EXPERIMENTAL STUDY OF USING EMULSIFIED DIESEL FUEL ON

THE PERFORMANCE AND POLLUTANTS EMITTED FROM FOUR

STROKE WATER COOLED DIESEL ENGINE
A. Alahmer
a
, J. A. Yamin
a
, A. Sakhrieh
b
*, M. A. Hamdan
a
a
Department of Mechanical Engineering, J ordan University, Amman 11942, J ordan
b
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Hashemite University, Zarqa 13115, J ordan
ABSTRACT
A water-cooled, four stroke, four cylinder, direct injection diesel engine was used to study the effect of emulsified diesel fuel on
the engine performance and on the main pollutant emissions. Emulsified diesel fuels of 0%, 5%, 10%, 15%, 20%, 25% and
30% water by volume were used. The experiments were conducted in the speed range from 1000 to 3000 rpm. It was found
that, in general, using emulsified fuel improves the engine performance and reduces emissions. While the BSFC has a
minimum value at 5% water and 2000 rpm, the torque, the BMEP and efficiency are found to have maximum values under these
conditions. CO
2
was found to increase with engine speed and to decrease with water content. NO
x
produced fromemulsified fuel
is significantly less than that produced from pure diesel under the same conditions.
Key words: Diesel engine; Emulsified fuel; Pollutant emissions; Four stroke
INTRODUCTION
Diesel engines are employed as the major propulsion
power source for both in-land and marine transportation
primarily because of their simple, rigid structure and high fuel
economy. However, the pollutants emitted fromdiesel
engines, in particular nitrogen oxides and particulate matters,
which are detrimental to the health of living beings and the
ecological environment, have been recognized as major air
pollutants in metropolitan areas. This situation has attracted
much research interest. Further and in the last two decades
of the 20
th
century, major advances in engine technology
have occurred leading to greater vehicles fuel economy.
Consequently, increasing the engine efficiency and
reducing the engine exhaust emissions became major
factors in development of new engines. Diesel emulsion is
one of many possible approaches to reduce diesel engine
pollution.
It was found that the presence of water vapor in
reactants influences the physics and chemical kinetics of
combustion. Water vapor has also beneficial effects on the
rate of heat release and pollutant emissions. During
combustion, vaporized water reduces the flame temperature,
changes the chemical composition of the reactants
resulting in higher OH radical concentration, controlling
the NO formation rate and soot oxidation and dilutes the
rich zones in the combustion chamber [1].
Subramanian et al. [2] used water diesel emulsion as a fuel to
run a single cylinder, direct injection diesel engine at a
constant speed of 1500 rpm under variable load conditions.
Water to diesel ratio of 0.4 on mass basis was used. Tests
indicated a considerable reduction in smoke and NO
x
levels.
This was accompanied by an increase in brake thermal
efficiency.
Abu-Zaid [3] conducted a study to investigate the
effect of water emulsification on the performance and gas
temperature of a single cylinder water cooled diesel engine.
Emulsified diesel fuels of 0, 5, 10, 15, and 20 water/diesel
ratios by volume were used; operating was in the range from
1200 to 3300 rpm. Results indicated that the addition of water
in the form of emulsion improves combustion efficiency. The
engine torque, power, and brake thermal efficiency increase
with the increase of water percentage in the emulsion.
Lif et al. [4] presented the influence of water addition
to diesel fuel on emissions and combustion efficiency.
Water contents ranging from 5% to 45% was studied. Results
showed that there is a 30 % decrease in the emission of
nitrogen oxides and up to 60% drop in particulate matters,
which can be achieved by emulsifying up to 15% water
in diesel. However an increase in the emissions of
hydrocarbons and carbon monoxides with increasing water
content of the emulsion was found. The combustion
efficiency was improved when diesel is emulsified with
water.
Armas et al. [5] studied the effect of water- oil
emulsion on the engine performance and on the main
pollutant emissions; NO
x
, total hydrocarbons (THC), soot,
particulate matter (PM) and its composition. A
turbocharger inter-cooler indirect injection (IDI) diesel
engine was tested under five different steady state
operating conditions. Tests were performed using a
commercial fuel as a reference and an emulsified fuel for
each operating condition. Results reported suggest that the
water emulsification has a potential to slightly improve the
brake efficiency and to significantly reduce the formation of
thermal NO, soot, hydrocarbons and PM in the diesel
engine.
Canfield [6] studied the effects of burning a mixture of
diesel fuel, water, and surfactant on nitrogen oxides (NO
x
)
emissions froma diesel engine. The experimental procedure
was conducted using Detroit 4 cylinder diesel engines. The
results show a significant NO
x
reduction for up to 45 percent
water, by volume, in the fuel.
The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of water
addition to J ordanian diesel fuel, which is characterized by
high sulfur content (1% wt), on the performance of water-
cooled, four-stroke, four-cylinder and direct-injection diesel
engine. The effect of the water addition on the most common
pollutants emitted fromthe engine namely; NO, NOx, and
CO
2
will be investigated. To study the effect of water addition
on Engine performance and emission, different emulsions
have been prepared and used at different engine speeds. From
the results obtained an optimized water percentage was
concluded.
Experimental
The water-in-diesel emulsion consists of a blend of diesel
fuel and ordinary tap water. The emulsion was prepared
using an electrical blender. To stabilize the emulsions, 2% by
volume of a surfactant mixture called Tween 20 was used. Six
diesel emulsion blends were prepared, namely; 5%, 10%,
15%, 20%, 25% and 30% water by volume. This means to
produce, for example, 1 liter 15% diesel emulsion, 150 mL
water, 20 mL surfactant and 830 mL diesel are used.
The density of the emulsion was measured by weighting
25 mL using a digital balance with an accuracy of

0.1 mg.
The viscosity was determined using EMILA rotary
viscometer. It measures the viscosity by sensing the torque
required to rotate a spindle at a constant speed while
immersed in the fluid. This viscometer is suitable for
Newtonian and non Newtonian fluids with

0.1 Centi-Poise
accuracy. An automatic adiabatic bomb calorimeter was used
to measure the calorific value of the emulsion.
Pure diesel was first used to set the base line for
comparison. A four-stroke, four-cylinder, water cooled and
direct-injection engine was used in this work. The engine
specifications are listed in Table 1.
Table 1: enginespecifications
Type Automotive 30 Test Bed
Bore 72.25 mm
Stroke 88.18 mm
Number of Cylinder Four Cylinder
Type of Injection Direct Injection
Type of Cooling Water Cooled
Swept Volume 1450 cc
Compression Ratio 21.5
Intake Valve Diameter 34.51 mm
Exhaust valve Diameter 28.49 mm
Connection Rod Length 155.8 mm
A suitable duct is provided to remove the exhaust gases, and
is of 40-50 mm bore to avoid unnecessary backpressure. The
duct leads to an expansion chamber or silencer. The exhaust
emission such as CO
2
NO, NO
x
and O
2
were measured using
Kane automotive gas analyzer
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Figures 1, 2 and 3 show the density, viscosity and
calorific value of emulsion diesel fuel. From figure 1, it
is clear that the density of the emulsion increases with
the amount of water in the mixture. This is attributed to
Figure 1: Density of emulsion diesel fuel versus water
content
Figure 2: Viscosity of emulsion diesel fuel versus water
content
Figure 3: Calorific value of emulsion diesel fuel versus
water content
the higher density of water that is being added to diesel fuel
which is of lower density. Figure 2 indicates that the viscosity
of diesel fuel emulsion increases with water content up to 43
centi-poise at 15 % water beyond which it decreases as. In
agreement with Dryer [7], Figure 3 shows that the
calorific value decreases with the percentage of water in the
emulsion, this is attributed to a phenomenon known as heat
sink. When heat sink occurs, the water content of the inner
phase partially absorbs the heat released from combustion and
hence reduces the calorific value.
The effect of water addition in the formof emulsions on
the engine torque under variable conditions for various
speeds is shown in Figure 4. As expected the engine
torque increases with speed to a maximum value beyond
which it starts to decrease due to friction losses (negative
torque) and the fact that the engine is unable to ingest full
charge of air at high speed. The produced torque is maxima
when the engine is powered with the 5% water- emulsified
fuel operating at 2000 rpm. This is in agreement with the
results reported by Dryer [7] that the water in emulsified
fuel improves the combustion process owing to the
simultaneous additional braking of the droplets which
increases the droplets evaporation surface and improves the
mixing of the burning fuel in air. The produced torque
decreases by increasing the percentage of water in
emulsion. This is attributed to the additional force on the top
of the piston provided by the pressure exerted by the steam.
When the charge is fired in the cylinder, the water would
produce high pressure. Finally, increasing the amount of
water above 5% will lower the calorific value of the fuel as
shown in Figure 3.
Figure 4: Torque for pure diesel, 5%, 10% 15%, 20%,
25% and 30% water addition.
The power produced by the engine using emulsified fuel
and pure diesel under variable conditions is presented in
Figures 5 and 6. As indicated in these Figures the power
produced slightly decreases with the percentage of water in
emulsion. Also it can be detected that the effect of water
addition increases at high velocities (the slope of the lines in
Figure 6 increases by increasing the velocity). This is in
agreement with Nadeem [8] who found that under normal
operating conditions there is no significant difference in
engines power using emulsified fuels and the difference in
produced power is more prominent at high velocities.
Figure 5: Brake power for pure diesel, 5%, 10%
15% , 20%, 25% and 30% water addition.
Figure 6: Brake power as a function of water content for
1000 rpm and 3000 rpm.
As shown in Figure 7, the brake specific fuel consumption
BSFC is minima at 2000 rpm and 5% water content. Also it is
clear that decreasing the engine speed causes a decrease in
the BSFC until it reaches a minimum value, beyond
which it increases. This is due to the fact that, at low speeds,
the heat loss to the combustion chamber walls is
proportionately greater than that at high speed, resulting in
poorer combustion efficiency. Consequently higher fuel
consumption is required per unit power produced. At high
speeds, the friction power increases at a rapid rate, resulting
in a slower increase in the power than in fuel consumption. In
general, the increase in the water content increases the BSFC
at high speeds, while it has less effect at low speeds. The
reason behind increasing BSFC by increasing the water
content is that a large amount of diesel is displaced by an
equal amount of water. This means less diesel fuel is actually
contained in each volume of the emulsion.
As indicated in Figure 8, the BMEP increases with the
engine speed until it reaches a maximum value, beyond which
the BMEP decreases. The BMEP produced is maximum
when the engine is powered by the 5% water emulsified
fuel and operating at normal speed. This is attributed to
theincrease in ignition delay, in such a situation more
diesels would be physically prepared (evaporation,
mixing) for chemical reaction, which increases the
Figure 7: BSFC for pure diesel, 5%, 10% 15%, 20%, 25%
and 30% water addition.
Figure 8: BMEP for pure diesel, 5%, 10% 15%, 20%,
25% and 30% water addition.
fraction of diesel burned and the rate of heat release in
the premixed burning. Also it can be noticed that for water
content greater than 5%, BMEP decreases as the percentage
of water in emulsion increases.
In general, the thermal efficiency increases with the engine
speed until it reaches a maximum value, beyond which the
thermal efficiency decreases. As known at low speeds, the
time available for heat to be transferred to the cylinder walls
is relatively long, and hence significant amount of heat loss
occurs. As speed increases the brake power increases, leading
to a higher thermal efficiency. Higher speeds, however, are
accompanied by rapidly increasing friction and inertia in
the moving parts, leading to a drop in thermal efficiency.
Brake thermal efficiency of the engine powered by emulsified
fuels and pure diesel fuel under variable conditions for
various speeds is presented in Figure 9. From this figure
it is clear that the break thermal efficiency changes
slightly with the water percentage especially at low velocities.
This behavior was explained by Masjuki and Abdulmuin [9]
who showed that the higher viscosity of the emulsified fuel
yields earlier prepared diesel for chemical reaction.
However, this is compensated by the increase in the time
delay induced by the water content in the emulsion and
therefore the beginning of the heat release in the main
chamber is detected approximately at the same time as with
the reference fuel. From this figure it can noticed that
maximum efficiency occurs at 2000 rpm and 5% water
content.
Figure 9: Efficiency for pure diesel, 5%, 10% 15%, 20%,
25% and 30% water addition.
The variation of CO
2
emission with engine speed for the
different emulsions is shown in Figure 10. As shown in this
figure, CO
2
increases with engine speed and decreases with
increasing the water content. The combustion of emulsified
fuels produces lower CO
2
emissions as compared to pure
diesel because the burning of emulsified fuels generates
large extent of micro explosion, leading to a larger degree
of mixing of reactant mixture [10]. The variation of NO with
engine speed for different emulsions is shown in Figure 11.
The engine speed has a minor effect on NO
x
production
compared with water content in the fuel. Combustion of
emulsified fuels produced significantly less amounts of NO
x
as compared to pure diesel. This is due to the finely
dispersed water droplets of the emulsion causing a
phenomenon known as heat sink which reduces the local
adiabatic flame temperature. The lower combustion
temperature in emulsion directly influences NO formation
because the mechanism of NO generation is highly
temperature dependent, and the production rate is non-linear.
The three principal reactions that comprise the thermal NO,
the predominant compound at high emission levels, formation
mechanism are [11, 12]
O +N NO + N
N +O2 NO + O
and
N +OH NO + H
Figure 10: CO variation for pure diesel, 5%, 10%
15%, 20%, 25% and 30% water addition.
Figure 11: NO
x
variation for pure diesel, 5%, 10%
15%, 20%, 25% and 30% water addition.
CONCLUSIONS
A water diesel emulsion was used in a water-cooled,
four stroke, four cylinder, direct injection diesel engine to
study the engine performance and to clarify the changes in the
main pollutant emissions. The produced torque, BMEP and
thermal efficiency were found to have maximum values when
the engine is powered with 5% water emulsified fuel
operating at 2000 rpm. The engine speed has a minor
effect on NO production compared with water content in
the fuel. CO was found to increase with engine speed and
decrease with water content.
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