Experimental investigation of cashew nut shell liquid as alternative fuel in DI and IDI compression ignition engines

Abstract

Energy plays a vital role in the socio economic development and human welfare of a country It has a major contribution in the entire process of evolution and improving the standard of living Achieving energy security is therefore of fundamental importance newlineto India s economic growth imperatives that aim at alleviation of poverty eradication of unemployment and meeting the other Millennium Development Goals In spite of the decade long exploration and investigation of plant derived alternative fuels in IC engines till now there are not many practical and commercial applications the main reason being their cost which is 2 to 5 times the cost of petroleum fuel This research work leads to supplementing diesel with economically sustainable and affordable abundantly and easily available renewable fuel Cashew Nut Shell Liquid is a non edible byproduct of Cashew Processing Industries which was wasted in earlier times polluting the newlineenvironment This waste byproduct was traded in bulk at Panruti for around Rupees 10 per litre in the year 2007 Further it is commercially and readily available as well the cheapest of all oils available in the open market in India There was no research work performed using raw CNSL or CNSL diesel blends as fuel in IC engines as evidenced by the literature review Based on the inherent nature of CNSL and various merits compared to jatropha it was decided to proceed with detailed experimental work Since CNSL was investigated for the first time it was required to proceed with abundance of caution newline