Abstract
It is extremely important to use alternative fuel such as alcohol or BDF for automobile in the era when crude oil price is soaring so high. In Europe and USA, for example, using BDF for diesel engine as part of the fuel is becoming widely accepted because the BDF standard has already been stipulated and the infrastructure of supplying BDF has been formed at commercial level. However, in Japan things are different because there is no such kind of BDF standard that has been suggested by now and the main automobile manufactories are reluctant to use BDF at their automobiles. In order to collect fundamental data for BDF standard establishment and make wide use of BDF in Japan, it is necessary to perform the basic studies on producing and analyzing and using of BDF. So far we have suggested a method of using ultrasound to efficiently produce BDF and confirmed its reasonability as an alternative fuel for diesel engine through engine performance test. However, it is found that cost of utilizing BDF as an alternative fuel for automobiles is still so high, and measures of treating this problem should be taken. At current paper, in order to decrease the cost of using 100% PDF obtained by transesterification, the use of mixture of BDF and wasted vegetable oil(WVO) which can be collected from kitchen or dining hall without any extra cost as an alternative fuel for diesel engine is suggested and experimentally verified. A ultrasound-based reactor is prepared to produce BDF based on the alkali-based chemical reaction. Being different with the conventional method, the ultrasound-based reactor utilizes ultrasonic sonochemical effect of heating and stunning to promote ester interchange instead of using external heater and stunner. Also visualization of the reaction process by using a test reactor to make it possible to observe how BDF is produced with sonochemical effect. Viscosity of the mixed fuel of BDF and WVO at different ratio is measured. Finally the experiment of applying the synthesized BDF, mixture of BDF and WVO and pure WVO to a diesel-engine is performed. During the experiment, fuel consumption as well as concentrations of NOx, HC, CO2,CO and black smoke of the exhaust gas are measured and all the experimental results are reported and discussed.
Keywords:Sonochemical effect, BDF synthesis, Wasted vegetable oil, Engine performance test, Alternative fuel