Effect of Injection Timing on a Diesel Engine Fueled with Biomass to Liquid Diesel and Spirulina Microalgae Biodiesel Blends
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.38032/scse.2025.3.172Keywords:
BTL diesel, Microalgae biodiesel, Combustion, Emissions, PerformanceAbstract
Due to fossil diesel's limited supply and environmental worries, scientific research on alternative fuels is gaining traction in a promising way. The significant lipid content of third generation microalgae oil makes it preferable over regular biodiesel sources. Currently, biomass to liquid (BTL) diesel, a sustainable fuel, is regarded as a novel fuel for diesel engines due to their drop in characteristics and enhanced engine performance compared to biodiesel. Hence, the authors aim to conduct a numerical investigation to trace the impact of neat BTL diesel and the blends of Spirulina microalgae biodiesel and BTL diesel on a diesel engine using Diesel-RK software. The performance, combustion, and emission attributes of the engine are explored for neat BTL diesel and for three separate blends produced by including 20, 40, and 60 vol% (BD80MB20, BD60MB40, and BD40MB60, respectively) of microalgae biodiesel into BTL diesel, and then the results are compared to those of conventional diesel. The parameters are measured for three different injection timings (ITs) of -1⁰, 4⁰, and 7⁰ bTDC, keeping the swirl ratio constant at 1. BTL diesel is figured out to have a lower brake specific fuel consumption (BSFC) than neat diesel. However, the addition of microalgae biodiesel into BTL diesel raised the BSFC compared to pure BTL diesel. For all ITs, the brake thermal efficiency is higher for BTL diesel and other blends than conventional diesel. Reductions in ignition delay period, combustion duration, and peak heat release rate in premixed combustion are noticed for BTL diesel and remaining biofuel blends compared to neat diesel, leading to favorable combustion attributes. Additionally, the quantity of CO2, smoke, and particulate matter in engine exhaust is decreased, although the emission of oxides of nitrogen rose while using BTL fuel and biodiesel/BTL fuel blends compared to regular diesel.
Downloads
Downloads
Downloads
References
[1] Al-Dawody MF, Edam MS. Experimental and numerical investigation of adding castor methyl ester and alumina nanoparticles on performance and emissions of a diesel engine. Fuel 2022;307:121784.
[2] El-Seesy AI, Attia AMA, El-Batsh HM. The effect of Aluminum oxide nanoparticles addition with Jojoba methyl ester-diesel fuel blend on a diesel engine performance, combustion and emission characteristics. Fuel 2018;224:147–66.
[3] Mohiddin MN Bin, Tan YH, Seow YX, Kansedo J, Mubarak NM, Abdullah MO, et al. Evaluation on feedstock, technologies, catalyst and reactor for sustainable biodiesel production: A review. J Ind Eng Chem 2021;98:60–81.
[4] Bhuiya MMK, Rasul MG, Khan MMK, Ashwath N, Azad AK. Prospects of 2nd generation biodiesel as a sustainable fuel—Part: 1 selection of feedstocks, oil extraction techniques and conversion technologies. Renew Sustain Energy Rev 2016;55:1109–28.
[5] Meraz RM, Rahman MM, Hassan T, Al Rifat A, Adib AR. A review on algae biodiesel as an automotive fuel. Bioresour Technol Reports 2023:101659.
[6] Rajak U, Nashine P, Verma TN. Assessment of diesel engine performance using spirulina microalgae biodiesel. Energy 2019;166:1025–36.
[7] Nautiyal P, Subramanian KA, Dastidar MG, Kumar A. Experimental assessment of performance, combustion and emissions of a compression ignition engine fuelled with Spirulina platensis biodiesel. Energy 2020;193:116861.
[8] Rajak U, Nashine P, Verma TN, Pugazhendhi A. Performance, combustion and emission analysis of microalgae Spirulina in a common rail direct injection diesel engine. Fuel 2019;255:115855.
[9] Opdal OA, Skreiberg O. Production of syntetic biodiesel via Fischer-Tropsch synthesis: Biomass to liquids in Namdalen, Norway. Rep Prep by Dep Energy Process Eng Fac Eng Sci Technol Nor Univ Sci Technol 2006.
[10] Ogunkoya D, Fang T. Engine performance, combustion, and emissions study of biomass to liquid fuel in a compression-ignition engine. Energy Convers Manag 2015;95:342–51.
[11] Žaglinskis J, Rimkus A. Research on the performance parameters of a compression-ignition engine fueled by blends of diesel fuel, rapeseed methyl ester and hydrotreated vegetable oil. Sustainability 2023;15:14690.
[12] Ng H, Biruduganti M, Stork K. Comparing the performance of SunDieselTM and conventional diesel in a light-duty vehicle and heavy-duty engine. SAE Technical Paper; 2005.
[13] Adib AR, Rahman MM, Hassan T, Ahmed M, Al Rifat A. Novel biofuel blends for diesel engines: Optimizing engine performance and emissions with C. cohnii microalgae biodiesel and algae-derived renewable diesel blends. Energy Convers Manag X 2024;23:100688.
[14] Kuleshov AS. Multi-zone DI diesel spray combustion model for thermodynamic simulation of engine with PCCI and high EGR level. SAE Int J Engines 2009;2:1811–34.
[15] Fiveland SB, Assanis DN. A four-stroke homogeneous charge compression ignition engine simulation for combustion and performance studies. SAE Trans 2000:452–68.
[16] Heywood JB. Internal combustion engine fundamentals. (No Title) 1988.
[17] Alkidas AC. Relationships between smoke measurements and particulate measurements. SAE Technical Paper; 1984.
Published
Conference Proceedings Volume
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Minhaz Ahmed, Md. Mizanur Rahman, Tafsirul Hassan, Md. Arafat Rahman (Author)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
All the articles published by this journal are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
