ENGINE PERFORMANCE EVALUATION OF WCOME/AONP BIODIESEL BLENDS USING TAGUCHI ANALYSIS

Plant based biofuels, either directly or indirectly produced, are a well researched area in the replacement of fossil fuels. These are mainly chosen due to the nature and availability of the main ingredients for biofuels production. The objective of this research work is to study the performance of Waste cooking oil methyl ester (WCOME) with Aluminium Oxide Nanoparticles (AONP) in a diesel engine. The experiments were designed using the Taguchi technique. The Waste Cooking Oil was transesterified using Methanol and Sodium Hydroxide as a catalyst. The performance and results are obtained using the Taguchi technique to optimize the parameters under consideration. The statis tical analysis of the results indicates the optimum value of the engine performance parameter is 50% load, 20% biodiesel, 25ppm nanoparticles and 200Bar of injection pressure.