Experimental investigations of performance and emissions of Karanja oil and its blends in a single cylinder agricultural diesel engine

• Published in: Applied energy Vol. 86; no. 1; pp. 106 - 112
• Main Authors: Agarwal, Avinash Kumar, Rajamanoharan, K.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Elsevier Ltd 2009; Elsevier Science; Elsevier
• Series: Applied Energy
• Subjects: Alternative fuels. Production and utilization; Applied sciences; Energy; Energy. Thermal use of fuels; Engines and turbines; Equipments for energy generation and conversion: thermal, electrical, mechanical energy, etc; Exact sciences and technology; Fuel pre-conditioning; Fuels; Heat exchanger; Indexing in process; Karanja oil; Q1; Single cylinder diesel engine; Vegetable oil; Vegetable oil Karanja oil Single cylinder diesel engine Heat exchanger Fuel pre-conditioning; Fuel pre-conditioning; Vegetable oil; Single cylinder diesel engine; Heat exchanger; Karanja oil; Performance evaluation; Viscosity; Energy consumption; Temperature; Diesel fuel; Fuel consumption; Diesel engine; Biodiesel; Exhaust; Fuel; Exhaust gas; Compression ignition engine; Thermal efficiency; Waste heat; Performance; Preheating
• ISSN: 0306-2619; 1872-9118
• DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2008.04.008

An experimental investigation has been carried out to analyze the performance and emission characteristics of a compression ignition engine fuelled with Karanja oil and its blends (10%, 20%, 50% and 75%) vis-a-vis mineral diesel. The effect of temperature on the viscosity of Karanja oil has also been investigated. Fuel preheating in the experiments – for reducing viscosity of Karanja oil and blends has been done by a specially designed heat exchanger, which utilizes waste heat from exhaust gases. A series of engine tests, with and without preheating/pre-conditioning have been conducted using each of the above fuel blends for comparative performance evaluation. The performance parameters evaluated include thermal efficiency, brake specific fuel consumption (BSFC), brake specific energy consumption (BSEC), and exhaust gas temperature whereas exhaust emissions include mass emissions of CO, HC, NO and smoke opacity. These parameters were evaluated in a single cylinder compression ignition engine typically used in agriculture sector of developing countries. The results of the experiment in each case were compared with baseline data of mineral diesel. Significant improvements have been observed in the performance parameters of the engine as well as exhaust emissions, when lower blends of Karanja oil were used with preheating and also without preheating. The gaseous emission of oxide of nitrogen from all blends with and with out preheating are lower than mineral diesel at all engine loads. Karanja oil blends with diesel (up to 50% v/v) without preheating as well as with preheating can replace diesel for operating the CI engines giving lower emissions and improved engine performance.