A neat, alkali-refined sunflower oil, a 50/50 blend (v/v) of sunflower oil and #2 diesel fuel, and 100% #2 diesel fuel were evaluated in a direct injected, one-cylinder Petter engine according to the SAE 13 mode test procedure.
The experiment was conducted to evaluate the effects of plant oil based alternative fuels on exhaust emissions and to simultaneously compare the test fuels. Additionally, the effect of engine load and speed on the exhaust emissions using the plant oil alternative fuels was statistically evaluated.
The response variables were CO, NO, HC, and smoke. The predictor variables were the concentration of sunflower oil in the test fuel, the engine speed, and load. A multivariate test and covariance analysis were used for the results evaluation.