Testing and performance measurement of straight vegetable oils as an alternative fuel for diesel engines
Date
2014
Authors
Lakshminarayanan, Arunachalam, author
Olsen, Daniel B., advisor
Marchese, Anthony, committee member
Byrne, Patrick, committee member
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Abstract
Rising fuel prices, growing energy demand, concerns over domestic energy security and global warming from greenhouse gas emissions have triggered the global interest in bio-energy and bio-fuel crop development. Backlash from these concerns can result in supply shocks of traditional fossil fuels and create immense economic pressure. It is thus widely argued that bio-fuels would particularly benefit developing countries by off-setting their dependencies on imported petroleum. Domestically, the transportation sector accounts for almost 40% of liquid fuel consumption, while on-farm application like tractors and combines for agricultural purposes uses close to an additional 18%. It is estimated that 40% of the farm budget can be attributed to the fuel costs. With the cost of diesel continuously rising, farmers are now looking at using Straight Vegetable Oil (SVO) as an alternative fuel by producing their own fuel crops. This study evaluates conventional diesel compared to the use of SVO like Camelina, Canola and Juncea grown on local farms in Colorado for their performance and emissions on a John Deere 4045 Tier-II engine. Additionally, physical properties like density and viscosity, metal/mineral content, and cold flow properties like CFPP and CP of these oils were measured using ASTM standards and compared to diesel. It was found that SVOs did not show significant differences compared to diesel fuel with regards to engine emissions, but did show an increase in thermal efficiency. Therefore, this study supports the continued development of SVO production as a viable alternative to diesel fuels, particularly for on-farm applications. The need for providing and developing a sustainable, economic and environmental friendly fuel alternative has taken an aggressive push which will require a strong multidisciplinary education in the field of bio-energy. Commercial bio-energy development has the potential to not only alleviate the energy concerns, but also to give renewed impetus to the agricultural sector and rural development.
Description
Rights Access
Subject
biofuels
emissions
engines
physical properties
straight vegetable oils
triglycerides