UTILIZAÇÃO DE ÓLEO DE GIRASSOL COMO COMBUSTÍVEL EM UNIDADE DE POTÊNCIA MONOCILINDRO CICLO DIESEL

Abstract

The many oil crises that have occurred in the past decades and the dependence of the Brazilian energy matrix on fossil fuels, as well as the environmental problems caused by their use, have pressed for advances in the search for new alternative fuels and, in a way, also made them possible. Fuels made from vegetable oils are particularly interesting, as they may substitute the diesel, the most consumed liquid fuel. The global energy matrix tends to follow in this direction until new solutions arise, despite existing problems in the functioning of the engines, particularly when using vegetable oils. For this study, two 50-hour tests were done on a direct injection, mono-cylinder micro-tractor fueled with 100 crude sunflower oil. The vegetable oil was at room temperature in the first test (E-1), and heated to an approximate temperature of 90 C in the second test (E-2). The cylinder head gasket burned after running for 50 hours in the first test. An increase of the compression ratio was observed in both tests. The carbonization of the injection system in the E-2 test was 81.5 lower than E-1. The carbonization of the intake system in the E-2 test was 51.7 lower than E-1, and the carbonization of the exhaust system in E-2 was 33.4 lower than in E-1. The carbonization in E-1 was about the same as in E-2 in the combustion chamber. Compared to diesel, the fuel consumption was 2.3 higher in E-1 and 0.7 higher E-2. The lubricant oil was contaminated with vegetable oil in both tests. Generally, E-2 was better than E-1.