Assessing Effects of Idling of a Diesel Engine Operated with Optimized Blend of Palm and Mustard Biodiesel

Palm is an edible feedstock which is immensely popular in Malaysia as an alternative fuel which can substitute diesel fuel. However, use of Palm biodiesel in diesel engine have a negative effect on food security, thus, in this study authors used Mustard biodiesel, which has poor fuel properties, with Palm biodiesel to produce an optimum blend. This blend will have better fuel properties compared to Mustard biodiesel and will help eliminate dependency of Palm biodiesel. To ensure that optimized blend achieves better fuel properties MATLAB optimization tool was used to find out the optimum blend ratio. Linear relationship among the fuel properties was considered for MATLAB coding. The resultant optimum blend is represented by PM. Optimum blend revealed improved fuel properties compared to mustard biodiesel. Fuel consumption and exhaust emission of diesel engine operated by the produced optimized blend blends at high idling conditions with and without a turbocharger installed, were evaluated. Optimized blend achieved lower CO, HC and NO_X emission compared to Mustard biodiesel blends and also improved fuel consumption at idling conditions. When the engine was turbocharged it further decreased CO, HC and fuel consumption, but significantly increased NO_X emission.