Combustion characteristics of a 4-stroke CI engine operated on Honge oil, Neem and Rice Bran oils when directly injected and dual fuelled with producer gas induction

Energy is an essential requirement for economic and social development of any country. Sky rocketing of petroleum fuel costs in present day has led to growing interest in alternative fuels like vegetable oils, alcoholic fuels, CNG, LPG, Producer gas, biogas in order to provide a suitable substitute to diesel for a compression ignition (CI) engine. The vegetable oils present a very promising alternative fuel to diesel oil since they are renewable, biodegradable and clean burning fuel having similar properties as that of diesel. They offer almost same power output with slightly lower thermal efficiency due to their tower energy content compared to diesel. Utilization of producer gas in Cl engine on dual fuel mode provides an effective approach towards conservation of diesel fuel. Gasification involves conversion of solid biomass into combustible gases which completes combustion in a CI engines. Hence the producer gas can act as promising alternative fuel and it has high octane number (100-105) and calorific value (5-6 MJ/Nm(3)). Because of its simpler structure with low carbon content results in substantial reduction of exhaust emission. Downdraft moving bed gasifier coupled with compression ignition engine are a good choice for moderate quantities of available mass up to 500 kW of electrical power. Hence bio-derived gas and vegetable liquids appear more attractive in view of their friendly environmental nature. Experiments have been conducted on a single cylinder, four-stroke, direct injection, water-cooled Cl engine operated in single fuel mode using Honge, Neem and Rice Bran oils. In dual fuel mode combinations of Producer gas and three oils were used at different injection timings and injection pressures. Dual fuel mode of operation resulted in poor performance at all the loads when compared with single fuel mode at all injection timings tested. However, the brake thermal efficiency is improved marginally when the injection timing was advanced. Decreased smoke, NOx emissions and increased CO emissions were observed for dual fuel mode for all the fuel combinations compared to single fuel operation. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.