Thermodynamic study in a diesel engine using karanja biodiesel-diethyl ether-producer gas

In the current experimentation, a thermodynamic assessment was performed in a 4-stroke compression ignition engine (CIE) running in dual-fuel mode. The ternary blend of karanja biodiesel, diethyl ether along with diesel was used as pilot fuel and producer gas was used as inducted fuel to run the engine. The findings indicate that brake-specific energy consumption (BSEC) increased with the induction of producer gas (PG). The mixing of diethyl ether (DEE) by 5% on a volume basis has reduced the BSEC in dual fuel run that approaches the base result (diesel alone operation). The exergy destruction and exergy efficiency curve also indicate the positive influence of DEE on dual fuel performance. 10% volume blend of karanja oil methyl ester with diesel (B10) when further mixed with a 5% volume blend of DEE gave the highest diesel saving of 86.7% in dual-fuel run with PG followed by B10 + PG (84.5%), Diesel + 5DEE + PG (83.6%) and diesel + PG (78.5%) at 80% engine load operation.