An experimental investigation of biodiesel-biogas dual-fuel engine based on energy and exergy analysis

Abstract

In the present work, exergy analysis has been performed on the biodiesel-biogas dual fuel (DF) engine. The DF operation has been studied with biodiesel (Jatropha curcas) as the pilot fuel to ignite the main fuel (biogas). The experiments were performed at a constant engine speed of 1500 rpm with varying engine loads and optimised injection timings for both diesel and DF modes. The results indicate that DF operation at low load produces poor performance and emission characteristics, however, no significant variations were observed between diesel-DF and biodiesel-DF operations. At 23% of engine load, exergy efficiencies were found to be 8.53% and 8.4% for diesel-DF and biodiesel-DF operations respectively; compared to 12.57% for pure diesel operation. Nevertheless, at higher loads, exergetic performances of DF operations were significantly improved. Furthermore, oxides of nitrogen (NOx) emissions from DF operations were significantly reduced compared to that with diesel operation.