PERFORMANCE AND EMISSION ANALYSIS OF AN AGRICULTURE CI ENGINE USING BIOGAS AND BIODIESEL-DIESEL BLEND

Abstract

The cost of petroleum products is continuously rising due to the restrictions of store; supply and demand of fossil fuel is also rises because of industrialization. The controls of exhaust gases from diesel engine have additionally been regulated, particularly for particulate matter (PM) and oxides of nitrogen (NOX) . There is subsequently need to search optional fuel which will diminish harmful emissions gases while keeping high thermal efficiency. Biogas is one such fuel, which can be adjusted for use in internal combustion (IC) engine. In this exploration, Compression Ignition (CI) engine was modified into a dual fuel engine which utilizes biog as and diesel or biogas and biodiesel -diesel blend with the emphasis on lowering of harmful emissions gases while keeping up high thermal efficiency. The performance and emission characteristics of the modified engine were compared with those of the conventional diesel engine. The effect of ethanol (alcohol) on engine performance and emission was also studied. The air intake system of the engine was modified to allow mixing of air and biogas before supplying the mixture to the combustion chamber of the engine while the exhaust system was modified to allow measurement of the exhaust emissions. Canola biodiesel is blended with diesel in the ratio of 20:80 (biodiesel: diesel). Using canola blend (B20), amount of hydrocarbon is lowered. But amount of NOX is getting higher. At 20% load, the amounts NOX are 403 ppm, 115 ppm, 551 ppm, 108 ppm for diesel mode, diesel -biogas mode, canola (B20) mode, canola (B20) -biogas mode respectively. However the amount of unburnt hydrocarbon is decreased when added ethanol to the canola biodiesel blend. The brake thermal efficiency is also increased when added ethanol to canola biodiesel. At 100% load, the brake thermal efficiency is increased from 32% to 35%. The performance characteristics of the modifi ed engine showed that diesel can be substituted partly with biogas and engine used for a range of applications. The most appropriate areas of use are stationary applications such as driving of electric power generators, hoisting in construction sites and driving of machines such as water pumps and concrete mixers. This is due to the challenge of compact storage of the gas.