Investigation on the performance of a Di diesel engine fuelled by azadirachta indica methyl ester blended with oxygenated organic compounds

Abstract

With the increasing concern about environmental protection and the newlineimplementation of more stringent exhaust gas regulations as well as the newlinefurther demand for energy sources, much effort is being made worldwide to newlineimprove thermal efficiency of engines and the reduction of emissions by newlinethem. Currently, there are many fuel related techniques that are capable of newlineimproving the combustion processes of diesel engines; for example, the use of newlineoxygenated fuel shows the ability to reduce smoke emissions; gaseous fuels newlineof renewable nature are friendly to the environment; alternative fuels are in newlinefumigated form. Of these techniques, the use of oxygenated fuels has been newlinewidely studied in recent years. Biodiesel is an oxygenated renewable fuel, newlinewhich has been recognized as an environment friendly alternative fuel for newlinediesel engines. Because it is renewable, biodegrable and non-toxicity, it can newlinesignificantly reduce exhaust emissions and overall cycle emission of carbon dioxides from the engine when burned as fuel. newlineIn this study, neem oil (Azadirachta indica), a non-edible vegetable newlineoil available in large surplus quantities in South Asia, is considered as a fuel. newlineFor feedstock diversification and utilization of currently available local newlinesources, non-edible vegetable oils like neem, karanja, Thevitia peruviana and newlineMahu oil etc. can be considered and investigated for efficient biodiesel newlineproduction and engine utilization with no or minimum modification in order newlineto minimize the investment cost in the engine modification. In order to evaluate the feasibility of Azadirachta indica seed oil as newlinea fuel, the performance, emission and combustion characteristics of the diesel newlineengine fuelled with the above are investigated and compared with that of newlinediesel. The combustion parameters such as cylinder pressure, rate of heat newlinerelease, ignition delay, combustion duration and equivalence ratio, newlineperformance parameters such as brake thermal efficiency (BTE), brake newlinespecific energy consumption (BSEC) and exhaust gas temperature,