International Journal of Engineering and Technology

The rapid depletion in world petroleum reserves and uncertainty in petroleum supply due to political and economical reasons, as well as, the sharp escalations in the petroleum prices have stimulated the search for alternatives to petroleum fuels. The situation is very grave in developing countries like India which imports 70% of the required fuel, spending 30% of her total foreign exchange earnings on oil imports. Petroleum fuels are being consumed by agriculture and transport sector for which diesel engine happens to be the prime mover. Diesel fuelled vehicles discharge significant amount of pollutants like CO, HC, NOx, soot, lead compounds which are harmful to the universe. Though there are wide varieties of alternative fuels available, the research has not yet provided the right renewable fuel to replace diesel. Vegetable oils due to their properties being close to diesel fuel may be a promising alternative for its use in diesel engines. The high viscosity and low volatility are the major drawbacks of the use of vegetable oils in diesel engines. India is the second largest cotton producing country in the world today. The cotton seeds are available in India at cheaper price. Experiments were conducted on 5.2 BHP single cylinder four stroke water-cooled variable compression diesel engine. Methyl ester of cottonseed oil is blended with the commercially available Xtramile diesel. Cottonseed oil methyl ester (CSOME) is blended in four different compositions varying from 10% to 40% in steps of 10 vol%. Using these four blends and Xtramile diesel brake thermal efficiency (BTE) and brake specific fuel consumption (BSFC) are determined at 17.5 compression ratio.