Cottonseed oil as a diesel-engine fuel. Final report

Technical Report · Sat Jul 31 04:00:00 EDT 1982

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/6866052· OSTI ID:6866052

Staph, H. E.; Staudt, J. J.

If diesel fuel becomes unavailable for any reason, can diesel powered farm equipment function on alternate fuels from energy crops that are available on the farm. This project sought to gain some insight into this question through the use of once-refined cottonseed oil as fuel in a typical unmodified agricultural diesel engine. The engine used for test was an International Harvester Model DT-436B 6 cylinder, inline, direct injection, turbocharged engine of approximately 175 brake horsepower at 2500 rpm. The engine was run on a stationary stand using blends of reference diesel fuel (DF-2), once-refined cottonseed oil (CSO), and transesterified cottonseed oil (ESCO). The latter is cottonseed oil which has been processed to give a methyl ester instead of a glyceride. The volume percent blends of fuels used in the tests ranged from 100% DF-2, to 20/80 DF-2/CSO, 50/50 DF-2/ESCO, 50/50 CSO/ESCO, and 100% ESCO. The test procedures and results are presented in this volume. The results suggest that ESCO would probably be a satisfactory substitute for diesel fuel, but more testing is required. None of the fuels tested is a cost effective alternative to diesel fuels. ESCO presently costs four to five times as much as commercial diesel fuel.

• Research Organization: Southwest Research Inst., San Antonio, TX (USA)
• OSTI ID: 6866052
• Report Number(s): TENRAC/EDF-070-Pt.1; ON: DE83900881
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

33 ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS
330102 -- Internal Combustion Engines-- Diesel
330800* -- Emission Control-- Alternative Fuels
COST
COTTONSEED OIL
DIESEL ENGINES
DIESEL FUELS
DISPERSIONS
ECONOMICS
ENGINES
EQUIPMENT
FARM EQUIPMENT
FUEL SUBSTITUTION
HEAT ENGINES
INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINES
MIXTURES
OILS
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
OTHER ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
PERFORMANCE
PETROLEUM PRODUCTS
TESTING