Abstract

Biodiesel is a fatty acid alkyl ester which is renewable, biodegradable and non toxic fuel which can be derived from any vegetable oil by transesterification process. One of the popularly used non edible biodiesel in India is karanja oil methyl ester (KOME). In the present investigation, karanja oil based methyl ester (biodiesel) blended with diesel were tested for their use as a substitute fuel for diesel engine. Experiments were conducted to study the performance and emission characteristics of a direct injection diesel engine using blends of karanja methyl esters with diesel on a 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50% volume basis, respectively. The acquired data were analysed for various parameters, such as brake thermal efficiency, carbon monoxide (CO), hydrocarbon (HC), Smoke and nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions. Engine performance showed that brake thermal efficiency for 50% biodiesel blend is 21.69% poorer than diesel. Emission characteristics of CO, HC and smoke were found lower with biodiesel blends. However, oxides of nitrogen were 26% higher for 50% biodiesel blend as compared to diesel.

Key words: Biodiesel, transesterification, karanja oil, methyl ester, emission