engine

Some volumes of gas oil and ethanol were mixed to the rape-seed oil to examine the engine performance characteristics. A 4-cycle indirect injection diesel engine was used as the test engine, and exhaust emissions were measured together with cylinder pressure history in variation of the engine loads. The single droplet combustion test was also carried out. Combustion processes in the heated constant volume vessel were observed by using of a high-speed video camera. From the experiments, it is obtained that rape-seed oils take longer combustion duration compared with gas oils. And addition of ethanol promotes the micro explosion of fuel droplets. These features affect to the properties of exhaust emissions from the engine.