PERFORMANCE OF A CI ENGINE FUELLED WITH CASHEW NUT SEED OIL BIODIESEL- EFFECT OF LOAD

Abstract

Investigation of the performance of cashew- nut seed oil biodiesel and its blends with petroleum diesel in an internal combustion (I.C.) engine was undertaken. The seeds of cashew-nut were grounded using a grinding engine and pressurized mechanically using manual method to extract the oil. The oil was then transesterified to biodiesel using 1% potassium hydroxide (KOH), as catalyst with 102.2g of ethanol and 282g of oil at 60oC with stirring over water bath maintained for 10 minutes. The biodiesel produced was further blended with diesel fuel in the ratios of 10% - 100% cashew-nut oil biodiesel to petroleum diesel (designated as B10 – B100). Thereafter, chemophysical analysis of the diesels was undertaken. The results of the chemo-physical properties were within the specifications set by the American System for Testing and Materials (ASTM). The biodiesel, petroleum diesel and their blends were further subjected to engine performance tests under a constant speed of 3200rpm and varying loads of between 10% and 80%. The results showed that engine torque increased with load, engine power increased and break specific fuel consumption decreased with load while they both increased with increase in biodiesel in the blends; break thermal efficiency increased with load but decreased with biodiesel concentration in blends. For the engine exhaust emissions, carbon monoxide concentration in the exhaust was found to decrease with increase in load and with increase in biodiesel concentration in the blends; nitrogen oxides (NOx) and exhaust gas temperature increased with load and with biodiesel concentration. Generally, it was concluded that the performance of the CI engine fuelled with the cashew nut seed biodiesel blends, B10-B40, was satisfactory and comparable to petroleum diesel.