A Comparative Study on the Performance and Emission Analysis of a Dual Fuelled Diesel Engine with Karanja Biodiesel and Natural Gas

Abstract

In the present study, a single cylinder four stroke dual fuel diesel engine was tested to investigate the performance and emission characteristics of various test fuels. The engine was tested in dual fuel mode using diesel and Karanja biodiesel blends as pilot fuel along with Natural gas as primary fuel with a constant gas flow rate under different loading conditions. From the experimentation it was found that smoke opacity and oxides of nitrogen (NOx) are at low level for all the prepared test fuels in dual fuel mode but the emissions of carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO2) and hydrocarbon (HC) were found higher. In comparison to diesel fuel, by increasing the blend percentage different emission parameters are found to be reduced. At different loading conditions all the test fuels show poor performance in dual fuel mode of operation when compared with single mode of operation with diesel and biodiesel. With increase in gas flow rates, except (NOx) and smoke emissions, the other emission parameters like CO, HC and CO2 values increased for all test fuels. Again, all blended fuels showed lower performance compared to diesel. The maximum pilot fuel savings for diesel was found decreasing with the increase in karanja biodiesel. From the present work it may be concluded that Karanja biodiesel with Natural gas in dual mode can be can used as promising alternative for diesel with some required engine modifications and further research must be carried out to minimize the emissions of CO, HC and CO2..