PERFORMANCE AND EMISSION CHARACTERISTICS OF COTTONSEED OIL METHYL ESTER IN A DISEL ENGINE

This paper deals with the experimental investigation of blends of biodiesel from cottonseed oil and diesel in a diesel engine for performance and emission characteristics. Cottonseed oil biodiesel is having higher cetane number than diesel and higher viscosity than diesel and cottonseed oil is non-edible oil. Blends of biodiesel from cottonseed oil has been made in various proportions up to 30% volume with diesel and tested in a diesel engine. Results show that the emissions of carbon monoxide (CO) and unburned hydrocarbon (HC) has reduced for all the blends. Brake specific energy consumption for all the blends is lower than that of diesel. There was increase in brake thermal efficiency for all the blends than diesel fuel. There was slight increase in oxides of nitrogen (NOx) for all the blends. As the biodiesel addition increases the lubricity and being non-edible oil there is a possibility of reducing the consumption diesel by a fossil fuel by using these blends as fuel for diesel engine