Simulation of injection development of diesel-ethanol-palm oil methyl ester blend in direct injection diesel engine / Norhidayah Mat Taib ... [et al.]

Palm oil industry has become a major contributor to Malaysia’s economic growth, and is included the National Key Economic Areas (NKEA) as part of an important thrust for the country to reach developed nation status by 2021. From an environmental and economic point of view, the use of palm oil methyl ester (PME) as fuel will also lead to a 'greener’ future. This paper aims to study the effects of adding palm oil methyl ester (PME) in diesel-ethanol blended fuels for the development of fuel injection by using CONVERGE CFD software based on injection parameters of Yanmar TF90 diesel engine. Effects on the thermo-physical properties of the blended fuels were examined by blending 10% - 40% of ethanol with 10%-40% of PME in 50% diesel fuel. The injection development was analyzed with a focus on fuel penetration, droplets number, and droplet size. Every addition of 5% PME to the diesel-ethanol blends was found to increase fuel penetration by about 10% due to its high density and viscosity. A higher percentage of PME in the diesel-ethanol blends also generated smaller number of droplets, which were bigger in size. As for the distribution process, palm oil methyl ester (PME) led to slower combustion reaction. Mixing ethanol in these blends also slightly influenced the injection system where the penetration length of blends with high percentage of ethanol was higher and generated higher number of smaller-sized droplets due to the low viscosity, heating value and breaking energy to break the droplets. Both