EXPERIMENTAL ASSESSMENT OF DIESEL ENGINE OPERATING CHARACTERISTICS WITH RICE BRAN OIL AS A RENEWABLE FUEL

Substantial growth in emissions, hike in fuel prices, and exhaustion of fossil fuels have given rise to the need for substitute fuels for diesel engines, which are renewable and demote the emission. Also, strict international emission standards force researchers to seek alternative fuels. Vegetable oils are promising alternative biodiesel for a diesel engine, amongst them, rice bran is underutilized, a non-edible source that doesn’t create any food security hurdle. The paper focuses on investigating the performance, combustion, emission, and vibration characteristics of diesel engine fuelled with rice bran biodiesel and n-butanol additive (5% constant) at CR 17.5. The engine characteristics of seven biodiesel blends (B5n5, B10n5, B15n5, B20n5, B25n5, B30n5, and B40n5) were measured at various loads under constant speed and compared with diesel fuel. The performance characteristics were observed in moderate quantities as compared to diesel whereas the emissions were found reduced drastically than diesel fuel except for nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions. The measured engine cylinder vibration for all blends indicates similar results as diesel fuel hence leading to smooth combustion. The investigation shows that blends from B20n5 to B30n5 have the potential to be used in a diesel engine without any modification.