Spray and Exhaust Emission Characteristics of a Biodiesel Engine Operating with the Blend of Plant Oil and DME

As an effective method to solve the global warming and the energy crisis, the research has been carried out for the adaptability of plant oil as an alternative fuel for Diesel engine. But there are the problems of engine performance and exhaust emissions owing to the high viscosity and low volatility, when the plant oil is used as a fuel. In order to eliminate these problems, spray characteristics of the DME (Dimethyl ether) blended plant oil has been examined by using the image processing based on the shadowgraph methodology. Results show that the optimum mixing ratio of the blend is about 50:50 (by weight %). Thereafter, experiments have been conducted with a DI Diesel engine using the DME blended plant oil, and compared the exhaust emissions with Diesel, DME and transesterified fuel operation. From the results, it can be concluded that the combustion characteristics of DME blended plant oil are comparable to Diesel fuel. Therefore, it is suitable to use DME blended plant oil as an alternative fuel for Diesel engine from the aspect of effective use of the biomass resources.