Experimental Study on Performance and Emission Characteristics of Jatropha Biodiesel in a Diesel Engine Test Rig for Varying Injection Pressures

ABSTRACT In this study the performance and emission characteristics of biodiesels of Jatropha is tested on a single cylinder 4 stroke DI diesel engine. The study was carried out first by taking the injection pressure as 200 bar which is the standard injection pressure of the diesel engine test rig and observing the engine performance B20 blend of Jatropha biodiesel is considered the optimum blend. Later the study is carried out at different injection pressures of 190 and 210 bar. Jatropha oil is non-edible and toxic in nature. It grows in all types of soil. Its seeds consist of about 32-40% of oil (1&2). It can grow in waste lands and does not require fertile agricultural lands. Hence it is a promising source of biodiesel. From this we can produce hundreds of litres of biodiesel. The work carried out shows that Jatropha biodiesel show good performance characteristics and can be used as fuels for diesel engine. The emission proportions of their blends are less compared to diesel.