Expert Systems with Applications 36 (2009) 92689280

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Expert Systems with Applications

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Prediction of performance and exhaust emissions of a diesel engine fueled

with biodiesel produced from waste frying palm oil
Mustafa Canakci a,b,*, Ahmet Necati Ozsezen a,b, Erol Arcaklioglu c, Ahmet Erdil d
a
Department of Mechanical Education, Kocaeli University, 41380 Izmit, Turkey
b
Alternative Fuels R&D Center, Kocaeli University, 41040 Izmit, Turkey
c
The Scientic and Technological Research Council of Turkey, 06100 Ankara, Turkey
d
Department of Mechatronics Engineering, Kocaeli University, 41380 Izmit, Turkey

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

Keywords: Biodiesel is receiving increasing attention each passing day because of its fuel properties and compatibil-
ANN ity with the petroleum-based diesel fuel (PBDF). Therefore, in this study, the prediction of the engine per-
Biodiesel formance and exhaust emissions is carried out for ve different neural networks to dene how the inputs
Diesel engine affect the outputs using the biodiesel blends produced from waste frying palm oil. PBDF, B100, and bio-
Engine performance
diesel blends with PBDF, which are 50% (B50), 20% (B20) and 5% (B5), were used to measure the engine
Emissions
performance and exhaust emissions for different engine speeds at full load conditions. Using the articial
neural network (ANN) model, the performance and exhaust emissions of a diesel engine have been pre-
dicted for biodiesel blends. According to the results, the fth network is sufcient for all the outputs. In
the fth network, fuel properties, engine speed, and environmental conditions are taken as the input
parameters, while the values of ow rates, maximum injection pressure, emissions, engine load, maxi-
mum cylinder gas pressure, and thermal efciency are used as the output parameters. For all the net-
works, the learning algorithm called back-propagation was applied for a single hidden layer. Scaled
conjugate gradient (SCG) and LevenbergMarquardt (LM) have been used for the variants of the algo-
rithm, and the formulations for outputs obtained from the weights are given in this study. The fth net-
work has produced R2 values of 0.99, and the mean % errors are smaller than ve except for some
emissions. Higher mean errors are obtained for the emissions such as CO, NOx and UHC. The complexity
of the burning process and the measurement errors in the experimental study can cause higher mean
errors.
2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
The diesel engine has proved to be extremely efcient and cost
effective. Diesel fuel has a higher energy density, i.e. more energy
can be extracted from diesel as compared with the same volume
of gasoline. In todays world, where fuel prices are increasing as
a consequence of the spiraling demand and diminishing supply,
people need to choose a cost-effective fuel to meet their needs. Be-
cause of the reduced amount of petroleum components and its ris-
ing price, alternative fuels are intensively investigated for the full
or partial replacement of the diesel fuel. From this point of view,
using renewable fuels is important in diesel engines, i.e. bio-
mass-derived fuels such as biodiesel and biogas. (Ramadhasa,
Jayaraja, Muraleedharana, & Padmakumarib, 2006).
Nowadays, global warming caused by CO2 is the main climatic
problem in the world. Therefore, environmental protection is
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +90 262 3032285; fax: +90 262 3032203.
E-mail address: mustafacanakci@hotmail.com (M. Canakci).
important for the future of the world. Because the biodiesel is
made from renewable sources, it is more convenient to protect
environment from unwanted emissions. Biodiesel is an ecological
and non-hazardous fuel with low emission values, and therefore
it is environmentally useful. On the other hand, in order to mini-
mize the air pollution in the world, using biodiesel fuel is an alter-
native way to decrease the pollutants level and the potential or
probable carcinogens level (Krawczyk, 1996).
Biodiesel can be produced from various feedstocks. A chemical
process called transesterication whereby glycerin is separated
from the fat or vegetable oil is used to produce biodiesel. After
the chemical process, two products are left behind: methyl esters
(the chemical name for biodiesel) and glycerin (a valuable byprod-
uct usually sold to be used in soaps and other products). The usage
of biodiesel does not require any changes in the fuel distribution
infrastructure, and it is competitive with petroleum-derived diesel
fuel. Furthermore, it biodegrades much more rapidly than petro-
leum diesel fuel. Thus, considerable environmental benets are
provided (Duran, Lapuerta, & Rodriuez-Fernandez, 2005). Many

0957-4174/$ - see front matter 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.eswa.2008.12.005
 M. Canakci et al. / Expert Systems with Applications 36 (2009) 92689280 9271

waste frying oil is used in indirect injection diesel engine. (2) Arti-
cial modeling study: by using the obtained experimental data,
ANN method was used to predict engine characteristic values. To
dene how the inputs affect the outputs, ve different neural net-
works are studied. The back-propagation learning algorithm with
two different variants and logistic sigmoid transfer function has
been used in the network.
2. Articial neural networks
Articial neural networks are computing systems composed of
neurons and are used to solve complex functions, which attempt
to simulate the structure and function of biological neurons. A neu-
ral network system has three layers, namely the input layer, the
hidden layer and the output layer. The input layer consists of all

Table 4
Statistical values of the predictions based on the hidden layer for the rst network, LM6.

Outputs RMS training R2 training Mean % error training RMS test R2 test Mean % test
MFR (kg/s) 0.001793 0.999958 0.659646 0.011368 0.998349 3.748898
FFR (kg/s) 0.003034 0.999973 0.530991 0.021291 0.998653 4.173060
IP (bar) 0.003541 0.999977 0.251725 0.043975 0.996728 5.833070

Table 5
Statistical values of the predictions based on the hidden layer for the second network, SCG7.

Outputs RMS training R2 training Mean % error training RMS test R2 test Mean % test
CO (%) 0.021812 0.995870 5.444701 0.033418 0.990693 8.440930
CO2 (%) 0.007774 0.999859 1.000969 0.015376 0.999461 2.009067
UHC (ppm) 0.021250 0.997706 3.882072 0.056818 0.983340 9.183910
NOx (ppm) 0.023675 0.997025 4.602997 0.030612 0.995605 6.291153
SL (%) 0.011163 0.999751 1.288556 0.041001 0.996686 4.742021
BT 0.010619 0.999780 1.127149 0.020502 0.999186 2.417257
CP (bar) 0.008770 0.999865 1.002774 0.012444 0.999728 1.362338
TE 0.014507 0.999659 1.558589 0.019928 0.999347 2.437404

Table 6
Statistical values of the predictions based on the hidden layer for the third network, LM5.

Outputs RMS training R2 training Mean % error training RMS test R2 test Mean % test
MFR (kg/s) 0.001469 0.999972 0.511810 0.004720 0.999715 1.352546
FFR (kg/s) 0.004663 0.999936 0.754921 0.017989 0.999039 3.536571

Table 7
Statistical values of the predictions based on the hidden layer for the fourth network, SCG7.

Outputs RMS training R2 training Mean % error training RMS test R2 test Mean % test
CO (%) 0.029480 0.992455 7.453001 0.037855 0.988058 10.97006
CO2 (%) 0.007500 0.999868 0.940324 0.014255 0.999537 1.882871
UHC (ppm) 0.024450 0.996963 4.470621 0.057636 0.982857 10.65633
NOx (ppm) 0.023338 0.997109 4.385677 0.035222 0.994182 7.320733
SL (%) 0.010902 0.999762 1.321938 0.035298 0.997544 4.557439
BT 0.011292 0.999751 1.353162 0.018029 0.999370 2.044730
CP (bar) 0.008235 0.999881 0.911042 0.015522 0.999576 1.651571
TE 0.012499 0.999747 1.304910 0.032846 0.998226 3.992690

Table 8
Statistical values of the predictions based on the hidden layer for the fth network, SCG8.

Outputs RMS training R2 training Mean % error training RMS test R2 test Mean% test
MFR (kg/s) 0.002994 0.999883 1.027011 0.006362 0.999483 1.868376
FFR (kg/s) 0.009124 0.999757 1.460669 0.012152 0.999561 2.358762
IP (bar) 0.015382 0.999572 1.718706 0.052724 0.995296 6.431307
CO (%) 0.013111 0.998508 4.058334 0.030513 0.992241 9.621219
CO2 (%) 0.005573 0.999927 0.756219 0.021076 0.998987 2.333252
UHC (ppm) 0.010647 0.999424 2.194525 0.116742 0.929668 15.64514
NOx (ppm) 0.018334 0.998216 4.009377 0.030941 0.995510 6.597960
SL (%) 0.012046 0.999710 1.461570 0.038146 0.997131 4.528787
BT 0.009539 0.999823 0.993659 0.024242 0.998862 2.973590
CP (bar) 0.008750 0.999866 0.953425 0.010925 0.999790 1.128889
TE 0.012099 0.999763 1.148877 0.027790 0.998730 3.124973
the input factors, information from the input layer is then pro-
cessed in the course of one hidden layer, and following output vec-
tor is computed in the output layer.
The estimation problem using neural network models has three
successive steps: model building or neural network architecture;
the learning or training procedure; and the testing procedure. An
important stage when accommodating a neural network is the
training step, in which an input is introduced to the network to-
gether with the desired outputs, the weights and bias values are
initially chosen randomly and the weights are adjusted so that
the network attempts to produce the desired output. The weights
after training contain meaningful information, whereas before
training, they are random and have no meaning. When a satisfac-
tory level of performance is reached, the training stops, and the
network uses these weights to make decisions. ANN has been ap-
plied successfully in various elds of mathematics, engineering,
medicine, economics, meteorology, psychology and neurology.
Many alternative training processes, such as back-propagation,
are available. The goal of any training algorithm is to minimize the
global error level, such as the mean % error, root-mean-squared
0.04
0.03
0.02
0.01
0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04
(RMS), and absolute fraction of variance (R2) (Dizdar, 2004; Sozen
et al., 2005). An important characteristic of this function is differ-
entiable throughout its domain. The errors for the hidden layers
are determined by propagating back the error determined for the
output layer.
3. Fuel properties and experimental setup
Increasing global concern due to environmental pollution from
internal combustion engines has generated much attention on
clean diesel fuels. In the last two decades, these issues have
triggered various research studies to replace petroleum-based die-
sel fuel (PBDF) with biodiesel in many countries. Some diesel en-
gine manufacturers allow the use of neat biodiesel and biodiesel
blends instead of PBDF. The guarantees only apply to biodiesel that
fullls the ASTM D 6751-02 (in USA) or EN 14214 (in Europe)
standards.
The fuel properties of biodiesel can vary with the production
technologies and feedstock, but it generally has higher cetane
number, near-zero sulfur content, and free aromatic content when
0.04
0.03
0.02
0.01
0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04
 M. Canakci et al. / Expert Systems with Applications 36 (2009) 92689280 9273

compared with PBDF. Biodiesel is attractive not only because of its
fuel properties but also because it can be compatible with the
PBDF. Fuel properties of biodiesel are affected by its fatty acids
content, which may cause a difference in the characteristics of
injection, combustion and emissions. The biodiesels that meet
the standards have been used by various academic researchers
(Canakci, 2005; Haas, Scott, Alleman, & McCormick, 2001; Zhang
& Van Gerpen, 1996) who have reported that biodiesel exhibits en-
gine performance characteristics very close to those of PBDF, and
reduces the exhaust emissions from diesel engines. But biodiesel
is generally more expensive than PBDF, which prevents its wide
use. The cost of biodiesel is competitive with that of PBDF when
using waste cooking or frying oils as a feedstock. Also, using waste
cooking or used frying oils in biodiesel production has additional
benets such as the treatment of a waste product and the provision
of an efcient use of a resource.
In this study, biodiesel was produced from waste frying palm oil
supplied by Kocaeli Uzay Food (Frito-Lay Chips) Factory. Since the
waste frying oil had low acid value (0.58 mg KOH/g), transesteri-
cation reaction was applied directly. Biodiesel was prepared using
methanol to oil ratio of 6:1 with potassium hydroxide (KOH) as
catalyst (1% of oil by weight). Fuel specications of the PBDF and
biodiesel were determined by MRC-TUBITAK (Marmara Research
Center The Scientic and Technological Research Council of Tur-
key) using the standard test methods. The fuel properties of the
biodiesel and PBDF are shown in Table 1.
The fuel properties such as heating value, cetane number,
kinematic viscosity, and specic gravity inuence the combustion
and so the engine performance and emissions. Therefore,
when any fuel with physical and chemical properties different
from those of PBDF is to be used in diesel engines, more research
is required about its effects on the engine performance and
emissions.
In this experimental study, PBDF, B100, and biodiesel blends
with PBDF, which are 50% (B50), 20% (B20) and 5% (B5), were tested
in random order. Each test was repeated three times and the results

100

95

90

80 85
80 90 100 85 95

26 25

24

23

22

20 21
20 22 24 26 21 23 25

100 95

90

85

80

70 75
70 80 90 100 75 85 95

Fig. 3. Comparisons of the ANN-predicted results and experimental (actual) results for CGP, TE and BT for the fth network.
9274 M. Canakci et al. / Expert Systems with Applications 36 (2009) 92689280

were averaged to decrease the uncertainty. The short-term perfor-
mance testing for PBDF and biodiesel was accomplished using an
indirect injection diesel engine. Engine specications are shown
in Table 2. All fuel tests were completed without any modications
on the test engine.
The engine was coupled to a hydraulic dynamometer to pro-
vide brake load (2% N). A magnetic pickup was xed over the
engine ywheel gear to determine the crankshaft position. To
measure the cylinder gas pressure, a Kistler model 6061B pres-
sure transducer was mounted on the rst cylinder head. An AVL
model 8QP500c pressure transducer was installed in the fuel line
of the rst cylinder to obtain the change in the fuel line pressure.
Kistler 5051A model charge amplier was used to produce an
output voltage proportional to the charge, which was then con-
verted to digital signals. The experimental setup is presented in
Fig. 1. The pressure data of 50 engine cycles were collected with
a resolution of 0.25 crank angle. To eliminate cycle to cycle var-
iation, the cylinder gas pressures were averaged by using a com-
puter program. Fuel consumption was determined by weighing
the fuel used for a period of time on an electronic scale
(error 1 g). Air consumption was measured using a sharp edged
orice plate (ISO 5167, 1980) and inclined manometer
(error 3%). The relative humidity (error 3%Rh + 1) and ambient
temperature (error 1 C) were monitored with a hygrometer.
Different digital thermocouples (error 1 C) recorded the
temperatures of the intake air, exhaust, fuel, engine oil, cool-
ant inlet and outlet. In this study, three different gas analyzers
were used to measure the exhaust gas concentrations. Table 3
gives the information about the gas analyzers and their accura-
cies. Calibration for each analyzer was carried out before each
test.
Since engine speed, as one of the engine working parameters,
effects the turbulence level of air entering into the cylinder, volu-
metric efciency, and engine friction, it has an important role in
the engine performance and emissions. Therefore, the tests were
performed at different engine speeds for full load conditions. The
engine speeds of 1000, 2000 and 3000 rpm were selected, and con-
trolled within 25 rpm through the test duration. The tests were

1
0.9

0.6
0.6

0.2 0.3
0.2 0.6 1 0.3 0.6 0.9

14 14

13

13

12

11 12
11 12 13 14 12 13 14

11
9

2 3
2 5 8 11 3 6 9

Fig. 4. Comparisons of the ANN-predicted results and experimental (actual) results for CO, CO2 and UHC for the fth network.
 M. Canakci et al. / Expert Systems with Applications 36 (2009) 92689280 9275

carried out under steady-state condition. The engine was suf-
ciently warmed up for each test and the engine oil temperature
was maintained around 6570 C. During the engine tests, no
problems were encountered in the startup, fuel ow, or loss of
power.
4. Determination of data and the network model employed
For ANNs, two data sets are needed: one for training the net-
work and the second for testing it. The usual approach is to prepare
a single data set, and differentiate it by a random selection. In this
study, experimental results mentioned above were used to train
and test an ANN.
In this study, ve different neural networks are studied. Firstly,
fuel properties (lower heating value, LHV; density, D; kinematic
viscosity, KV; and cetane number, CN), engine speed, N; and envi-
ronmental conditions (relative humidity, RH; dry bulb tempera-
ture, T; pressure, P) are taken as the input parameters, while air
mass ow rate, MFR; fuel ow rate, FFR; and maximum injection
pressure, IP, are used as the output parameters. Secondly, the
inputs are fuel properties, engine speed, both ow rates, injection
pressure, while all the emissions (CO, CO2, UHC, NOx, and smoke
level SL), engine load BT, maximum cylinder gas pressure CP, ther-
mal efciency TE are the outputs. Since statistical error values of
injection pressure are not obtained well from the rst network,
the errors increase at the second network. For this reason, two dif-
ferent networks, namely third and fourth networks, in which the
injection pressure is not taken as output at the rst network and
as input at the second network, are studied. Another network,
namely the fth network, in which the inputs of the rst network
are inputs and outputs of the rst and second networks are out-
puts, is studied. Here, the aim is to dene how the inputs affect
the outputs. A comparison for this is given later.
In this study, for all the networks, the learning algorithm
called back-propagation was applied for the single hidden
layer. Scaled conjugate gradient (SCG) and LevenbergMarquardt
(LM) have been used for the variants of the algorithm. These nor-
malized both for the inputs and outputs are realized between the
values of 0 and 1. Neurons in the input layer have no transfer

100
100

80
90

60 80
60 80 100 80 90 100

120 120

90 90

60 60
60 90 120 60 90 120

Fig. 5. Comparisons of the ANN-predicted results and experimental (actual) results for SL and NOx for the fth network.

Table 9
The weights between the input and hidden layers for the fth network.

Ei = C 1 LHV + C2 D + C3 KV + C4 CN + C5 N + C6 T + C7 RH + C8 P + C9
C1 C2 C3 C4 C5 C6 C7 C8 C9
1 4.5523 0.4435 0.5368 0.9773 8.2726 0.2733 0.0761 9.8504 9.1566
2 1.5682 4.6685 3.7425 2.9822 15.9671 3.6726 1.0477 12.6450 4.2101
3 1.4302 2.7896 1.9920 1.4309 16.7427 1.9962 0.9302 6.2551 7.3086
4 2.9975 2.2773 4.6147 0.0974 0.1235 0.4509 3.9479 4.3324 1.0641
5 0.5115 2.8106 2.6087 0.1410 11.8295 5.4289 1.1482 1.7538 3.2251
6 1.9738 3.8341 3.0510 1.8654 5.7749 0.7917 0.6236 4.1601 3.4546
7 6.0655 0.0329 5.1163 4.3565 10.8362 3.1218 1.4323 0.5145 3.4688
8 1.4910 4.4631 0.8282 3.8001 2.3976 1.1073 4.3172 2.1594 1.5711
function. Logistic sigmoid (logsig) transfer function has been were generally the LM with six neurons, the SCG with seven neu-
used. rons, the LM with ve neurons, the SCG with seven neurons, and
ANN was trained and tested by means of the MATLAB software the SCG with eight neurons, respectively.
on a usual PC. In order to identify the output precisely for training In Tables 48, the statistical values of the outputs for ve algo-
stage, increased number of neurons (58) in the hidden layer was rithms are shown for both the training and testing data, respec-
tried. Firstly, the network was trained successfully, and then the tively. Each of the error values of the outputs is given in the
test data were used to test the network. By means of the results de- table. Based on the emissions, all the networks have similar error
duced by the network, a comparison was carried out using the sta- values. High-error ones are completely high for all the networks.
tistical methods. Errors that happened at the learning and testing Higher mean errors for the test data are obtained in the emissions
stages are described the RMS and R2, mean error percentage values, such as CO, NOx and UHC. We believe that the complexity of the
which are dened as follows, respectively
!1=2
X 2
RMS 1=p tj oj 1
j
P 2
!
2
tj
j oj
R 1 P 2
2
j oj
 
1 X tj oj
Mean % Error 100 3
p j tj

where t is the target value, o is the output value, and p is the pattern
(Pala, Ozbay, Oztas, & Yuce, 2007).
Experimental results for different fuels and biodiesel blends are
used as the training and test data for the ANN. The experimentally
tested fuels are PBDF, B100, and biodiesel blends with PBDF, which
are 50% (B50), 20% (B20) and 5% (B5). The RMS, R2 and the mean
error percentage values were used for comparing all of them.

5. Results and discussion

As stated before, increased number of neurons (58) in hidden

layer has been studied for the SCG and LM algorithms. The best
algorithms for the rst, second, third, fourth and fth networks
 M. Canakci et al. / Expert Systems with Applications 36 (2009) 92689280 9277

In Figs. 25, the actual and predicted values for all the outputs
are compared. In these gures, the left columns indicate the train-
ing data and the right columns indicate the test data. As shown in
the gures, the actual and predicted values are very close to each
other. But some test data for emission values are not very close
to each other. This is due to the complexity of the burning process
and the measurement errors.
For the fth network, the formulations of the outputs are given
by Eqs. (4)(14). By using these formulae similarly, performance
and exhaust emissions of the diesel engine may be calculated with-
in the error ranges given in the tables
fuel blend. These decreases are understandable, since the heat con-
tent of the fuel blend decreases with the increasing amount of bio-
diesel compared to that of PBDF. Fig. 6 also indicates the predicted
brake thermal efciencies for the different biodiesel blends if the
engine was operated at different engine speeds in full load condi-
tion. Brake thermal efciency is dened as actual brake work di-
vided by the amount of fuel chemical energy as indicated by the
fuels lower heating value. As the gure shows, the thermal ef-
ciency decreases with increasing ratio of the biodiesel in the fuel
blend. The trends of the thermal efciencies look similar for the
brake torques for each fuel.

1
MFR 1:1059F1 0:7142F2 1:482F3 0:6601F4 0:7891F5 0:298F6 0:2005F7 2:8994F8 3:8301
4
1 e
1
FFR 2:4736F1 0:4421F2 0:4989F3 2:8348F4 1:4394F5 3:5818F6 0:9351F7 0:4474F8 0:3622
5
1 e
1
IP 2:6865F1 1:915F2 2:7587F3 0:8164F4 1:8154F5 0:2744F6 1:1377F7 6:8157F8 2:9757
6
1 e
1
CO 12:6718F1 6:6876F2 5:1142F3 1:1837F4 1:8167F5 7:555F6 0:2248F7 3:5865F8 7:6057
7
1 e
1
CO2 0:2734F1 2:2623F2 1:7412F3 3:0802F4 0:6921F5 0:102F6 0:2857F7 1:3029F8 1:3703
8
1 e
1
UHC 3:0766F1 15:3731F2 12:4329F3 1:2752F4 10:1191F5 3:8024F6 1:8634F7 0:6603F8 2:0721
9
1 e
1
NOx 0:0543F1 2:9164F2 4:0126F3 0:1664F4 1:0832F5 4:5628F6 4:7533F7 2:8198F8 3:1093
10
1 e
1
SL 8:5909F1 0:4446F2 0:762F3 1:935F4 0:6599F5 6:6479F6 0:1881F7 3:7498F8 1:0069
11
1 e
1
BT 0:5347F1 0:764F2 0:5998F3 4:3499F4 1:3599F5 0:0717F6 0:878F7 3:0059F8 0:153
12
1 e
1
CP 2:5292F1 0:1939F2 0:1491F3 2:1699F4 0:403F5 0:724F6 0:5361F7 2:689F8 8:728
13
1 e
1
TE 0:1761F1 0:1496F2 1:5397F3 1:5725F4 1:2833F5 1:4721F6 0:1667F7 3:7584F8 4:954
14
1 e

where Fi = (i = 1,2,3, . . . , 6) can be calculated using
1
Fi Ei
15
1 e
where Ei is given with the equation as seen in Table 9.
When using the equations in Table 9, LHV, D, KV, CN, N, T, RH
and P values are normalized by dividing them by 50,000, 1000, 5,
70, 4000, 40, 80 and 100, respectively. For outputs, MFR and FFR
values need to be divided by 10 and 300. In addition, IP, CO, CO2,
UHC, NOx, SL, BT, CP and TE values need to be multiplied by 250,
2, 20, 15, 200, 130, 120, 120 and 30, respectively.
Considering the error values obtained from the network (i.e.
the fth network), we used the network to make predictions for
different biodiesel blends (i.e. 80% (B80), 60% (B60), 40% (B40),
30% (B30), and 10% (B10)), other input values (i.e. humidity, dry
bulb temperature, and pressure), which are measured again, and
engine speed values used for training. So, mixing ratio has been
generalized. The results obtained from ANN are given in Figs. 6
and 7.
Fuel properties, such as heating value, density and viscosity,
have inuences on the engine performance and emissions. There-
fore, the engine brake torques, BSFC and thermal efciencies were
predicted for different biodiesel blends. Fig. 6 shows the effects of
biodiesel percentage and engine speed on the brake torque of the
engine at full load condition. The predicted values for the brake
torques decrease with the increasing amount of biodiesel in the
The predicted values for BSFC are shown also in Fig. 6. The BSFC
increased with the increase of biodiesel percentage in the fuel
blend. As seen in Table 1, the heating value of the biodiesel is low-
er than that of PBDF. Therefore, if the engine was fueled with bio-
diesel or its blends, the BSFC will increase due to the produced
lower brake torques caused by the lower energy content of the
biodiesel. This result can be clearly seen at the higher biodiesel
ratios. At the same time, for the same volume, more biodiesel fuel
based on the mass ow was injected into the combustion chamber
than PBDF due to its higher density. In addition to these parame-
ters, the atomization ratio and injection pressure should be
considered since they have some effects on the BSFC and brake
torque values.
The CO emission in the exhaust indicates the lost chemical en-
ergy that is not fully utilized in the engine. Generally, CO emission
is affected by equivalence ratio, fuel type, atomization ratio, injec-
tion timing, engine load and speed. Fig. 7 shows the changes in the
CO emissions for different fuel blends. The fuels have similar
trends for the CO formation at the selected engine speed range.
However, the CO emission decreases with the increase of biodiesel
percentage in the fuel blend. At the same time, B100 produced the
lowest CO emissions for all engine speeds compared to PBDF. This
case occurred even for the highest brake-specic fuel consumption
that was predicted for pure biodiesel. This result can be explained
with the oxygen content of biodiesel which improves the combus-
tion in the cylinder. Biodiesel also has less compressibility and
9278 M. Canakci et al. / Expert Systems with Applications 36 (2009) 92689280

1.20 15
B100 B100
B80 B80
1.00 B60 B60
B40 14 B40
B30 B30
0.80 B10 B10
PBDF 13 PBDF
0.60
12
0.40
11
0.20

0.00 10
500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500
500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500

14 110
B100 B100
B80 B80
12 B60 100 B60
B40 B40
10 B30 90 B30
B10 B10
PBDF PBDF
8 80

6 70

4 60

2 50

0 40
500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500

120
B100
110 B80
100 B60
B40
90 B30
B10
80 PBDF
70
x

60
50
40
30
20
500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500

Fig. 7. The predictions of the engine exhaust emissions with respect to engine speed for different fuel blends.

higher cetane number. These two behaviors are also effective on
the CO reduction. If a fuel is less compressible, the injection starts
earlier and causes longer combustion duration. The higher cetane
number, which means shorter ignition delay, causes longer com-
bustion duration and increases complete combustion reaction
regions.
CO2 is an important component in the global warming. Fig. 7
also shows the effects of biodiesel percentage and engine speeds
on the CO2 emission. As seen in the gure, at low engine speeds
(between 1000 and 2000 rpm), CO2 emission reduces with the
increasing amount of biodiesel in the fuel blend. At high engine
speeds, the amounts of CO2 produced by the fuels are very close
to one another. Therefore, the changes in the CO2 emissions are
not so signicant for all fuels.
Another emission product that is produced by diesel engines is
UHC. UHC emissions consist of fuel that is completely unburned or
only partially burned. The amount of UHC in the exhaust depends
on the engines operating conditions, fuel properties, fuel-spray
characteristics, and the interaction between fuel spray and air in
the combustion chamber. The predicted UHC amounts for different
fuel blends and engine speeds are also shown in Fig. 7. For the bio-
diesel blends, the UHC amount in the exhaust had decreased with
increasing amount of biodiesel in the fuel blend, which can be
clearly seen at 1000 and 1500 rpm. As can be understood from
the percentages, the UHC emission level increased with the pro-
portion of PBDF in the blend. Probably, the main reason for the
higher UHC emissions for PBDF is the insufcient oxygen in the
combustion region. On the other hand, the higher oxygen content
of biodiesel in combustion region provided more complete com-
bustion. This means that biodiesel in the fuel mixture increases
the cetane number and oxygen content of the blend; this causes
higher combustion efciency and reduces the level of UHC emis-
sion. However, at high engine speeds, the UHC emissions show
similar behavior regardless of the fuel type due to higher injection
pressure and better atomization ratio. The main reason for reduced
UHC emissions at high engine speeds is the increased atomization
ratio. At the same time, high engine speeds cause the increased in-
let air ow speed or turbulence. This enhances the effect of atom-
ization of the fuel in the cylinder, makes the mixture more
homogeneous, and reduces UHC emission.
Smoke opacity is strongly dependent on the air amount in the
cylinder as well as on the oxygen amount in the fuel. It is obvious
that fuel composition inuences the amount of smoke produced by
the engine. Especially, the sulfur and oxygen contents of the fuel