Comparative Studies on Performance Parameters of Tobacco Seed Oil in Crude form and Biodiesel form in Direct Injection Diesel Engine

Experiments were conducted to evaluate the performance parameters of a conventional diesel engine with different operating conditions [normal temperature and pre-heated temperature] of tobacco seed oil in crude form and in biodiesel form with varied injection timing and injector opening pressure. Performance parameters [brake thermal efficiency, exhaust gas temperature, coolant load, sound levels and volumetric efficiency] were determined at various values of brake mean effective pressure of the engine fuelled with diesel, crude tobacco seed oil and tobacco seed oil based biodiesel. Comparative studies on performance were made between diesel, crude vegetable oil and biodiesel operation on diesel engine with varied engine parameters. The performance of the engine improved with advanced injection timing and at higher injector opening pressure with test fuels. The optimum injection timing was 31obTDC with conventional engine with diesel and biodiesel operation, while with crude vegetable oil, the optimum injection timing was found to be 32obTDC.