Comparison of Measured and Predicted Performance and the Emission Characteristics of Single Cylinder CI Engine using Pongamia Pinnata based Bio-Diesel

Diesel being the main transport fuel, developing countries like India spends a lot of money to import petroleum and the use of petroleum based fuels increased in the recent years is the main contributor to the urban air pollution. Finding a suitable alternative to diesel is an urgent need. Biofuels are renewable, can supplement petroleum based fuels. Due to pressure on edible oils, non-edible oils of Pongamia Pinnata (karanja) and Jatropa Curcas are evaluated as diesel fuel extender. Pongamia pinnata based bio-diesel (PBD) is receiving increasing attention in India because of its potential to increase the rural employment and relatively low impact on environment. Diesel engines running on PBD are found to emit higher oxides of nitrogen. In this work a single cylinder constant speed water cooled four stroke direct injection diesel engine is selected for the experimental investigations to model the performance and emission characteristics fueled with plain Diesel and Pongamia Bio-diesel blends PBD10 (10% Pongamia Bio-diesel and 90% Diesel) and PBD20 (20% Pongamia Bio-diesel and 80% Diesel) with different cooled EGR rates (0%, 5%, 10%, 15% and 20%). The performance parameters are analyzed include specific fuel consumption and brake thermal efficiency whereas exhaust emissions include nitric oxide (NO), carbon monoxide (CO) and smoke opacity. The results of the experiments in each case were used to model the performance and emission parameters. Multivariate non linear regression analysis is carried out in Minitab software to model the performance and emission parameters. The predicted values were compared with experimental data.