The Effect of Load and the Methanol Percentage in the Blended Fuels on the Performance of Four Stroke Single Cylinder Water Cooled Diesel Engine

Experimentation about alternative fuels started mostly after the oil crisis of 1980’s to 1990’s after the World War II. In order to reduce the use of petroleum product which are limited in nature, the idea of alternative fuels was developed. In this paper an attempt has been made to investigate the engine performance in a four stroke single cylinder water cooled diesel engine using pure diesel and methanol-diesel blended fuel. During the investigation the ratios of methanol: diesel was taken 6:94, 12:88 and 18:82 respectively by volume. The different loads considered during the analysis were 0 kg, 7 kg, 10.4kg, and 12.6 kg respectively. From the experimental study it has been revealed that for a constant break power, the consumption of fuel and friction power increases with the increase in percentage of methanol. Similarly, for a constant load the air fuel ratio and mechanical efficiency decreases with the increase in percentage of methanol. Whereas, break thermal efficiency and indicated thermal efficiency increases with the increase in percentage of methanol. In conclusion, among the different fuel blends, the blends containing 12% methanol concentration is the most suited for the CI engine due to its acceptable engine performance. Keywords—engine performance, methanol-diesel blended fuel, ratio of methanol.