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The idea of using biodiesel as substitute fuel for fossil diesel is promising. The boom in biodiesel, however, has raised increasing concern about food shortage throughout the world and may translate into a food crisis. To avoid using food resources for fuel purposes, huge emphasis is currently being put on shifting to alternative non-food feedstocks including waste cooking oils. This study investigated the effects of biodiesel derived from waste palm oil-based cooking oil on performance, exhaust emissions and combustion characteristics in a light duty compression ignition engine. A total of three sets of fuel blends were studied: 10%, 20% and 30% volumetric blends (B10, B20 and B30) of waste cooking oil methyl ester (WME) with fossil diesel. In this study, the experimental work was carried out with a single cylinder, four-stroke, direct injection compression ignition engine. The experiments were conducted under constant torque of 20 Nm and at five different engine speeds.

The use of diesel engines is increasing rapidly thanks to their superior fuel economy, higher efficiency and excellent reliability. The energy crisis of fossil fuel depletion, rising price of diesel and environmental degradation have triggered a search for clean, sustainable and alternative fuels for internal combustion engines. Biodiesel is one of the most promising and demanding alternative fuels because it is a biodegradable, non-toxic and renewable fuel. In the present work, an experimental investigation on the effect of injection timing on engine performance, emissions and combustion characteristics with coconut oil methyl ester (CME) was conducted in a high-pressure common-rail direct injection diesel engine. The tests were performed at constant speed of 2000 rpm and 50% throttle position operation. The test fuels included baseline diesel fuel and two different fuel blends of CME (B20 and B40).

Compressed natural gas (CNG) has been widely used as alternatives to gasoline and diesel in automotive engines. It is a very promising alternative fuel due to many reasons including adaptability to those engines, low in cost, and low emission levels. Unfortunately, when converting to CNG, engines usually suffer from reduced power and limited engine speed. These are due to volumetric loss and slower flame speed. Direct injection (DI) can mitigate these problems by injecting CNG after the intake valve closes, thus increasing volumetric efficiency. In addition, the high pressure gas jet can enhance the turbulence in the cylinder which is beneficial to the mixing and burning. However, conversion to direct fuel injection (DFI) requires a costly modification to the cylinder head to accommodate the direct injector and also can involve piston crown adjustment. This paper discusses a new alternative to converting to DFI using a device called Spark Plug Fuel Injector (SPFI).