International Journal of Engineering and Technical Research (IJETR)

ISSN: 2321-0869, Volume-2, Issue-6, June 2014

Investigations on the Performance of Ceramic

Insulated Diesel Engine with Diesohol as a Fuel
Dr. S Sunil Kumar Reddy, Dr. V. Pandurangadu, Dr. V. Pratibha
these fuels can be used in the form of alcohol-diesel fuel
Abstract The global fuel crisis triggered awareness among blend in the C.I engines. Based on the available literature it is
many countries of their vulnerability to oil embargoes and observed that much amount of work has been done on the
shortages. Considerable attention was focused on the utilization of alcohol with diesel in the form of blend.
development of alternative fuel, particularly in terms of
emissions and efficiency. With the major advances in the Li et al [1] evaluated the performance of ethanol-diesel fuel
engine technology, the reduction of emissions from engines has blend experimentally by varying the ethanol percentage and
become major factor as specified by EPA. Among all the fuels concluded that brake specific fuel consumption and brake
tested more attention is given to the alcohols because these are thermal efficiency increases and smoke emissions reduces
renewable, ecofriendly and produce less pollutant. But with its
with ethanol content in the blend.
high self ignition temperature and low latent heat, the burning
of alcohol in the diesel engines at the available compression Hasimoglu et al [2] concluded from their experiments that
ratios is difficult. Hence in these substitute fuels, the emulsions due to high operating temperatures in the low heat rejection
of diesel fuel with alcohols have been found to yield some engines for the blends the brake thermal efficiency, brake
beneficial effects with particular emphasis on emission
specific fuel consumption and exhaust gas temperatures are
reductions. So in the present work, a low heat rejection engine
increased.
is developed which retains heat in the combustion chamber and
makes the combustion complete. To explore these benefits of Parlak et al [3] showed that in comparison with standard
emulsions of diesel and alcohol blends, several experiments are diesel engine, specific fuel consumption was decreased by
performed with different proportions of ethanol in diesel.
6% and brake thermal efficiency was increased by 2%.
Among all the blends 20% ethanol-diesel blends shows best
Further the exhaust gas energy of low heat rejection engine
performance in all respects with the insulated engine.
was 3-10% higher than normal diesel engine. Lyne et al [4]
Index Terms Ceramic engines, Air gap insulation, Low reviewed the issues of alcohol-diesel blends with particular
heat rejection engine, PSZ, Alcohol-blends. reference to safety and distribution, integrity of the fuel
delivery, emissions, engine performance and durability. It is
I. INTRODUCTION concluded that with the oxygenated alcohol the emissions are
reduced. Hashimoto et al [8] reported a 5% drop in the
The applications of diesel engine are enormous in different
maximum fuel delivery with 30% ethanol-diesel blend.
sectors and play a key role in the countrys economy. In the
Moses et al [9] and Hornbaker et al [5] observed 2-3%
context of depletion of fossil fuels, ever increase of pollution
improvement in brake thermal efficiency with 10% of
levels with fossils fuels and increase of economic burden on
alcohol-diesel blend. But from the above experiments it is
developing countries like INDIA in importing crude oil, the
concluded that the performance of the diesel engine is better
search for alternate and renewable fuels has become
with the alcohol-diesel blend.
pertinent. The reduction of emissions from the engines has
become a major factor in the development of new engines as Lioyd S Kamo et al [6] used porous iron oxide and
per the EU. The alternative fuel selected must be molybdenum based composite thermal coatings to improve
replenishable, cheap and easily available. Among many fuels coating strength and tribological properties. This further
considerable attention was given to alcohol due to its improves the coating wear resistance. K.A. Khor et.al [11]
renewable nature. Our country is one of the good producers of reported 4 to 7 % improvement in fuel consumption in single
sugarcane which is a major one in the production of alcohol. cylinder DI diesel engine. This was accomplished by using
Implementation of alcohol as a fuel in I.C. Engines in INDIA constant air flow rate with boosting pressure with 1 mm thick
will lead to many advantages like green cover to waste land, PSZ coating to the cylinder head face and the valve heads by
support to agricultural sector, rural economy, and reduction placing a short solid PSZ cylinder liner in the area above the
in dependence on import crude oil and fall in pollutions. But piston rings and heat insulated steel piston.
the alcohols have high self ignition temperature and low
Form above literature it is concluded that the blend
latent heat which makes the burning of alcohols in diesel
performance mainly depend on the combustion chamber
engines difficult at the available compression ratios. So,
temperatures. Due to the high latent heat and self ignition
temperature, complete combustion of the fuel is not possible.
Manuscript received June 11, 2014. But combustion can be done at the elevated temperatures in
Dr.S.Sunil Kumar reddy Associate Professor, Department of the combustion chamber. So in the present work, a ceramic
Mechanical Engineering, NBKRIST, Vidyanagar, Nellore, Andhra Pradesh
Dr.V.Pandurangadu Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering,
engine is developed with the insulation of the combustion
JNT University, Anantapur, Andhra Pradesh chamber [2, 3 and 4] with ceramics. The concept of ceramic
Dr.V.Pratibha, Associate Professor, Department of mechanical engineering, engine is to provide thermal insulation in the path of heat
Mallareddy College of engineering, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh
flow to coolant. This will increase the in-cylinder work and

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 Investigations on the Performance of Ceramic Insulated Diesel Engine with Diesohol as a Fuel

the amount of energy carried by the exhaust gases, which V. PROPERTIES OF DIESOHOL
could also be recovered. The main important properties of diesohol which affect the
combustion are Stability, Viscosity, Density and Cetane
II. DETAILS OF THE PRESENT INVESTIGATIONS number.

Diesohol is a mixture of diesel and alcohol (ethanol) in which A. Stability:

diesel is present in major portion. Generally ethanol can be
blended with diesel; however as the ethanol is water based, in The stability and solubility of ethanol in diesel mainly
the blend ethanol is immiscible in diesel fuel over a wide depends on temperature and water content in the blend. At
range of temperature. This is because of their difference in the higher temperatures these will readily blend and will
chemical structure and characteristics. Due to this the fuel is separate if temperature changes. This separation can be
unstable with the phase separation. This can be avoided with prevented by adding emulsifier or by adding a co-solvent that
the addition of emulsifier. acts as a bridging agent. In the present experiment emulsifier
The main purpose of the investigation is to find the suitability is used. With the emulsifier the blend is thermodynamically
of the insulated engine for alcohol-diesel blends with and stable with no separation.
without emulsifier. The experiment has the following phases.
B. Viscosity and lubricity
1. Production of ethanol
2. Preparation of diesohol Fuel viscosity and lubricity plays a significant role in the
3. Properties of diesohol lubrication of fuel injection systems. Lower fuel viscosities
4. Preparation of ceramic engine components lead to greater pump and injector leakage reducing fuel
5. Results and discussions delivery and hence power output. Generally an addition of
ethanol to diesel lowers fuel viscosity and lubricity. Speidel
and Ahmed et al [ 12 ] investigated the effect of blend on
III. PRODUCTION OF ETHANOL viscosity and concluded that the final blend viscosity depends
INDIA is an agricultural country which has for about 100 on the amount of diesel fuel added. For the durability of the
million hectares of waste land. These waste lands can be used engine fuel injection system there should be minimum
for the production of sugarcane. Now-a-days farmers are specifications for viscosity and lubricity. In the present
producing sugarcane which is used for the production of experiment the viscosity of the blend is found with Saybolt
sugar. Ethanol has traditionally been produced from viscometer.
molasses, a by-product in the sugar industry. The overall
C. Material compatibility
process of producing ethanol consists of the following steps.
1. Crushing 2. Extraction of sugar 3. Fermentation of The amount of ethanol presents in the blend influences the
molasses 4. Distillation 5. Dehydration 6. Denaturing corrosion of various components in the engine particularly
fuel injection system, fuel tank and fuel line etc., According
to Brick et al [13 ] the corrosion was divided into three
IV. PREPARATION OF DIESOHOL
categories i.e general corrosion, dry corrosion and wet
corrosion. General corrosion is due to the chloride ions, dry
Generally, ethanol can be blended with diesel fuel without corrosion is due to the ethanol and wet corrosion is due to
modifying the engine. Diesohol is a fuel containing alcohol azeotropic water which oxidizes the metal components. So
that comprises of blend of diesel fuel and hydrated ethanol. before the experiment the material compatibility is checked.
As the ethanol is hydrated, both these are immiscible and
results instability in the fuel due to phase separation. So, this D. Calorific Value
separation can be prevented by adding emulsifier. An
emulsion is a system of two immiscible liquids, one of which The power output of the engine is mainly depending upon the
is dispersed throughout the other in small drops. Emulsifying energy content (Calorific Value) of the fuel. As per the
agents include not only soaps, which reduce surface tensions. Wrage et al [ 7 ] the calorific value of the blend should be
Emulsions are made by shaking together two liquid phases in sufficient enough to use them in the existing diesel engines at
the presence of emulsifying agents to form homogeneous different loads and speeds. With the addition of ethanol in to
mixture. In this present work mechanical homogenizers are diesel the calorific value of the diesel fuel is dropped. Further
used to mix two immiscible liquids to produce very fine the ignition delay is increased which further affected the
droplets of one in the other. In an emulsion, the surfactant performance of the engine.
serves as an interface between the ethanol-water solution and
the diesel fuel. The surfactant used in this work to stabilize E. Cetane Number
ethanol-diesel fuel emulsion is TWEEN 80 LR (poly oxy
ethylene sorbitan mono-oleate) Non-ionic surfactant. The combustion characteristics of the blend mainly depend
on the cetane number of the fuel. Lower cetane number fuel
requires will have high self ignition temperatures further
longer ignition delays, allowing more time for fuel to
vaporize during combustion. morel et al [10] investigated on

72 www.erpublication.org
 International Journal of Engineering and Technical Research (IJETR)
ISSN: 2321-0869, Volume-2, Issue-6, June 2014
the isopropyl nitrate ignition improvers with ethanol blends
and concluded that though the improver is efficient the B. Cylinder Liner Insulation
improvement in the efficiency is not much. So for the
burning of low cetane fuels it requires higher temperatures in With the piston movement inside the cylinder an air gap of 2
the combustion chambers. mm is provided outside the liner. This insulation reduces the
heat transfer to the cooling medium.

F. Safety and Biodegradability C. Cylinder Head and Valve Insulation

The flammability of alternative fuels during handling and For the present experiment Ceramic is chosen as the
storage is a major concern for the present engines. Speidel insulating material because of its low density, high thermal
and Ahmed et al [ 12] evaluated the biodegradability of stability, stability in severe chemical environment, low
alternative fuels, including a diesel blend with 15% ethanol thermal conductivity, heat and wear resistant and favorable
and 5% additive. They concluded that this blend is more strength and creep behavior.
biodegradable than diesel fuel, further due to the sunlight the
blend has not shown any residue. In the present work ceramic coating is done on cylinder head
and valves. The process involves
VI. PREPARATION OF CERAMIC ENGINE
COMPONETS 1. Pre-cleaning and pre-machining of the cylinder head and
valve surfaces to remove rust, scale, paint etc.
For the combustion of ethanol, higher compression ratios and 2. Ceramic Coating on the component surfaces with
temperatures are needed in the combustion chamber. For plasma spraying technique
achieving elevated operating temperatures in the combustion 3. Final finishing operations like grinding, lapping,
chamber, the heat transfer from the engine components to the polishing and cleaning.
cooling system is to be reduced. So the important engine
components are insulated. The detailed method of insulation With the above specified method, the cylinder head and
is explained below. valves bottom surfaces are machined to a depth of 0.5 mm
and further insulated by coating the area exposed to the
A. Piston Insulation combustion with PSZ. The PSZ coated cylinder head and
In the present experiment 2 mm air gap is provided between valves are as shown in the above figure 2. All these insulated
piston crown and skirt. This act as an insulator for the heat parts described above are interchangeable with the standard
transfers and retains the heat in the combustion chamber. engine parts.
The figure 1 shows the line diagram and photographic view
of the piston crown used in the experiment.

Figure 2: PSZ coated cylinder head and valves

VII. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

The present study was conducted on 5 Bhp single cylinder
direct injection water cooled ceramic coated diesel engine.
The diesel and alcohol fuel emulsion was introduced into the
fuel tank and was continuously stirred.
Fig 1: Air gap insulated Aluminum crown
(a) Line diagram (b) photo of Aluminum crown

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 Investigations on the Performance of Ceramic Insulated Diesel Engine with Diesohol as a Fuel

Exhibit 1 Variation of brake thermal efficiency with power

Fig. 3: Photo of Insulated Engine Experimental set up output without emulsifier

A load test was conducted with emulsifier for different

percentage of blends. The results are presented below. The B. Specific fuel consumption
experimental set up and the air gap insulated aluminum
The variation of Specific fuel consumption with brake power
piston is shown in figure 3and figure 4. All the tests are
output for different ethanol-diesel blends is shown in the
conducted at the rated speed of 1500 rpm.
Exhibit 2. It is seen from the above graph that there is
decrease in specific fuel consumption at higher loads. This
may due to an increase in delay period due to low residual gas
content in the cylinder and lower cooling water temperature
resulting in complete combustion. It is observed that at 20 %
of the fuel blend the SFC is 3.21% lower than diesel fuel.

Fig 4: Photo of air gap Aluminum crown piston

Exhibit 2.Variation of Specific fuel consumption with power

A. Brake Thermal Efficiency
output without emulsifier

Exhibit 1 shows the variation of the Brake thermal efficiency The rate of decrease of specific fuel consumption is more at
with brake power for different ethanol-diesel blends. It is part loads than higher loads. This is further attributed to the
seen from the figure that an improvement in thermal complete combustion of the fuel blend at the higher
efficiency at higher loads has been achieved during prevailing temperatures in the combustion chamber. For
ethanol-diesel fuel operation. This may be attributed to better 10% blend and 30% blend it is 2.76% and 2.32% lower than
vaporization of emulsified fuel resulting from higher inlet diesel fuel.
charge temperatures. The longer delay period allows a larger
premix of fuel vapour and air in the cylinder, hence once C. Exhaust gas Temperature
combustion commences there is large heat release at almost
constant volume resulting in a more efficient conversion of The amount of exhaust gas temperature depends on the
heat energy into work. Thus with the complete combustion of complete combustion of the fuel in the combustion chamber.
the fuel the efficiency increases. This further enhances with Exhibit 3 shows the variation of the Exhaust gas temperature
the higher prevailing temperatures in the combustion with brake power output for different ethanol-diesel blends.
chamber with the insulation of the components. The brake It is seen from the figure that there is a marginal decrease in
thermal Efficiency with 10% blend and 20% fuel blends are the exhaust temperature with ethanol- diesel blends
1.2% and 4.63% higher than diesel fuel at the rated load. The compared to diesel fuel. The reduction in the exhaust
efficiency for 30% blend is in between the efficiency of 10% temperature is the indication of the advancement
blend and 20% blend.

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 International Journal of Engineering and Technical Research (IJETR)
ISSN: 2321-0869, Volume-2, Issue-6, June 2014

Exhibit 3 Variation of Exhaust gas temperature with power Exhibit 5 Variation of Specific fuel consumption with power
output without emulsifier output with emulsifier.

of heat release or an increase in the pressure expansion ratio

as well as the combined effects of charge cooling and lower
flame temperature of ethanol combustion. As all the
components of the engine are insulated the heat energy
results in the exhaust. This high heat in the exhaust can be
recovered by the turbo compounding system. The maximum
increase in temperature is with 20% fuel blend and is 5.9%
compared to 10% fuel blend.

Exhibit 4, 5 and 6 show the variation of the Brake thermal

efficiency, Specific fuel consumption and exhaust gas
temperature with brake power output with the addition of Exhibit 6 Variation of Exhaust gas temperature with power
emulsifier. From the above graphs, it is observed that output with emulsifier
The Brake thermal efficiency has been increased for all
the emulsified blends due to better vaporization and
D. Exhaust Smoke:
proper mixing of fuels. With reference to the
ethanol-diesel blend, brake thermal efficiency of the With the inferior operating temperatures and due to the lack
20% emulsified ethanol-diesel blend increased from of oxygen, the combustion will be incomplete in the
25.93 % to 27.12 % compared to thermal efficiency combustion chamber and this may cause for the smoke in the
without emulsifier. exhaust. Visual observation of engine exhaust shows
The specific fuel consumption of emulsified reduced smoke with emulsified fuel. When ethanol is added
ethanol-diesel blend is less than that of the in the diesel fuel it increases the ignition delay. Therefore,
ethanol-diesel blend. This is possible due to high more fuel is burnt in second phase of combustion known as
temperature prevailing in the cylinder, which increases rapid combustion. Smoke being generated mainly in
the combustion efficiency and further leads to the diffusive flames; evidently it will be less due to less fuel
instantaneous higher pressure in the chamber. With the available for diffusive burning when ethanol is added to
using of emulsifier, the S.F.C has been decreased by 1.32 diesel fuel. Further with the inherent oxygen content in the
% with 20% ethanol-diesel blend when compared to the ethanol; emulsifier and higher operating heat causes for the
same counterpart without emulsifier. complete combustion and oxidation of the soot particles
which reduce the smoke emissions.
The exhaust gas temperature of ethanol-diesel blend has
been increased with the complete combustion of the fuel. VIII. CONCLUSIONS:
The rate of increase is 6.23 % for emulsified
ethanol-diesel blend compared to the same counterpart Following are the conclusions drawn based on the
experimental results obtained while operating single cylinder
ceramic insulated air gap diesel engine fuelled with ethanol
and diesel blend.

The experimental results show that it is possible to use

an emulsion of hydrous ethanol and diesel fuel to operate
diesel engine with a minimum modifications of the
engine.
Ethanol can be used as power booster by making higher
degree of air utilization.
Use of ethanol-diesel fuel emulsion results in a clean
Exhibit 4 Variation of brake thermal efficiency with power exhaust.
output with emulsifier.

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 Investigations on the Performance of Ceramic Insulated Diesel Engine with Diesohol as a Fuel

The exhaust gas temperatures are lower with

ethanol-diesel fuel emulsion.
From the above results it can be concluded that it is
advantageous to use 20% ethanol- diesel blend at present
without any modifications of the engine.

The effect of high self ignition temperature and latent I am Dr. S.Sunil Kumar Reddy, working as an
Associate professor in the department of Mechanical Engineering, NBKR
heat of ethanol-diesel fuel blend are compensated with Institute of science & Technology, Vidyanagar, Nellore , Andhra Pradesh,
higher prevailing temperatures in the combustion INDIA. I completed my M.Tech in thermal Engineering and P.hD in the area of
chamber. alternate fuels from JNT University, Anantapur, Andhra Pradesh. I published
10 articles in various national and international conferences and 19 research
papers in various national and international journals.
With the burning of alcohol in diesel engine, it can be
considered as a preferable replacement for diesel fuel thereby
promoting our economy and makes the farmers self
sufficient.

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