Effect of BHA and BHT antioxidant additives on engine performance and emission of a CI engine fueled with a palm oil methyl ester-diesel fuel blend

An alternative fuel must be found to substitute the near depletion of mineral diesel. Many studies attained that the usage of biodiesel in a compression ignition (CI) engine is used in lessening the emission to the environment from the engine. A study has been conducted to investigate the effect of antioxidant on engine performance and emission of a CI engine fueled with B20 (20 vol% palm oil methyl ester (POME) and 80 vol.% diesel fuel (DF) blend. The two artificial antioxidants namely, butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA) and butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) were tested on a small single cylinder CI at various engine loads and constant engine speed of 1800 rpm. The experimental results showed that brake specific fuel consumption (BSFC) of B20 with an addition of antioxidants were reduced compared to B20 without antioxidants. BHT was optimum as BSFC mean values were significantly reduced by 13.36% and brake mean efficiency (BTE) mean values were increased by 16.27% in the all engine loads when compared to B20. BHA antioxidant with B20 shows the average reduction of nitrogen oxides (NO_x) by 49.69%. However, the formation of carbon monoxide (CO) emissions and hydrocarbon (HC) were higher with both antioxidants’ addition to B20. Overall results show that the B20 blends with BHA or BHT antioxidant additives can be utilized in CI engines without any adjustments.