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The search for new alternate fuels is driven by supply uncertainty of petroleum-based fuel, increasing demand, higher crude oil prices and increasingly stringent environmental regulations. Though biodiesel can be an alternative fuel for diesel engine applications, there are several drawbacks, such as higher production cost, poor low temperature properties, higher viscosity and lower calorific value as compared to petroleum-based diesel fuel. The present investigation mainly concerns the effect of various injection pressures and timings on the performance emission and combustion characteristics of single-cylinder, four-stroke direct-injection diesel engine using biodiesel-diesel-ethanol blend as fuel at a constant speed of 1500 rpm. In this study, a blend of 40% waste cooking palm oil (WCO) methyl ester, 50% diesel and 10% ethanol was selected based on stability test conducted at an ambient temperature of 30°C.

Waste cooking oil methyl ester (WCO-ME) is produced by the transesterification of waste cooking oil (WCO) on laboratory scale setup and it can be used as a biodiesel in stationary diesel engine. The proceeding study investigates the effect of biodiesel and its blends varying from B10 to B80 on the engine performance, emission and combustion characteristics. The properties of diesel and biodiesel are examined and compared. The experimental results show that the use of WCO-ME in an unmodified direct injection diesel engine has yielded higher brake specific fuel consumption (BSFC) due to low calorific value. It is also observed that at full load the brake specific energy consumption of biodiesel blends are higher than that of diesel. Further, biodiesel blends show a reduction in emission properties such as carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO₂), unburnt hydrocarbon (UHC) and smoke opacity with slight increase in nitric oxide (NO) emission compared to diesel at full load.