GAINS IN PERFORMANCE OF DIESEL CYCLE ENGINE USING B10 COMPARED TO OTHER MIXTURES

Resumo

Studies to develop renewable fuels, such as biodiesel, as substitutes for petroleum diesel have a great environmental importance. However, in order to be effectively incorporated into the energy mix, a satisfactory performance of a diesel cycle engine under the effect of this biofuel must be ensured. The objective of this study was to evaluate the specifc fuel consumption, effective power and torque of a diesel engine related to resistive loads under varying volumetric proportions of soybean biodiesel in mineral diesel oil (5% (B5), 10% (B10), 25% (B25) and 50% (B50)) under varying applied loads (1.5, 3.0, 4.5, 6.0, 7.5 and 9.0 kW). For the test, a 7.36 kW engine coupled to a 28.8 kW three-phase electric generator was used. The loads were elevated up to 9.0 kW via a three-phase resistive bench. In terms of power and torque, the performances of the B5 and B10 mixtures were not signifcantly different, whereas the B25 and B50 mixtures displayed lower performances. The B10 mixture showed better performance in terms of consumption because the remaining mixtures had similar results to those B5 mixture. For this reason, it can be a basis for encouraging anticipation of this mixture in diesel cycle engines use. Additionally, the reduction in power and torque for mixtures with higher concentration of biodiesel should not be considered signifcant front the environmental gains from the use of renewable fuels and the analyzed technical aspects.