Combustion Characteristics and Durability of Diesel Engines Burning BDF 20

Three diesel engines were fueled with BDF 20, a blend of 80% diesel fuel and 20% biodiesel fuel by volume, and run in excess of 200 h to evaluate their combustion characteristics and durability. The engines used for this study were a 4-cylinder 2476-cc displacement IDI diesel engine(Engine 1), a 4-cylinder l732-cc displacement IDI diesel engine(Engine 2), and a single cylinder 673-cc displacement DI diesel engine(Engine 3). Engine dynamometer testing was performed on each engine at regularly scheduled intervals to monitor the performance and exhaust emissions, which were sampled at 1h intervals for analysis, The peak combustion pressure with BDF 20 increased in Engines 1 and 3 over that measured when burning pure diesel fuel, but that in Engine 2 remained constant. Combustion parameters, such as the maximum combustion pressure and corresponding crank angle, did not change over the long-term dynamometer testing. The BSFC with BDF 20 in Engine 1 was less than that measured with pure diesel fuel. The amount of smoke produced with BDF 20 was less for all engines ; the greatest reduction was observed for Engine 3. The NOx emissions were lower in the IDI engines than the DI engine. The traditional trade-off between smoke and NOx emissions was maintained for BDF 20 fuel for Engines 1 and 3. There was not a big difference in the emissions for BDF 20, as compared to pure diesel fuel, but more was exhausted by Engine 1 than by Engines 2 or 3 and less was exhausted by Engine 1 than by Engines 2 or 3. The engine parts remained clean, except for some carbon attached to the area surrounding the nozzle hole of the DI diesel engine.