Combustion characteristics of a DI diesel engine fuelled with blends of methyl ester of cotton seed oil

The combustion characteristics of a single-cylinder, four-stroke, air-cooled and direct injection (DI) diesel engine fuelled with methyl ester of cotton seed oil (MECSO) and its blends with neat diesel fuel were examined. The experiments were conducted at a constant speed under steady-state condition with a Kirloskar TAF 1 engine. Combustion characteristics such as cylinder pressure, heat release rate (HRR), cumulative heat release rate (CHRR), maximum cylinder pressure, rate of pressure rise, ignition delay, duration of injection and combustion duration of MECSO and its blends with diesel were evaluated and compared with those of diesel fuel. From the analysis, it was found that the peak cylinder pressure and HRR of diesel were higher when compared with those of MECSO blends. The ignition delay, duration of injection and combustion duration decreased for MECSO blends compared to those of diesel. However, the CHRR of MECSO and its blends were higher than that of diesel. Finally, the study showed that B25 (25% of MECSO and 75% of diesel) gave optimum combustion characteristics for all loads and could be used as a viable alternative fuel in a DI diesel engine without any engine modifications.