Renewable Energy 35 (2010) 588–592

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Renewable Energy
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/renene

Performance and emission analysis of cottonseed oil methyl ester

in a diesel engine
Hüseyin Aydin a, *, Hasan Bayindir b
a
Department of Automotive, Faculty of Technical Education, Batman University, Batman 72060, Turkey
b
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Architecture, Dicle University, Diyarbakir, 21280, Turkey

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: In this study, performance and emissions of cottonseed oil methyl ester in a diesel engine was experi-
Received 7 February 2008 mentally investigated. For the study, cottonseed oil methyl ester (CSOME) was added to diesel fuel,
Accepted 16 August 2009 numbered D2, by volume of 5%(B5), 20%(B20), 50%(B50) and 75%(B75) as well as pure CSOME (B100).
Available online 8 September 2009
Fuels were tested in a single cylinder, direct injection, air cooled diesel engine. The effects of CSOME-
diesel blends on engine performance and exhaust emissions were examined at various engine speeds
Keywords:
and full loaded engine. The effect of B5, B20, B50, B75, B100 and D2 on the engine power, engine torque,
Diesel engine
bsfc’s and exhaust gasses temperature were clarified by the performance tests. The influences of blends
Alternative fuel
Cottonseed oil on CO, NOx, SO2 and smoke opacity were investigated by emission tests. The experimental results
Biodiesel showed that the use of the lower blends (B5) slightly increases the engine torque at medium and higher
Engine performance speeds in compression ignition engines. However, there were no significant differences in performance
Emissions values of B5, B20 and diesel fuel. Also with the increase of the biodiesel in blends, the exhaust emissions
were reduced. The experimental results showed that the lower contents of CSOME in the blends can
partially be substituted for the diesel fuel without any modifications in diesel engines.
Ó 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Biofuels are renewable and reduce gasses emissions. They are
increasingly used as alternative to petroleum fuels. Cottonseed oil
and its methyl esters are expected to become one of these biofuels.
In countries where cottonseed oil is plentiful, such as Turkey, it may
become an important alternative fuel. Production levels of some oil
seeds of Turkey can be seen in Table 1.
As can be seen in the Table 1, cottonseed oil has the highest level
of the seed production in Turkey compared to other products.
Therefore, it is very important to take advantage of the cottonseed
by producing biodiesel as alternative to diesel fuel.
Many researchers have experimentally investigated the
performance and emission characteristics of both the cottonseed
oil [2–4], or cottonseed oil methyl esters [5–8].
In general, it has been reported by some researchers [2,4] that if
raw cottonseed oil is used as diesel engine fuel, engine performance
decrease, CO and HC emissions increase and NOx emissions also
decrease accordingly.
* Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: h-adyin@dicle.edu.tr (H. Aydin), hbayindir@dicle.edu.tr (H.
Bayindir).
Geyer et al. [5] reported on cottonseed oil methyl ester as a fuel
in a direct injected diesel engine and concluded that the thermal
efficiency was increased, smoke opacity was reduced and NOx
emissions was increased.
Ilkılıç and Yücesu [6] have studied the effects of cottonseed oil
methyl esters on engine performance in a single cylinder diesel
engine. Their experiments showed that there was little or no
significant difference between the torque and power output of
CSOME and diesel fuel usage especially at medium and higher
speeds.
Carraretto et al. [7] reported that the performances were slightly
reduced while SFC (Specific Fuel Consumption) was notably
increased with the use of CSOME. CO emissions were reduced but
NOx were increased.
Rakopoulos et al. [8] made a study to evaluate and compare the
use of a high variety of vegetable oils or bio-diesels of various
origins including cottonseed as supplements to conventional diesel
fuel at blend ratios of 10/90 and 20/80 in a direct injection (DI)
diesel engine. Results showed that the smoke density was signifi-
cantly reduced with the use of biodiesel blends of various origins
with respect to that of the neat diesel fuel. On the contrary, it was
increased with the use of vegetable oil blends of various origins,
with this increase being higher the percentage of vegetable oil in
the blend. On the contrary to [5,7], the NOx emissions were slightly

0960-1481/$ – see front matter Ó 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.renene.2009.08.009
 H. Aydin, H. Bayindir / Renewable Energy 35 (2010) 588–592 589

Table 1
Production levels of some oil seeds of Turkey [1].

Crops 2005

Harvesting area (ha) Production (ton)

Soybean 10.000 30.000
Cottonseed 630.000 1.250.000
Peanut 33.000 67.000
Sunflower 560.000 975.000
Rapeseed 1.000 1.000
Sesame 48.000 23.000
Total 1.282.000 2.346.000

reduced with the use of biodiesel or vegetable oil blends [8]. The CO
emissions were reduced with the use of biodiesel but increased
with the use of raw vegetable oil. The engine performance with the
biodiesel and the vegetable oil blends of various origins was similar
to that of the neat diesel fuel with nearly the same brake thermal
efficiency, showing higher specific fuel consumption
The experimental results especially on emissions of various
studies were not uniform and provided different results as can be
seen in the given literature. In the present paper, extensive and
comprehensive study was carried out to evaluate the cottonseed oil
methyl ester and conventional diesel fuel blends from many angles.
2. Experimental procedure and equipments
The transesterification reaction was carried out with 6:1 molar
ratio methanol and 0.3% w/v KOH as an alkaline catalyst. The

cottonseed oil was preheated to the set temperature 60 C on
a heating plate prior to starting the reaction. A fixed amount of
freshly prepared methanol solutions of the selected catalysts KOH,
were added into the reactor, and mixed. The reaction was carried
 
out at 60 C for 2 h. The mixture was allowed to settle overnight
before removing the glycerol layer from the bottom in a separating
funnel to get the ester layer on the top, separated as biodiesel. The
obtained pure CSOME was added to diesel fuel volumetrically to
obtain B5, B20, B50 and B75 blends. Some of the fuel properties of
the above mentioned fuel blends were given in Table 2.
Experiments were carried out at Engine Test Laboratory of
Automotive Department at Faculty of Technical Education at
University of Batman. The schematics of the experimental appa-
ratus are shown in Fig. 1. Tests were conducted at a single cylinder,
four strokes, air cooled diesel engine. Technical specifications of
test engine were given at Table 3.
Exhaust gasses were determined by DRAGER MSI COMPACT 150
type emission analyzer. This device is able to measure CO, SO2, and
NOx as ppm with 0.005% accuracy and can measure O2 and CO2 with
accuracy of 0.3%. The measurement of smoke opacity of the engine
was done with the smoke-meter SUN ASA 200.
Fig. 1. Schematics of diesel test engine and setup: 1) engine chassis, 2) exhaust gas
analyzer, 3) exhaust gas analyzing probe, 4) single cylinder diesel engine, 5) load cell,
6) dynamometer, 7) tachometer, 8) control unit, 9) fuel burette, 10) fuel container.]
Engine tests were conducted on a BT-140 model hydraulic
dynamometer. Technical specifications of the dynamometer were
given at Table 4. By the dynamometer control unit, engine speed
can be seen, at LED screen, as revolution per minute (RPM), engine
power as horsepower (HP) and engine torque can be seen as kgm.
In addition engine load can be changed by 10% segments to increase
and decrease engine load.
The load on the dynamometer was measured with using a strain
gauge load sensor. Inductive pickup speed sensor was used to
measure the speed of the engine. The fuel consumption was
measured with burettes with 50 and 100 ml volumes and a stop-
watch. Before starting tests, injection pressure, injection advance,
valve regulation was calibrated according to test engine catalog
values. Moreover, the oil filter, lubrication oil and air filter were
renewed. The experiments were carried out after the test engine
was allowed to reach 85–90 C. The test engine was allowed to run
for sufficient time to consume the remaining fuel from the previous
experiment before starting the new experiment.
Experiments were performed for six different fuels, started with
D2, and maintained with B5, B20, B50, B75 and B100 respectively.
Performance and emission tests were made at full load and variable
engine speed conditions for each fuel.
3. Results and discussions
3.1. Engine torque
According to engine modification, in internal combustion
engines, the engine torque increases to a maximum point with the
increase of engine speed. After that critical point, generally the
torque decreases step by step. Experimental results showed that,
CSOME-D2 blends were proved same as mentioned above. The

Table 2 Table 3
Some of the technical properties of test fuels. Technical specifications of the test engine.
Fuel Heating Value Densityg.cm Viscosity(mm2.sn Cetane Type Rainbow–186 Diesel
 
KJ.kg 1 3
(15 C) 1
(40 C) Number Injection System Direct Injection
ASTM test D2015 D1298 D445 D613 Cylinder Number 1
no: Stroke Volume 406 cc
D2 44800 0.842 2.57 46 Compression Ratio 18/1
B5 44540 0.844 2.64 49 Maximum Power 10 HP
B20 43570 0.850 3.02 50 Maximum Engine Speed 3600 rpm  20
B50 42660 0.858 3.45 51 Cooling System Air Cooling
B75 41650 0.867 3.92 53 Injection Pressure 19.6  0.49 Mpa (200  5 Kgf/cm2)
CSOME 41200 0.874 4.34 54 Mean Effective Pressure (Mep) 561.6 Kpa
(B100) Medium Piston Speed 7.0 m/sn (at 3000 rpm)
590 H. Aydin, H. Bayindir / Renewable Energy 35 (2010) 588–592

Table 4 8
Technical specifications of dynamometer.
7.5 D2 B5 B20 B50 B75 B100
Brake Motor BT-140
Maximum Brake Power 50 HP 7
Maximum Speed 7500 rpm
6.5

Power kW
Maximum Torque 250 Nm
Capacity of Load Cell 1000 N
Water Consumption for Maximum Power V max. 0,75 m3/h 6
Brake Water Pressure 1–2 Kg/cm2
5.5
Brake Control Type Slippery Propeller
Electricity Requirement 220/380 V. 50 Hz. 5

4.5
torque variation with the use of D2, B100 and CSOME-D2 blends, at 4
full loaded engine, is illustrated with Fig. 2. 1250 1500 1750 2000 2250 2500
Results showed that, the torque was decreased with the increase Engine Speed rpm
in CSOME in the blend. This can be attributed to higher viscosity
and lower heating value of CSOME. When the viscosity of the fuel Fig. 3. The variation of the power, on percentage of CSOME that blended with diesel
increases the amount of the fuel that should be filled into the oil fuel.

pump decreases and volumetric efficiency of engine remains lower,

consequently resulting torque decreases.
As for B5, the torque was obtained higher than other fuels
including D2. Firstly, CSOME contains approximately 10.45% (in
weight) oxygen that takes part in combustion and this may be
a possible reason for more complete combustion, thereby
increasing the torque. Secondly, sufficient calorific value of B5
which remains much closer to that of D2 may be given as possible
reason for torque increase.
With full loaded engine torque tests were made at 1250, 1500,
1750, 2000, 2250 and 2500 engine speeds respectively. As can be
seen in Fig. 2, the torque amounts that obtained from D2 and B5
usage were higher than those of B20, B50, B75 and B100. The torque
variation between D2 and B100 fuels at 2500 rpm was reached the
amount of 16.16%. Also it is agreed that, at low speeds of the engine,
because of lower vacuum of the cylinder and because of lower
vaporization, the air-fuel ratio remain richer and resulting incom-
plete combustion. At higher engine speeds, the amount of fuel that
supplied by pump remains lower because of high viscosity.
Therefore, the torque for biodiesel blends remains quite lower for
both conditions when compared to D2 and B5 fuels.
3.2. Engine power
Due to the lower heating value and the higher viscosity of
CSOME, the combustion of the blends including B100 was
completed less efficiently than the combustion of the diesel fuel.
The ignition delay of the blends prolong and resulting incomplete
37
35
33
Torque Nm
combustion as a result of the higher viscosity of the blends. Since
the heating value of CSOME was lower than that of the diesel fuel,
there were slight reductions in the engine torque and power.
Dependencies of the maximum power on percentage of CSOME,
at various engine loads can be seen in Fig. 3.
The maximum power values of the methyl ester fuels were also
at about 2500 rpm but less than the diesel fuel value for each blend
fuel. The maximum power differences between diesel fuel and
diesel-CSOME blends were increased with the increase of methyl
esters amount in the blend.
3.3. Brake specific fuel consumption
The comparison of the brake specific fuel consumption for
various blends of CSOME, B100 and diesel fuel is presented in Fig. 4.
For full loaded engine operation the minimum bsfcs were observed
at 2000 rpm for D2, B5 and B20 fuels. At this speed, bsfcs of D2 were
168 g/kWh, for B5 and B20, fuels the bsfc’s were174 g/kWh, 179 g/
kWh, respectively. As for B50, B75 and B100 fuels, the minimum
bsfc’s were found at 2250 rpm. These values were 194 g/kWh,
198 g/kWh and 205 g/kWh. For full load operation it is possible to
distinguish a significant difference between diesel and CSOME-
diesel blends. It may be due to the combined effect of higher
viscosity and lower calorific value of the blend than those of diesel
engine.
For full load engine operation, at lower engine speed the bsfc’s
of B20 were observed lower than those of other fuels including
diesel fuel. It may be due to the fuel based oxygen, because of its
350
325
D2 B5 B20 B50 B75 B100
300

275
Bsfc g/kWh

31
250

29 225

200
27 D2 B5 B20 B50 B75 B100
175

25 150
1250 1500 1750 2000 2250 2500 1250 1500 1750 2000 2250 2500
Engine Speed rpm Engine Speed rpm

Fig. 2. The torque variation at full loaded engine for D2 and CSOME-D2 Blends. Fig. 4. The variations of brake specific fuel consumption at full loaded engine.
 H. Aydin, H. Bayindir / Renewable Energy 35 (2010) 588–592 591

property, accelerates reactions and leading to more complete 1400

combustion at low speed. 1300
1200
D2 B5 B20 B50 B75 B100
3.4. Exhaust gas temperature 1100
1000
Exhaust gas temperature is affected by the changes in ignition 900

CO ppm
delay. Longer ignition delay results in a delayed combustion and 800
higher exhaust gas temperature. Moreover the lower cetane 700
number of fuel causes to the longer ignition delay period. Exhaust 600
gas temperature rises as a result of combustion which prolong 500
power period in the cylinder. The experimental study proved that 400
the highest value of exhaust gas temperature was observed at 300

2500 rpm with diesel fuel (469 C) at full load, whereas the corre- 200

sponding value with the B20 blend was found to be 395 C and can 1250 1500 1750 2000 2250 2500

be seen in Fig 5. Engine Speed rpm

At lower engine speed the higher exhaust gas temperatures
were obtain for B75 and neat CSOME. This result was also
mentioned by Yu et al. [9] that biodiesel usually includes some
constituents having higher boiling points. They are not adequately
evaporated during the main combustion phase and continue to
burn in the late combustion phase, resulting in a higher exhaust
temperature and a lower thermal efficiency.
3.5. CO emissions
The variation of CO produced by running the engine when using
B5, B20, B50, B75 and B100 is compared with diesel fuel in Fig. 6.
The air–fuel mixing process is affected by the difficulties in atom-
ization of the blend at low speeds due to its higher viscosity. Also,
the resulting locally rich mixtures of the blends cause more CO to
be produced during combustion [9,10]. Therefore at low speeds,
engine needs more air in the combustion to complete. The oxygen
content in the biodiesel molecule, leads to a more complete and
cleaner combustion as reported by [11,12]. Biodiesel has more
oxygen content than diesel fuel. This led to more complete
combustion. Therefore, the CO emissions decreased for biodiesel
usage.
Reduced CO emissions were maintained, probably, thanks to
the oxygen inherently present in biofuels. In contrast to airborne
oxygen, the fuel based oxygen accelerates the combustion process
from within the fuel rich spray patterns themselves. A more
complete combustion caused by the increased oxygen content in
the flame coming from the biodiesel molecules can be pointed out
as the main reason in reduction of CO emissions. As can be seen in
Fig. 6, the minimum CO emission values were observed for B50,
B75 and B100 due to the higher oxygen content than the other
fuels.
Fig. 6. The variations of CO emissions at full loaded engine, in relation with the fuel
types.
3.6. NOx emissions
NOx are reported by several researchers to be increased with
biodiesel [13,14]. However, the NOx emission was decreased for all
blends except for B5 in this experimental study. The variation of
NOx with engine speed, at full load, for different tested fuels is
presented in Fig. 7.
The NOx variation of the blend with respect to engine speed
showed similar trends with that of the diesel fuel. The higher
temperatures of combustion and the presence of fuel oxygen with
the blend combustion caused higher NOx emissions, especially at
medium engine speed (around engine speed of 1750 rpm).
Higher exhaust temperatures with the blend as well as diesel, at
full load, were provided increase in NOx emissions. The maximum
NOx emissions at full load were maintained by B5 probably due to
the excess oxygen that supplied with the fuel borne oxygen both
obtained quick and completed combustion. Besides, it is agreed
that the fuel borne oxygen is more effective than the external
oxygen supplied with the air in the production of NOx.
3.7. SO2 emissions
Since, the biodiesel and its blends contain quite lower sulphur
compared to diesel fuel, the SO2 emissions were found fairly lower
450

500
400
480

460 350
Exhaust gas Temperature °C

440
300
NOx ppm

420

400 250

380
200
360
150
340 D2 B5 B20 B50 B75 B100
320 D2 B5 B20 B50 B75 B100
100
300 1250 1500 1750 2000 2250 2500
1250 1500 1750 2000 2250 2500 Engine Speed rpm
Engine Speed rpm
Fig. 7. The NOx emissions as a function of various engine speeds for CSOME, blends
Fig. 5. The variations of exhaust gas temperature for full loaded engine. and diesel fuel
592 H. Aydin, H. Bayindir / Renewable Energy 35 (2010) 588–592

30 4. Conclusions

25 In this experimental study, the effect of cottonseed oil methyl

D2 B5 B20 B50 B75 B100
ester-diesel fuel blends (B5, B20 and B50), B100 and diesel fuel on
20 engine performance and exhaust emissions were investigated.
SO2 ppm

15
10
5 the engine torque and power. For full load engine operation, at
0 those of other fuels including diesel fuel. It may be due to the fuel
1250 1500 1750 2000
Engine Speed rpm
Fig. 8. The variations of SO2 emissions at full loaded engine, in relation with the fuel
types.
than those of diesel fuel as illustrated with Fig 8. There was almost
no SO2 emission with the use of B100. The reduction in SO2 was not
observed parallel to biodiesel addition thats why the B5 had quite
lower SO2 emission as compared D2.
3.8. Smoke opacity
The variation of smoke opacity for different fuels as a function of
speed is presented in Fig. 9. It was reported by[15] that fuels with
longer ignition delay by keeping the aromatic content constant,
exhibit lower particulate emissions and higher NOx at high loads. At
the same time, as the aromatic content increased with constant
cetane number, particulate emission increases at high load. From
Fig. 9, it can be noticed that the smoke emission was higher for B75
and B100 when compared to the other fuels including diesel fuel. It
was observed that the smoke opacity remained lower for B20 and
B50 than D2 and B5 fuels at medium engine speeds those of mostly
engine running conditions.
The smoke was significantly reduced for biodiesel of medium
blends (B20 and B50) at medium engine speeds as compared to
neat petroleum based diesel fuel as shown in Fig. 9. This may be due
to the complete and stable combustion of these biodiesel, which
contains more number of oxygen atoms. As for B75 and B100,
firstly, the higher density and viscosity was resulted more smoke
emissions as compared to neat diesel and the other biodiesel blend.
Secondly, the high viscosity of pure biodiesel deteriorates the fuel
atomization and increases exhaust smoke.
100
D2 B5 B20 B50
90
Smoke opacity %
Results showed that with the increase of CSOME in the blends, the
torque was decreased possibly due to higher viscosity and lower
heating value of CSOME. As for B5, the torque was obtained slightly
higher than other fuels including D2. As the heating value of CSOME
is lower than that of the diesel fuel, there were slight reductions in
lower engine speed the bsfc’s of B20 were observed lower than
2250 2500 based oxygen and higher cetane number, leading to more complete
combustion at low speeds. The highest value of exhaust gas
temperature was observed at 2500 rpm with diesel fuel.
The CO emissions decreased with biodiesel usage. Reduced CO
emissions were maintained, probably, thanks to the oxygen
inherently present in CSOME. In contrast to many researchers, the
NOx emission was decreased for all blends and B100 except for B5 in
these experiments. The SO2 emission was found fairly lower for
biodiesel than those of diesel fuel. The B100 had no SO2 emission.
The experimental results proved that the lower and medium
percentages of CSOME can partially be substituted to the diesel fuel
without any modifications in diesel engine.
Acknowledgements
The authors acknowledge Batman and Dicle Universities for
financial support in this study. TPAO (Turkish Petroleum Incorpo-
rated Company) is also acknowledged for its preliminary
contributions to this study.
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