Effect of Adding Ethanol to Candlenut Seed Biodiesel-Petrodiesel Mixture on Diesel Engine Performance and Emissions

Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Jember, Jember 68121, Indonesia

^* Corresponding author: sanata@unej.ac.id

Abstract

Biodiesel has been used in diesel engine fuel mixtures, yet it has constraints of increasing fuel consumption and NOx emissions. Ethanol is an alternative fuel with high oxygen content that can improve combustion quality and produce lower exhaust emissions. Therefore, this research was done to determine the effect of ethanol addition to a mixture of biodiesel and petrodiesel on diesel engine performance and its emissions. YANMAR TF 85MH-di diesel engine tests the fuel mixture with engine speed variations of 1500 rpm to 2100 rpm and coupled to a generator with a constant load of 1000 watt. The results showed that the B40 fuel mixture achieved the highest average effective power produced by 723,68 Watt and the B40 fuel mixture also achieved the highest average torque produced by 3,761 Nm. E10B40 fuel mixture produces the best average specific fuel consumption of 492,19 g/kWh. E10B40 fuel mixture produces the best average thermal efficiency at 14,725%. The lowest average NOx emissions were produced by E10B40 fuel at 139,48 ppm. The lowest average CO2 emissions were produced by E10B40 fuel at 1,33%. Based on the experimental results, the addition of 10% ethanol to B40 fuel (40% candlenut seed (Aleurites moluccana) biodiesel and 60% pertadex) is a potential fuel and is recommended to advance single-cylinder diesel engines’ performance and reduce its emissions, compared to other fuels tested in this study.