Experimental Studies on Biodiesel (Pongamia Oil) Fuelled Direct Injection Diesel Engine with Different Techniques

Abstract

Diesel engines are widely used in light, medium and heavy duty vehicles, load carriers, tractors, and power generation in heavy machinery, because of higher fuel efficiency and the ability for lean operation. Further, the lean burn capability helps to lower the carbon monoxide and hydro carbon emissions compared to those of a gasoline engine. However the emission of oxides of nitrogen and particulate matter are higher in a diesel engine. A nation s development is strongly dependent on the availability of fuels for transportation, agriculture and power generation. For many developing countries like India, meeting the high demand for oil is a major challenge. Only by using the renewable sources of fuel with clean combustion can the exhaust emissions and also the dependence on conventional petroleum sources, be reduced. Several alternative fuels are being considered for use in diesel engines. The potential alternative fuels are liquid fuels, like vegetable oil and vegetable oil methyl ester (Biodiesel). The performance of a vegetable oil fuelled diesel engine is improved by various methods like preheating, higher injection pressure and transesterification of vegetable oil to reduce its viscosity. These require additional energy sources, which increases the cost of the engine. The different methods are used to improve the performance of diesel engines by varying the nozzle opening pressures, Ceramic coated piston (Titanium oxide coated piston) and Diethyl ether as fuel additives and etc.In the present work, the improvement in performance of the biodiesel fuelled (Pongamia methyl ester) diesel engine combustion and emission characteristics are experimentally investigated, varying the nozzle opening pressures, Ceramic coated piston (Titanium oxide coated piston) and Diethyl ether as fuel additives. Besides, comparing the measured performance and the exhaust emissions (exhaust smoke and oxides of nitrogen), a detailed combustion analysis of the acquired cylinder pressure histories on these samples has been attempted.