Combustion analysis of esters of soybean oil in a diesel engine
- Iowa State Univ., Ames, IA (United States)
The alkyl esters of plant oils and animal fats are receiving increasing attention as renewable fuels for diesel engines. These esters have come to be known as biodiesel. One objection to the use of the methyl and ethyl esters of soybean oil as a fuel in diesel engines is their high crystallization temperature. One solution to this problem is to use the isopropyl esters of soybean oil which have significantly lower crystallization temperatures. Another method to improve the cold flow properties of esters is to winterize them to subambient temperature. This is accomplished by cooling the esters and filtering out the components that crystallize most readily. Previous work has shown that when methyl, isopropyl and winterized ester blends were compared with No. 2 diesel fuel, the isopropyl and winterized methyl esters had at least the same emission reduction potential as the methyl esters, with similar engine performance. This paper discusses those results using heat release analysis that shows all of the blends have shorter ignition delays, and lower premixed burn fractions than No. 2 diesel fuel. All tested fuels except the isopropyl ester blends had similar combustion behavior. However, blends with isopropyl ester showed some abnormal combustion behavior, possibly due to high levels of monoglycerides.
- OSTI ID:
- 287736
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-960204-; ISBN 1-56091-790-3; TRN: IM9639%%325
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: International congress and exposition of the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE), Detroit, MI (United States), 26-29 Feb 1996; Other Information: PBD: 1996; Related Information: Is Part Of Performance of alternative fuels for SI and CI engines; PB: 178 p.
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
33 ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS
DIESEL ENGINES
FUEL SUBSTITUTION
ESTERS
COMBUSTION PROPERTIES
THERMODYNAMIC PROPERTIES
FILTRATION
DIESEL FUELS
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
EXHAUST GASES
GAS ANALYSIS
COMBUSTION HEAT
ANTIKNOCK RATINGS
COMBUSTION KINETICS
COMBUSTION INSTABILITY
EXPERIMENTAL DATA