International Journal of Ambient Energy

ISSN: 0143-0750 (Print) 2162-8246 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/taen20

Experimental investigations on a VCR CIDI Engine

with blend of methyl esters Palm stearin-diesel for
performance and emissions

A.R. Babu, G. Amba Prasad Rao & T. Hari Prasad

To cite this article: A.R. Babu, G. Amba Prasad Rao & T. Hari Prasad (2015): Experimental
investigations on a VCR CIDI Engine with blend of methyl esters Palm stearin-diesel
for performance and emissions, International Journal of Ambient Energy, DOI:
10.1080/01430750.2015.1132768

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01430750.2015.1132768

Accepted author version posted online: 28

Dec 2015.

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 Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Journal: International Journal of Ambient Energy

DOI: 10.1080/01430750.2015.1132768

Experimental investigations on a VCR CIDI Engine with blend of methyl

esters Palm stearin-diesel for performance and emissions.

t
A.R. Babu1*, G. Amba Prasad Rao2, T. Hari Prasad3

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1
Research Scholar, Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Institute of Technology,
Warangal, 506004, Telangana State, India
2
Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Institute of Technology,
Warangal, 506004, Telangana State, India

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3
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Sree Vidyanikethan Engineering College,
Autonomous, Rangampet, Tirupati, 517127, Andhra Pradesh, India

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ABSTRACT
Present work deals with experimental evaluation of existing diesel engine with a blend of methyl esters of
palm stearin oil and petro-diesel under varying injection pressures and compression ratios. It was
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observed that the Brake thermal efficiency was high at injection pressure of 210 bar and CR 16.5 with
respect to other PSME 40 trends of 190 and 230 bar.However, the engine performance was superior with
CR19 at the rated injection pressure of 190 bar. Higher peak pressures are observed with higher CR . The
engine emissions in terms of HC, CO and Smoke opacity were lower but the NOx were found to be
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increased due to the better combustion. It is observed that compression ratio and fuel injection pressure
simultaneously played a vital role in the reduction of emissions. The study revealed that palm stearin
could be explored as a source for producing biodiesel effectively with environmental concern.
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Keywords: CI engine, PSME40 blend, Fuel injection pressures, Compression ratios, Engine
performance, Exhaust emissions
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*Author for Correspondence Email :arbabu@gmail.com Tel: +91-09985206973

1. INTRODUCTION
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Diesel fueled compression ignition engines are invariably used in light, medium and heavy duty applications.
On a large scale, they are being used in the transportation and agricultural applications due to their high
efficiency and reliability. The versatility of diesel engines is due to its high fuel conversion efficiency, lower
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fuel cost, safe operation and high reliability. The increased automotive population over the past two decades
has raised the pollution at alarming levels. Moreover, the heavy dependence on petroleum derived fuel (diesel
fuel) is not only draining country’s exchequer but also raising the doubts of its availability in future years.
Thus the twin problems of large scale exploitation of petroleum derived fuels and associated pollution has
made the researchers to find viable alternate fuels. The intensive research has led to the development of
various alternate fuels like, alcohol fuels, natural gas, hydrogen, vegetable oils etc.
Among these alternate fuels, vegetable oils are best suited for diesel fuel since its properties are close
to petro-diesel. Though, vegetable oils offer advantages such as renewable, self sustainability, however, their
straight use in engines is restricted mainly due to its high viscosity. The vegetable oils are mainly classified as
edible and non-edible oils. Edible oils are sunflower oil, groundnut oil, coconut oil, olive oil, palm oil etc.

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 Neem oil, Jatropha oil, Cotton seed oil, Linseed oil, Mahua oil, Pongamia oil and castor oil are few examples
of non-edible oils. Since there is a demand for edible oils from domestic uses, fuels should be explored from
non-edible oils. Reviewed attempts made by the researches to reduce the viscosity of vegetable oils and
animal fats and subsequent its use led to processes such as micro emulsion, pyrolysis, preheating, blending
and transesterification. Among these, transesterification has gained wide acceptance by the research
community for conversion of untreated oil to esterified oil and its subsequent use in engines. They observed
that transesterification improved fuel properties over those of unprocessed vegetable oils. The converted
vegetable oils from raw oil to corresponding methyl/ethyl esters popularly called as BIODIESEL( Ali and
Hanna 1994). Investigations on the effect of temperature on the viscosity on the performance and emission
characteristics of a compression ignition engine of karanja oil and also reducing viscosity of karanja oil and

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its blends through the specially designed heat exchanger yields lower emissions and improved engine

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performance (Agarwal and Rajamanoharan 2009). Experiments were conducted using karanja oil as fuel and
the performance of CI engine was evaluated under various operating conditions. When operated at higher
compression ratios, engine has yielded lower emissions and better performance (Amarnath and Prabhakaran
2012). Experiments were conducted using the n-pentane in different proportions by volume with diesel and

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the performance of DI engine was evaluated. At full load conditions, it was concluded that NOₓ emissions

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were reduced (Balamurugan and Nalini 2014). Yield and production cost of various methyl esters, in general
produced from non-edible oils have been in literature (Barnwal and Sharma 2005). They conducted
experiments with fish oil methyl ester (FOME) blends and varying EGR rates to control the particulate matter
an
and NOₓ emissions in a single cylinder constant speed diesel engine. Their experimental results yielded that
20% FOME delivered almost same brake thermal efficiency with lower HC, CO and soot emissions, but
higher NOₓ emissions when compared to diesel fuel ( Bhaskar et al. 2013). Variation of injection pressure
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reduced the emissions and maximized the performance at both full and part loads on the engine performance
and exhaust emissions of turbocharged diesel engine (Ismet Celikten 2003). They were described in their
work that alkyl esters, namely ethyl and isopropyl esters of crude palm oil and crude palm stearin were
synthesized via chemical transesterification reactions and subsequently evaluated for their fuel properties.
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These alkyl esters are much safer than petroleum diesel in terms of safety for storage and transportation as
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they possess high flash points. They may find applications in the fuel industry besides utilization as oleo-
chemicals ( Choo et al. 2005).
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A study on the comparison of the properties of special biofuels from palm oil and its crystallization
fractions such as olein and stearin oils synthesized with various alcohols and investigated the effect of alcohol
on the cold properties, thermal stability, density and viscosity of the resulting biofuel. The products were
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characterized by Gas Chromatography (GC) and proton nuclear magnetic resonance (H-NMR )spectroscopy .
Biofuels produced from the palm olein oil fraction have superior cold properties compared to those
synthesized from palm oil and the palm stearin oil fraction. They opined that the use of benzyl alcohol yields
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a biofuel with high thermal stability but also high viscosity and density values (Claudia et al. 2014).
Waste cooking oil produced by transesterification has been used as an alternative to diesel fuel by
Kannan et al. (2011). They observed that use of biodiesel decreased brake thermal efficiency when compared
to diesel fuel, it has significantly reduced CO, HC, soot and NOₓ emissions. They opined that this is due to the
reduced ignition delay, heat release rate and slightly longer combustion duration.
Investigations on the performance, emission and combustion characteristics of a single cylinder, four
stroke variable compression ratio fueled with methyl esters of waste cooking oil and diesel blends. They
analyzed the influence of compression ratio on fuel consumption, combustion pressures and exhaust gas
emissions of the engine. It was reported that at an optimum compression ratio, the engine performance was
observed to be better when compared with other compression ratios. Also, at higher compression ratios longer

2
 ignition delay, maximum rate of pressure rise, lower heat release rate and higher mass burnt fraction were
obtained for waste cooking oil methyl esters when compared with diesel. They concluded that B40 blend
yielded maximum brake thermal efficiency and reduction in emissions of CO, HC and NOₓ emissions at 50%
load (Muralidharan and Vasudevan 2011).
The tests were conducted on the effect of waste plastic oil and diesel blends on the performance and
emissions of a CI engine. They concluded that waste plastic oil yielded 80% higher thermal efficiency, 25%
higher NOₓ, 5% higher CO, and 15% higher HC emissions when compared with diesel fuel. Finally, they
reported that 100% waste plastic oil can be used to run the engine (Mani et al. 2010).
Different methods have been considered to discussed the production of palm olein (cooking oil) and
refinery process. They stated that the refinery process consists of two units: (1) Refinery unit (2) Fractionation
unit. Palm Olein is used mainly as cooking oil in households; whereas, palm sterin is used to produce

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shortenings and margarine. ( Polprasert et al. 2015)

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However, some experimental investigations concluded that the use of varying proportions karanja
methyl ester ester-diesel blends as fuel in diesel engines and reduction in exhaust gas emissions, increase in
torque, brake thermal efficiency, and reduced brake specific fuel consumption and finally concluded that

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such oil suitable fuel for diesel engines (Raheman and Phadatare 2004).

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The direct used canola oil methyl esters (COME) -diesel fuel blends to study the effect of fuel
injection pressure on combustion and performance characteristics of a single cylinder naturally aspirated DI
diesel engine. They observed advanced injection timings with COME for its complete combustion. They
concluded that the brake specific fuel consumption, brake specific energy consumption for COME are higher
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than diesel (Cenk Sayin et al. 2012).
To analyze the performance, emission and combustion parameters of a diesel engine fuelled with
ethyl esters of fish oil and its diesel blends. They reported that there was a reduction in NOₓ, HC and CO
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emissions along with a marginal increase in CO2 and smoke emissions with increase in biodiesel proportion in
diesel for the entire load. They concluded that the ignition delay, maximum heat release rate and combustion
duration were lower for biodiesel –diesel blends when compared to diesel ( Sakthivel et al. 2014).
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From the literature review, it was observed that most of the research work was carried out on the use
of biodiesel obtained from different feed stocks and production technologies. They mentioned that
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fractionation is used in for the palm oils and fats industry to physically separate oils into high-melting
‘stearin’ fractions and lower-melting ‘olein’ fractions. Palm oil is most widely fractionated. The main
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triglycerides in palm oil can be grouped into three groups produced from palm oil-stearin (PS), mid-fraction,
and olein (POo). A common fractionation process is the separation of palm mid fraction from palm olein.
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Palm olein (PO) is the liquid fraction derived from the fractionation of palm oil, and palm stearin (PS) the
high-melting (hard) fraction. Palm stearin and palm kernel olein are both products of the palm oil industry
that presently have limited use (Salvi and Panwar (2012).
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Also methyl esters from animal fats where used by Selvam and Vadivel (2013) has an alternative fuel
for diesel. They observed that the addition of waste pork lard methyl ester (WPLME) to diesel has slightly
decreased brake thermal efficiency of the engine and has slightly increased specific fuel consumption when
compared to pure diesel. However WPLME has reduced CO, HC and NOx emissions when compared to pure
diesel.
Experiments using vegetable oils were conducted in CI engines. Sivalakshmi and Balusamy (2011)
used neem oil and its blends in a DI compression Ignition engines. They observed that neem oil blends with
alcohol have shown higher break thermal efficiency than those of neat neem oils. HC, CO and soot emissions
were drastically reduced using the above-mentioned blends with only a marginal decrease in NOₓ emissions.

3
 In this study, described that heterogeneous transesterification of vegetable oils offers an
environmentally more attractive option for biodiesel production compared to the conventional homogeneous
processes. They employed metal doped methoxide catalyst was developed in the present study which aims to
improve the transesterification of low cost palm stearin (PS) and reduce the generation of waste. Through the
X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), etc. observed that better
catalytic activity of the aforementioned catalyst in the biodiesel reaction could be attributed to the presence of
optimal number of catalytically active acid site density on its surface ( Kok Leong Theam et al. 2015)
Experimental tests conducted to investigate the performance and exhaust emissions on DI diesel
engine with rice bran oil biodiesel and its blends as shown that maximum break thermal efficiency 2.5%
ethanol blended with RBD and is higher than that of diesel fuel and biodiesel. Ethanol blending of 2.5% and
also reduced the exhaust gas temperature, carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons and unused Oxygen emissions

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(Venkata subbaiah and Rajagopal 2011).

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It is observed from the literature that various researchers have contributed to the implementation of
processed or methyl/ethyl ester vegetable oils in engines by adopting higher injection pressures for making
blends. Efforts were made by researchers to lower the NOₓ emissions from the biodiesel fuelled engines with

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the addition of EGR and other oxygenated additives . Palm stearin is obtained upon fractionation of palm
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olien oil. Though it finds applications in shortenings and margarine. Very few have explored its use as source

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for production of biodiesel and its subsequent use in engines. Few researchers also made use of heterogeneous
method of producing biodiesel using metal doped meth oxides.
In the present study an attempt is made to utilize neat methyl esters obtained from non-edible oil
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derived from Refined, Bleached & Deodorized (RBD) Palm Stearin. For this purpose experimental studies
were carried out by varying compression ratio and fuel injection pressure with an objective of improving the
performance and reducing the harmful emissions of the engine.
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2. MATERIALS AND METHODS

2.1. Preparation of Methyl Esters from Palm Stearin.
From the literature review, it is found that most of the research works have been carried out on a number of
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alternative fuels especially biodiesel produced from different kinds of vegetable oils and animal fats .To begin
with laboratory samples of Palm Stearin methyl esters of Refined, Bleached & Deodorized (RBD) Palm
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Stearin were prepared by adopting standard transesterification process described by Fangrui Ma and
Milford A. Hanna (1999). In the present case methanol and NaOH as ingredients were used. The procedure
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of making oil from Palm stearin to final biodiesel is presented in the form of flow chart, Fig. 1 and Fig. 2 as
given below. Table-1 gives the comparison of important properties of fuels under consideration.
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2.2. Preparation of Blend ( PSME40 ):

The blend PSME40 is prepared by mixing 40% by volume of Palm stearin methyl ester and 60% by
volume of Petro-diesel. A separate emulsifier is used to mix both petro-diesel and Palm stearin methyl ester in
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molecular level. PSME40 fuel is made just before the commencement of the experiment to avoid the possible
oxidation of the blend if stored for longer durations. The blend preparation unit is shown in Fig.3.

3. Experimental programme
The detailed specifications and schematic diagram of the engine are given in Table-2 and Fig.4 .
Initially the experiments were performed with Petro-diesel maintaining rated fuel injection pressure,
rated compression ratio and rated speed of 190bar, 16.5 and 1500 rpm respectively. During the experiments,
the engine speed (1500rpm) and engine coolant outlet temperature (650C) were maintained constant so as to
obtain a steady state condition of the engine. The results with these details were treated as baseline data. The
equipment/instrumentation employed is schematically shown as Fig.4. The smoke opacity of the exhaust gas
was measured by smoke Opacity meter (Make: INDUS Smoke Meter; Model: OMS-103). Exhaust gas

4
 composition was measured using MORTH/CMVR/TAP-115/116 Part-VIII based exhaust gas analyzer
(Make: INDUS Scientific Pvt Ltd, 5-Gas Analyzer; Model: PEA-205). This analyzer measures CO, HC, CO₂,
O₂, and NOₓ in the exhaust gas. The measurement range and accuracy of the exhaust gas analyzer are given
in Table-3. Further experiments were continued with neat PSME40 by varying fuel injection pressures from
190 bar to 230 bar in steps of 20 bars and a higher compression ratio of 19.
4. RESULTS & DISCUSSION
In the present study, Constant speed, performance and emission related experiments are performed on a
Kirlosker AV1, single cylinder, four stroke, water cooled, direct injection CI engine with petro-diesel and 40% Palm
Stearin methyl ester blend by varying fuel injection pressures(190, 210 and 230 bars ) and Compression Ratio
16.5 & 19 of the engine. The baseline data represent the information on the performance of the engine when it
was run with petrol-diesel at rated FIP of 190 bar and CR = 16.5. The effect of fuel injection pressure and CR

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are investigated on the important characteristics of an engine and the same are plotted and discussed

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appropriately.

4.1.Performance Characteristics of the engine at different FIPs and CRs with PSME40

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4.1.1. Effect of Injection Pressure at CR 16.5:

As can be observed from Fig. 5.1 which represents the variation of BTE and BSFC of the engine with the

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load when the engine was run with 40% Palm Stearin methyl ester blend by varying the FIP from 190 bar to
230 bar in steps of 20 bar. The brake thermal efficiency of the engine is an important non-dimensional
performance parameter that represents the percentage of power developed by the engine to the amount of heat
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supplied. Thus, it is reciprocal of BSFC of the engine. BTE has increased with an increase in the load.
However, BSFC has decreased with an increase in the load. From Fig.5.1. it can also be observed that for a
compression ratio of 16.5, BTE for an injection pressure of 210 bar is higher than those with 190 and 230 bar
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with respect to baseline data. It is seen that BTE of PSME40 slightly lower than that of petro-diesel fuel at all
load levels. As the methyl esters of Palm Stearin blend have higher viscosity, density and low calorific value
than the diesel fuel, the higher viscosity leads to decreased atomization, fuel vaporization and combustion,
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and hence the thermal efficiency of bio-diesel is lower than that of diesel fuel. It is interesting to note that as
the FIP was increased, the BTE and BSFC values are decreasing. But the values with 210 bar are close to
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baseline values. It is required to adopt higher injection pressures when a fuel with a higher viscosity is used
compared to petro-diesel. This is also due to fact that as the FIP was increased, smaller and smaller size
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droplets should have been produced which in turn mixed thoroughly with available air and made nearly
complete combustion. Further, an increase in pressure beyond 210 bar has not helped. This can be attributed
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to the fact that by increasing pressure beyond optimum level, fuel would get impinged on the inner walls of
cylinder and may leave without taking part in combustion. This may even produce higher levels of HC and
smoke density with higher values BSFC. Therefore, for this engine configuration it can be inferred that 210
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bar could be an optimum injection pressure.

4.1.2. Effect of Injection Pressure at CR19:

Further tests were performed on the engine with a compression ratio of 19. The FIPs are again maintained as
190 bar to 230 bar. Fig.5.2 shows the variation of BTE and BSFC of the engine respect to the percentage of
full load power when it was from with 40% Palm Stearin methyl ester blend. In the same Figure the baseline
data is also compared. It is obvious from the Figure that the BTE and BSFC values for an FIP of 190 bar are
close to baseline data. It is interesting to observe that higher compression ratio has played a vital role in
obtaining better performance with Palm Stearin biodiesel blend. This may due to the reason that at higher
compression ratios, engine experiences higher temperatures which would help in complete combustion.

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 Fig.5.1 and Fig.5.2 represents the variation of BTE with respect to the percentage of full load power.
It is oblivious from the two figures that engine operation with 40% Palm Stearin methyl ester blend is better
to increase in compression ratio.
4.1.3.Comparison of BSFCs of engine for different FIPs and CRs:

From Fig.5.1 and Fig.5.2 the BSFCs of the engine for load operation are extracted and compared in Fig.
5.3(a) and Fig.5.3(b). In order to observe the role of compression ratio, the best BSFCs obtained with CR=
16.5 and CR=19 respectively are redrawn as Fig.5.3(c).

From Fig.5.3(c) it can be noticed that compression ratio has played a dominant role in achieving better
performance. It can be concluded at this stage, injection pressure can be varied, maintaining the rated CR as it
is or compression ratio can be increased by retaining the rated FIP. Therefore, it is estimated that either an

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increase in compression ratio of about 15% or an increase in FIP of about 10% is required to achieve the

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performance of the engine with 40% Palm Stearin methyl ester blend in line with petro-diesel fuel operation
of the respective rated FIP and CR.
4.1.4.Comparison of Cylinder Pressure(bar) –Crank angle(Deg) of engine for different FIPs and CRs:

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The variation of Cylinder pressure with respect to crank angle for different CRs and FIPs are shown
in Fig. 4.3(d). The results were compared with the baseline data on the performance of the engine, when it

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was run with petrol-diesel at a constant FIP of 190 bar and CR 16.5. From the results, the trend of P-θlines
with PSME40 was found similar to the baseline of petro-diesel. It was observed that , 40% Stearin methyl
ester blend give higher combution pressure at high compression ratio due to longer ignition delay, maximum
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rate of pressure rise when compared to petro-diesel. The cylinder peak pressures, was seen lower at an
injection pressure of 210 bar and CR of 16.5 where as in peak pressure was higher for CR of 19 at the rated
injection pressure of 190 bar.
4.2. Emission Characteristics of the engine at different FIPs and CRs with PSME40.
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It was observed the effects of FIP and CR on the engine performance. During the entire load range of
operation, the emissions of the engine were also measured. Since the emissions of the CI engine will be
significant at full load operation, therefore, to observe the effect of FIP and CR, the emission levels are
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compared for CO, HC, Smoke Opacity and NOₓ in Figures 5.4, 5.5, 5.6 and 5.7 respectively.
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In cylinder conditions in terms of pressure and temperatures affect greatly the pollutant formation. The higher
the temperature, the better is the oxidation reactions and therefore with increase in compression ratio of the
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engine, favorable conditions have been prevailed for better oxidation and hence lower levels of CO,HC and
smoke values are observed. This can be due to the fact that factors affecting for formation of CO, HC and
Smoke Opacity are almost similar. With an increase in compression ratio, the levels of CO, HC and Smoke
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opacity have been significantly reduced. It can be concluded that again CR has played a dominant role in
reducing CO, HC and Smoke Opacity. It can also be observed that the levels of these emissions with 40%
Palm Stearin methyl ester blend are far lower when compared to emissions obtained with petro-diesel
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operation.
Fig.5.7 shows the levels of NOₓ for different conditions. It is interesting to notice that NOₓ levels are higher
with biodiesel compared to petro-diesel operation. This is well established in the literature that NOₓ emissions
increase with biodiesel operation due to the reactive nature of biodiesel molecule of higher temperature and
oxygen present in its structure. Since the biodiesel molecule contains oxygen in its structure, the amount of
oxidizer required by the engine gets reduced.
Fig. 5.8. and Fig. 5.9. Shows the variation of AFR and VE of the engine when it was from with PSME40.
Fuel consumption is higher in the engine due to increased temperature and completes combustion. Air fuel
ratio decreases with increase in load because air fuel mixing process is affected by the difficulty in

6
 atomization of biodiesel due to its higher viscosity. This can be understood with the lowest values of
volumetric efficiency obtained by Palm Stearin biodiesel blend operation.
Also, because of its reactive nature the in-cylinder temperatures with biodiesel operation would be
higher. This is also a reason for higher NOₓ levels, since the in-cylinder temperatures are higher and yields
higher exhaust temperatures. Fig.5.10(a) and Fig.5.10(b) show the variation of EGTs for CR=16.5 and
CR=19 respectively. It can be observed that with a biodiesel operation the EGTs are higher. These variations
can be attributed to the increase in thermal efficiency.

5. Conclusions
The effects of compression ratio and fuel injection pressure were studied experimentally when Kirloskar
AV1,single cylinder, four stroke,water cooled,dierct injection, multi fuel CI engine was run with 40% Palm

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Stearin methyl ester blend. Based on the present work the following conclusions are drawn.

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i. About 98.10% yield of Palm Methyl Esters was obtained from Refined , Bleached & Deodorised
(RBD) Palm Stearin.
ii. The Brake thermal efficiency, was observed to be higher at an injection pressure of 210 bar and
CR of 16.5 where as efficiency was higher for CR of 19 at the rated injection pressure of 190 bar.

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iii. Under full load operation and CR 16.5, the percentage reduction in CO, HC, Smoke Opacity were
observed to be about 8.66%, 27.36% and 1.66% respectively in comparison with baseline

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operation.
iv. Under full load operation and CR 19, the percentage reduction in CO, HC, Smoke Opacity were
observed to be about 6.80%, 23.58% and 3.50% respectively in comparison with baseline
operation.
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v. Under full load operation and CR 16.5,A percentage reduction of about 4.21% was observed in
Peak pressure with PSME40 compared to Petro-diesel operation
vi. Under full load operation and CR 19,A percentage increase of about 10.8% was observed in Peak
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pressure with PSME40 compared to Petro-diesel operation
vii. The volumetric efficiency of the engine was relatively low with Palm Stearin Methyl Esters blend
compared to petro-diesel operation.
viii. Under full load operation and CR 16.5,A percentage increase of about 8.42% was observed in
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NOₓ emission with PSME40 compared to Petro-diesel operation

ix. Under full load operation and CR 19,A percentage increase of about 13.13% was observed in
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NOₓ emission with PSME40 compared to Petro-diesel operation.

x. It is observed that compression ratio has a dominant effect on performance where as fuel injection
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pressure as played a vital role in the reduction of emissions.

Acknowledgements
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Authors thank the management of Sri Venkateswara College of Engineering, RVS Nagar, Chittoor for
providing the necessary experimental facilities to perform this research.
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9
 Rebuttal for the Paper TAEN- 2015 -0117
Manuscript entitled "Experimental investigations on a VCR CIDI Engine with blend of methyl
esters Palm stearin-diesel for performance and emissions."

Reviewer-1:

S.No Comment Response

1 Page1: Line 37: instead of safely, it can be safe operation Corrected as per suggestion
2 Page1: line 40: please check the word “Exchequer” Checked and found correct
3 Page2 line8: “Experiments were conducted and using corrected

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kanranja oil as fuel…” Please reframe the statement.

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4 Page2: Line13, It was concluded that NOx emission corrected
reduced….please look into the statement…
5 Page2 line 30-40: “A study on the concluded….NOx The whole sentences were modified
emission found to be retarded” The statement is too

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long….please reframe…
6 Page2 line35: What is H NMR? Please use it in H NMR is expanded at relevant place.

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abbreviation…
7 Page3 line 8: Polprasert et al. 2015) please add corrected
bracket (Polprasert et al. 2015)
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8 Page3 line8: In place et al. is written and some some corrected
place et al. Please use italic.
9 Page4 line 31: Remove “Photograph” word removed
10 Page4 line 35: From fig.3, ‘From’ need not to be bold changed
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11 Page4 line 42: Remove statement …” Purpose of Correction is done

experimental investigation…
12 In Page16, in Table2: Starting…canking or cranking? Changed
13 Page5 line21: From the Fig 4.1. there is no fig 4.1 exist. It is Fig.5.1.(Changed)
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Is it Fig 5.1?
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14 Page5 line 32: Please relook into the statement “which in corrected
turn mixed thoroughly here and let near complete”
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15 Please add more description for 210 bar in Section 4.1.1 As suggested, more information is given.
16 Remove ‘the’ from ‘the figure’ removed
17 Please discuss why PSME40% at 210 bar not gives The reason for the trend is mentioned.
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improved BTE in 19 CR as against 16.5?

18 Page6 line 22: Fig 4.4, 4.5, 4.6 and 4.7….Please check Corrected ( Figures 5.4,5.5,5.6 and 5.7 )
the correctness…it should be 5.4, 5.4, 5.6 and 5.7?
19 Page6 line 26: It would have been better to discuss the Sufficient reasoning is given at appropriate
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factors which affects CO, HC and smoke opacity place.

reduction with increase CR. You can elaborate.

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 Reviewer-2:

S.No Comment Response

1. The abstract is well written and in introduction, The authors are thankful to the
authors have described the obvious innovation and reviewer for appreciating the work
differences of research work comparing with other carried out and write-up of the paper.
present research
work reported in publication.
2. The authors attempted to contribute significant new

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research advances to the important area such as

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alternate fuels used in diesel engine to evaluate its
performance and emissions.
3. The paper objectives are well defined. The authors

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have conducted experimental investigations on
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existing diesel engine with a blend of methyl esters

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of palm stearin oil and petro-diesel under varying
injection pressures and compression ratios.
4. Conclusions section is well written but number is not corrected
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given (Ex. 5. Conclusions)
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Fig. 1. Flow Chart of Biodiesel Production from neat vegetable oils

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Fig. 2. Photograph of Biodiesel production

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Fig.3. Emulsifier for blend preparation

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 Fig. 4. Computer Based Four Stroke Single Cylinder Variable Compression Ratio Multi Fuel Engine with
Eddy Current Dynamometer

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Fig. 5.1 Variation of BTE & BSFC with % Full Load Brake Power at CR =16. 5
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Fig. 5.2. Variation of BTE and BSFC, with % Full Load Brake Power at CR=19
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Fig. 5.3(a) Variation of BSFC for PSME40 under Full Load for different FIPs and CR=16.5

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Fig. 5.3(b). Variation of BSFC for PSME40 under Full Load for different FIPs and CR=19
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Fig. 5.3(c). Comparison of lowest BSFCs of engine with PSME40 under Full Load conditions.

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Fig. 5.3(d). Comparison of best P-θs of engine with PSME40 under Full Load conditions.

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Fig. 5.4. Comparison of lowest CO Emissions of engine with PSME40 under Full Load conditions
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Fig. 5.5. Comparison of lowest HC Emissions of engine with PSME40 under Full Load conditions

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Fig. 5.6. Comparison of the lowest Smoke Opacity of engine with PSME40 under Full Load conditions

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Fig. 5.7. Comparison of lowest NOₓ Emissions of engine with PSME40 under Full Load conditions
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Fig. 5.8. Variation of AFR and VE with % Full Load Brake Power at CR =16. 5

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Fig. 5.9. Variation of AFR and VE with % Full Load Brake Power at CR =19

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Fig. 5.10(a). Variation of EGT with % Full Load Brake Power at CR =16.5
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Fig. 5.10(b). Variation of EGT with % Full Load Brake Power at CR =19

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 Nomenclature

Baseline Petro-diesel
BTE Brake Thermal Efficiency
BSFC Brake specific fuel consumption
CO Carbon Monoxide
CR Compression Ratio
EGT Exhaust Gas Temperature
FIP Fuel Injection Pressure

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HC Hydro Carbons

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NaOH Sodium Hydroxide
NOx Nitrogen Oxides
PSME40 40% Palm Stearin Methyl Ester
blend

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Table -1. Properties of Palm Stearin Methyl Esters blend and Petro-diesel

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S.No Fuel Property Unit Petro-diesel PSME40
1 Cetane Number 45 47.4
2 Specific gravity @150C kg/m3 830 847
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3 Calorific Value MJ/kg 42.5 40.89
0
4 Flash Point C 49 81.4
5 Kinematic Viscosity @400C cSt 3.52 4.03
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Table 2. Test Engine Specifications

Parameter
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Details
Kirloskar AV1- Computer Based Four Stroke ,Single
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Cylinder Variable Compression Ratio Multi Fuel,

Model and Engine type
Water Cooled,Direct injection, Compression Ignition
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Engine
Supplier Tech-Ed,Bengaluru
Rated Power 3.7 kW(5hp)
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Rated Speed 1500 rpm

Bore & Stroke 80 mm & 110 mm
Connecting rod length 234 mm
Swept volume 551 cc
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Compression Ratio 5:1 to 20:1

Injection Timing
Loading device
Rated torque & Arm length
Starting
Air box Orifice Diameter
Recommended Fuels
240 btdc
Eddy Current Dynamometer
2,4,8 kg-m & 175 mm
Self Starter / Cranking
20 mm
Diesel, Petrol, Bio diesel, LPG, Ethanol,Various oils
blended with diesel

Table-3 : Exhaust Gas Analyzer and Smoke meter Specifications

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 A) Exhaust gas analyzer specification
Gases Measured Measurement Range Data Resolution Accuracy
Carbon Monoxide ( CO ) 0 - 15.00 % 0.01 % ± 0.06% Vol
Hydrocarbon ( HC ) 0 - 30,000 ppm 1 ppm ± 12 ppm Vol
Carbon Dioxide ( CO₂ ) 0 - 20.00% 0.01 % ± 0.5% Vol
Oxygen ( O₂ ) 0 - 25.00% 0.01 % ± 0.1% Vol
Oxides of Nitrogen ( NOₓ ) 0 - 5000 ppm 1 ppm ± 3 ppm Vol
B) Smoke meter specification
Smoke Opacity 0 - 99.9% HSU HSU:0.1% ± 0.1m-1

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