THE NOx REDUCTION PERFORMANCES OF A MARINE DIESEL ENGINE USING STEAM INDUCTION METHOD FOR BLENDED PALM OIL METHYL ESTER FUEL

Biodiesel fuel such as palm oil methyl esters is an alternative fuel for use in marine diesel engines. In terms of NOx emission reduction, most biodiesel fuels are unable to produce better results because they consist of a higher cetane number, high oxygen content and produce high peak combustion temperature compared to fossil fuels. The main goal of this study is to investigate NOx emission reduction using the saturated steam induction method on Cummins NTA 855M marine diesel engine air intake systems fuelled by blended palm oil methyl ester. The experiment used different loads 5%,25%, 50%, 75% and 100% and speeds 800-1600 rpm of the engine to analyse the NOx emissions. The study discovered that steam induction into the air intake system offers promising potential to reducing NOx when using palm oil methyl ester as a fuel. This phenomenon occurs, when the oxygen has been replaced by steam, which promotes ignition delay and a decrease in combustion temperature. The technique produces a reduction of NOx up to 19.75%. This promising result complements the NOx reduction issue for this fuel.