Study of performance and emission characteristics of a compression ignition engine using tamarind biodiesel

The objective of this communication is to demonstrate engine performance, and emission characteristics of biodiesel used in compression ignition (CI) engines. Now a days biodiesels have been studied extensively and gaining huge importance as a promising alternative energy resource owing to global fossil fuel crisis and emission problems. India is the largest producer of tamarind (300000 tons annually) in world. Tamarind biodiesel is tested in four stroke single, single cylinder water cooled diesel engine and results are compared with pure diesel. From the results, it is reported that biodiesel (blends of Tamarind) containing up to 15% biodiesel have almost same properties as diesel and results have shown that as compare to diesel, biodiesel provides a slightly higher brake thermal efficiency(BTE) and volumetric efficiency, reduction in exhaust gas temperature (EGT) but the NOx emission are observed slightly higher. Biodiesels are anticipated to reduce the dependence on imported petroleum and revamp the economy by increasing demand and prices for agricultural products. From the review, it is also concluded that blends of biodiesel with a small content by volume can be used in existing CI engines without any modifications.