Title: A hybrid multi-criteria decision support system for selection of optimum fuel blend

Authors: G. Sakthivel; G. Nagarajan; M. Ilangkumaran; S Sathish Kumar; K.S. Suresh

Addresses: Department of Mechatronics Engineering, K.S. Rangasamy College of Technology, Tiruchengode 637 215, Tamil Nadu, India ' I.C. Engineering Division, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Anna University, Chennai 600025, India ' Department of Mechatronics Engineering, K.S. Rangasamy College of Technology, Tiruchengode 637 215, Tamil Nadu, India ' Department of Mechatronics Engineering, K.S. Rangasamy College of Technology, Tiruchengode 637 215, Tamil Nadu, India ' Department of Mechatronics Engineering, K.S. Rangasamy College of Technology, Tiruchengode 637 215, Tamil Nadu, India

Abstract: The increasing diesel consumption, depletion of fossil fuels and environmental concerns have prompted usage of biodiesel. The selection of appropriate source and blending of biodiesel plays a role in alternate energy production. The aim of this study is to evaluate the optimum blend using Multi Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) technique. Five alternative fuel blends are prepared by varying the amount of DEE in fish oil biodiesel. Brake thermal efficiency, exhaust gas temperature, oxides of nitrogen, smoke, hydrocarbon, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide are considered as evaluation criteria. A single cylinder direct injection diesel engine was used. Two MCDM techniques, Fuzzy Analytical Hierarchy Process (FAHP) and Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) are integrated and proposed as Hybrid MCDM model to obtain the optimum blend. The exergy performance parameters were calculated for diesel and biodiesel blends, and found that the tested biodiesel offer similar performance as diesel fuel.

Keywords: fish oil biodiesel; diesel engines; MCDM; FAHP; TOPSIS; fuzzy set theory; multicriteria decision making; decision support systems; DSS; optimum fuel blends; biofuels; brake thermal efficiency; exhaust gas temperature; nitrogen oxides; NOx; smoke; hydrocarbon; carbon monoxide; carbon dioxide; CO2; fuzzy AHP; analytical hierarchy process; diesel blends; biodiesel blends; exergy performance.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEX.2013.055076

International Journal of Exergy, 2013 Vol.12 No.4, pp.463 - 490

Received: 19 Mar 2012
Accepted: 22 Jul 2012
Published online: 15 Jul 2013 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article