A comparative study on anchovy fish oil, anchovy fish oil methyl ester and diesel fuels in a diesel engine

摘要

Because of the concern about the fact that the oil based fuels may deplete and the oil prices constantly increase, alternative energy sources have come into the agenda. Vegetable oils, animal fats and waste oils are being used as alternative fuels to petroleum based diesel fuel. The use of vegetable oil and animal fat in internal combustion engines is not a new technology, but the usage of this technology with fish oil has become more important recently. Therefore, in this study, fish oil (FO) and fish oil biodiesel (FOME) were used in a single cylinder, four stroke naturally aspirated diesel engine; and petroleum Diesel no:2 (D2) was also used as a base fuel for making comparison. Fish oil obtained from marine fishes was transesterified to produce biodiesel. The fuel properties of FO, FOME and D2 fuels were found, respectively. The engine performance and emission characteristics of test fuels were clarified at different engine speeds. Results showed that FOME had similar fuel properties with D2. However, density, kinematical viscosity and flash point of FO were excessively higher than that of D2. Torque and power of FO and FOME were lower in comparison to that of D2 while brake specific values were higher for both FO and FOME. However, exhaust emission values for both FO and FOME were quite lower than that of D2. FOME fuel has better fuel properties, performance values and emission characteristics than that of FO.