Effect of Diethyl ether as a supplementary Bio-fuel on the combustion and emission characteristics of Biodiesel Fueled diesel engines

In spite of some advantages of biodiesel fuel in diesel engines such as low CO, HC, smoke and sulphur emissions it suffers from high level of NOx emissions, high viscosity and cold starting problems. In this paper, the effect of Diethyl ether (DEE) which is a renewable bio-based fuel has been investigated on the fuel properties, emissions and combustion characteristics of biodiesel fueled diesel engine through an experimental work. The tests were conducted on a single cylinder DI diesel engine fueled with neat KOME (Karanja oil methyl ester) as a base fuel and blends of 5, 10, 15 and 20% DEE on a volume basis. Some physicochemical properties of test fuels such as heating value, viscosity, specific gravity and distillation profile were determined in accordance to the ASTM standards. The results obtained from the engine tests have shown a significant reduction in NOx emissions especially for DEE addition of more than 10% on a volume basis and a little decrease in smoke of DEE blends compared with neat KOME. A global overview of the results has shown that the 15% DEE-KOME blend is the most effective combination based on performance and emission characteristics.