Emissions and performance of a single cylinder diesel engine using walnut-diesel blends

This paper investigates performance and emission characteristics of a single cylinder diesel engine which is fuelled with different blends of walnut oil biodiesel and diesel. Crude walnut oil was converted into walnut oil methyl ester by alkaline-catalyzed transesterification process. Various proportions of walnut oil biodiesel and Diesel are prepared on volume basis, and physically-chemically characterized. Engine performance (brake specific fuel consumption, brake thermal efficiency, and exhaust gas temperature) and emissions (HC, CO, CO₂ and NO_x) were measured at five engine loads. The results obtained showed an increase in BSFC and EGT and a decrease in BTE for all biodiesel blends. The emissions showed that biodiesel leads to a reduction of CO by 61.53% and HC by 30.3% and an increase of CO₂ by 5.11% and NO_X by 14.68%. Therefore it is concluded from the present experimental study that biodiesel of walnut can be used as alternative fuel for diesel engines. (paper)