A comparative study has been carried out on the performance of compression ignition engine (CI) using common diesel fuel (CDF) blended with both refined soybean (Glycin max) and sunflower (Helianthus annus) oil as straight vegetable oil (SVO) as well as their corresponding fatty acid methyl esters (FAME) with respect to CDF. Low cost methyl esters of vegetable oil were prepared using own patented technique where ultrasonic energy has been found to be beneficial. SVOs and corresponding FAMEs

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... blended with CDF separately at different proportion to act as fuel for research CI engine. Both engine performance and fuel combustion characteristics were evaluated from the present study at different loads with varying compression ratios. Graphical relationships of load (kg) in engine against various engine performance parameters such as: brake thermal efficiency (%), brake specific fuel consumption ((kg/kWh), brake mean effective pressure (bar), cumulative heat release (kJ) and emission characteristics have been plotted for each set of fuels with respect to CDF. The relationship developed identifies the advantages of using blended FAME prepared with the patented processes over their corresponding SVO and CDF in the CI engine.