Experimental investigation of the effects of waste frying oil methyl ester, blends with petroleum diesel and preheated corn oil usage in a single cylinder diesel engine

As fuel demand increases, fuel reserves have started to deplete and alternative fuel researches have begun with the increase in amount of vehicles. Biofuels take a place on the top among these alternative fuels due to harming the environment as little as possible and their low-cost. On the other hand, these fuels have some negative effects. In cold days, these fuels may have starting problem because of their high viscosity and may cause a decrease on engine performance that is effected by poor atomization.In this study, a single cylinder diesel engine, hydraulic dynamometer, dynamometer control unit, fuel tanks, temperature measurement devices and a heat exchanger was used as the experimental setup. The heat exchanger was designed to obtain desired fuel temperatures, after the design studies, it was produced and was assembled to the experimental setup. In the first stage of experiments, waste frying oil methyl ester, petroleum diesel and their blends were used as fuel. Engine performance and emission tests were performed at different engine speeds. In the second stage of the experiments, the corn oil and its blends with petroleum diesel were used and sent to the heat exchanger just before the injector. Hence, the corn oil was heated to different temperatures by the waste heat of exhaust gas. The effects of different temperatures to the exhaust emissions were investigated.In conclusion, the usage of waste frying oil methyl ester caused a decrease on both exhaust emissions and engine performance. In the corn oil experiments, it was observed that exhaust emissions increased due to high viscosity of corn oil and by the preheating process, the exhaust emissions decreased in comparison with non-preheated corn oil. However, it was seen that exhaust emissions of preheated corn oil remain higher than petroleum diesel.Key Words : Biodiesel, vegetable oil, pre-heating, performance, emission