UTILISATION OF JATROPHA BIODIESEL (ETHYL ESTER) IN SMALL CAPACITY DIESEL ENGINE

Abstract

Diesel Engines have proved its utility in transportation, agriculture and power sector of India. These engines also help in developing decentralized systems energy for electrification. However, the concerns about long term availability of petroleum diesel and stringent environmental norms have mandated that renewable alternative to diesel fuel should be expeditely explored to overcome these problems. The major oil varieties, considered suitable for biodiesel making are Jatropha curcas. Biodiesels have always been considered as a good alternative to diesel for last many years and oil derived from Jatropha curcas plant has been considered as a sustainable substitute or extender to diesel fuel. This study targets at making a comparison of the ethyl esters of non-edible oils in a diesel engine against diesel fuel. The present work aims at developing a dual fuel engine test rig work on dual fuel mode. The performance parameters of the fuels was evaluated in terms of thermal efficiency, specific fuel consumption, power output and mean effective pressure, cylinder pressure, rate of pressure rise, and heat release rates. The emission parameters of carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO2), un-burnt hydrocarbon (HC), oxides of nitrogen (NOx), and smoke opacity with the fuels were also compared. Both varieties of the oil, after trans-esterification, exhibit the major properties within acceptable limits of biodiesel standards set by many countries. Jatropha ethyl ester (JEE) performed better than Jatropha methyl ester (JME), and also the shortest ignition delay is observed with JME. Both the esters performed poorer than diesel, but emissions of HC, NOx, and smoke were found to be lower with biodiesel. The results from the experiments suggest that biodiesel from non-edible oils like Jatropha could be a good substitute fuel for diesel engine in the near future as far as decentralized energy production is concerned. Considering BTE, BSEC, gaseous emissions and durability and safe operation of the engine without any modification done on the existing Diesel engine.