Effect of injection timing,injector opening pressure and nozzle geometry on the performance of a compression ignition engine operated on non-edible oil methyl esters from different sources

Increasing cost of fossil fuels, environmental threats from exhaust emissions and their depleting nature have generated intense international interest in developing renewable and alternative fuels for internal combustion engines. This study investigates the suitability of different non-edible-derived biodiesels such as cottonseed oil methyl ester (COME), honne oil methyl ester (HnOME) and honge oil methyl ester (HOME) to four-stroke, single-cylinder compression ignition (CI) engine. Engine tests were conducted to study the effect of fuel injection timing (IT), fuel injector opening pressure (IOP) and injector nozzle geometry on the performance, combustion and emission characteristics of COME, HnOME and HOME in the modified CI engine. IT was varied from 19° to 27° before top dead centre (bTDC) in steps of 4° bTDC; IOP was varied from 205 to 240 bar in steps of 10 bar. Nozzle injectors of three to five holes, each of 0.3 mm size, were selected for the study. It was concluded that a retarded IT of 19° bTDC increased IOP of 230 bar, and four-hole nozzle injector of 0.3 mm size resulted in overall better engine performance with increased brake thermal efficiency and reduced hydrocarbon and carbon monoxide smoke emissions for the fuels tested.     

Effects of injection timing,injector opening pressure and nozzle geometry on the performance of cottonseed oil methyl ester-fuelled diesel engine

Increasing petroleum prices, increasing threat to the environment from exhaust emissions and global warming have generated intense international interest in developing renewable and alternative non-petroleum fuels for engines. Evolving technology and a recurring energy crisis necessitates a continuous investigation into the search for sustainable and clean-burning renewable fuels. In this paper, cottonseed oil methyl ester (COME) was used in a four-stroke, single-cylinder variable compression ratio diesel engine. Tests were carried out to study the effects of fuel injection timing, fuel injector opening pressure (IOP) and injector nozzle geometry on the performance and combustion of COME biodiesel fuel used in a compression ignition engine with a single fuel mode. Fuel injection timing varied from 19° to 27° before top dead centre (bTDC) in incremental steps of 4° bTDC; fuel IOP varied from 210 to 240 bar in incremental steps of 10 bar. Fuel nozzle injectors with three, four and five holes, each of 0.3 mm size, were selected for the study. The results suggested that with retarded injection timing of 19° bTDC, increased IOP of 230 bar and a four-hole nozzle injector of 0.3 mm size resulted in overall better engine performance with an increased brake thermal efficiency and reduced HC, CO and smoke emission levels.     

Effect of bioethanol and thermal barrier coating on the performance of dual fuel engine operating on Honge oil methyl ester (HOME) and producer gas induction

Alternative fuels have numerous advantages compared to fossil fuels as they are renewable, biodegradable; provide energy security and foreign exchange saving besides addressing environmental concerns and socio-economic issues as well. Renewable fuels can be used predominantly as fuel for both transportation and power generation applications. Improved engine performance with reduced engine exhaust emissions is a major research objective in engine development. Today, the use of biomass derived producer gas is more relevant for addressing rural power generation and is a promising technique for controlling both nitric oxide (NO_x) and soot emission levels. In view of this, exhaustive experiments on the use of Honge oil methyl ester (HOME)–Producer gas in a dual fuel engine have been carried out with an intension of improving its fuel efficiency. This paper mainly presents results on a single cylinder four stroke direct injection diesel engine operated in dual fuel mode using HOME–Producer gas combination with and without bio-ethanol addition and thermal barrier coating (TBC). Further, the results were compared with diesel–producer gas mode of operation. Experimental investigation on dual fuel operation using HOME+5% bioethanol (BE5)–Producer gas operation with TBC showed 12.35% increased brake thermal efficiency with decreased hydrocarbon and carbon monoxide emissions and increased NO_x emission levels compared to HOME–Producer gas mode of operation.     

Effect of mixing chamber venturi,injection timing,compression ratio and EGR on the performance of dual-fuel engine operated with HOME and CNG

Stringent environmental policies and the ever increasing demand for energy have triggered interest in novel combustion technologies that use alternative fuels as energy sources. Of these, pilot-ignited compressed natural gas (CNG) engines that employ small biodiesel pilot to ignite a premixed natural gas–air mixture have received considerable attention. This paper discusses the effect of mixing chamber venturi, injection timing, compression ratio and exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) on the performance of dual-fuel engine operated on biodiesel derived from honge oil and is called honge oil methyl ester (HOME) and CNG. The proposed study mainly focuses on the manifold induction of CNG along with HOME injection. However, CNG can also be injected using port or direct gas injector (Lakshmanan and Nagarajan 2010, Energy 35, pp. 3172–3178). The future study will involve these methods of CNG injection. From this study, it is concluded that an advanced injection timing and an increased compression ratio resulted in increased brake thermal efficiency and reduced smoke, hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide emissions. However, nitrogen oxides (NO _x ) emission increased significantly. The increased NO _x emission was effectively reduced with EGR method. A mixing chamber venturi of 3 mm size, injection timing of 27° before top dead centre (BTDC), compression ratio of 17.5 and 10% EGR were found to be optimum for the modified compression ignition engine that was operated on CNG–HOME dual-fuel mode.     

Combustion,performance and emissions of a DI-CI engine running on Karanj methyl ester: influence of injection timing

This study aims at evaluation of the effect of injection timing on the combustion, performance and emissions of a small power diesel engine, commonly used for agriculture purpose, running on pure bio-diesel, prepared from Karanj (Pongamia pinnata) vegetable oil. The effect of varying injection timing was evaluated in terms of thermal efficiency, specific fuel consumption, power and mean effective pressure, exhaust temperature, cylinder pressure, rate of pressure rise and the heat release rate. Furthermore, the effects on emissions of unburnt hydrocarbons, oxides of nitrogen, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide and smoke were also studied. It was found that retarding the injection timing by 3° enhances the thermal efficiency by about 8.2% with reduction in emission of oxides of nitrogen.     

Performance,combustion and emission characteristics of a single-cylinder,four-stroke,direct injection diesel engine operated on a dual-fuel mode using Honge oil methyl ester and producer gas derived from biomass feedstock of different origin

Renewable and alternative fuels have numerous advantages compared with fossil fuels, as they are renewable and biodegradable, and provide food and energy security and foreign exchange savings besides addressing environmental concerns and socio-economic issues. In this context, present work was carried out to investigate the feasibility of alternative and renewable fuels derived from biomass feedstock of different origin for engine applications. The present study was also extended to study the effect of producer gas composition derived from different biomass feedstock on the performance, combustion and emission characteristics of a single-cylinder, four-stroke, direct injection stationary diesel engine operated on a dual-fuel mode using Honge oil methyl ester (HOME) and producer gas induction. The performance of the engine was evaluated with a constant injection timing of 27° before top dead centre, an injection pressure of 205 bar for the diesel–producer gas combination and 230 bar for the HOME–producer gas combination and a compression ratio of 17.5. The results showed that the performance of the dual-fuel engine varies with the composition of the producer gas and depends on the type of biomass feedstock used in the gasifier. Experimental investigations on the dual-fuel engine showed that brake thermal efficiency values for the engine operated using HOME–producer gas derived from babul, neem and honge woods were found to be 17.2, 14.3 and 11.56% respectively, compared to 23.8% for diesel–producer gas operation at 80% load. However, the results showed better engine performance with lower exhaust emission levels for the operation of HOME–producer gas derived from the ordinary or babul wood compared with the operation of that derived from the neem and Honge woods. In view of this, present study reveals that use of alternative and renewable fuels for dual fuel engine can be considered as an immediate solution for the development of rural areas and emergency use in the event of severe diesel fuel shortage.