Effect of simulated biogas on performance, combustion and emissions characteristics of a bio-diesel fueled diesel engine

Experimental investigations were carried out on a single cylinder diesel engine under dual fuel mode (biodiesel-simulated biogas). The pongamia pinaata biodiesel (B100) was used as pilot fuel whereas biogas composition was simulated by blending of CO2 (30%, 40% and 50% by weight) in natural gas and was used as main fuel. Natural gas and CO2 were injected into the engine’s intake manifold using two gas injectors with individual control mechanism. The brake thermal efficiency (BTE) of the engine decreases with increase in CO2 content in natural gas. NOx and smoke emissions decreased significantly with the biogas-fueled engine whereas HC and CO emissions increased marginally. The combustion characteristics including heat release rate and cumulative heat release decreased with biogas. A notable point emerged from this study is the effect of CO2 in natural gas on the performance, combustion and emissions characteristics of the engine are less as compared to the effect of its energy share and load. It is well established through this study that the raw biogas could be used in a biodiesel-fueled diesel engine under dual fuel mode. However, increase in CO and HC emissions needs to be reduced using suitable techniques.

[1]  A Henham,et al.  Combustion of simulated biogas in a dual-fuel diesel engine , 1998 .

[2]  C. Luijten,et al.  Jatropha oil and biogas in a dual fuel CI engine for rural electrification , 2011 .

[3]  Saugirdas Pukalskas,et al.  Performance and emission characteristics of biogas used in diesel engine operation. , 2013 .

[4]  S. Murugan,et al.  Simultaneous reduction of NOx and smoke in a dual fuel DI diesel engine , 2014 .

[5]  Phan Minh Duc,et al.  Study on biogas premixed charge diesel dual fuelled engine , 2007 .

[6]  K. A. Subramanian,et al.  Comparative assessment of injection, combustion, performance and emission characteristics of a diesel engine for biodiesel-diesel blends , 2012 .

[7]  K. A. Subramanian,et al.  A CFD (computational fluid dynamics) study for optimization of gas injector orientation for performance improvement of a dual-fuel diesel engine , 2013 .

[8]  C. Lee,et al.  Experimental investigation on the combustion and exhaust emission characteristics of biogas–biodiesel dual-fuel combustion in a CI engine , 2011 .

[9]  G. Kiely,et al.  How can we improve biomethane production per unit of feedstock in biogas plants , 2011 .

[10]  U. Saha,et al.  Comparative assessment of a biogas run dual fuel diesel engine with rice bran oil methyl ester, pongamia oil methyl ester and palm oil methyl ester as pilot fuels , 2015 .

[11]  V. K. Vijay,et al.  Production of methane from anaerobic digestion of jatropha and pongamia oil cakes , 2012 .

[12]  Peter Glarborg,et al.  Some chemical kinetics issues in reburning: The branching fraction of the HCCO+NO reaction , 1998 .

[13]  Teuku Meurah Indra Mahlia,et al.  Development and test of a new catalytic converter for natural gas fuelled engine , 2009 .

[14]  Sunmeet Singh Kalsi,et al.  Experimental investigations of effects of EGR on performance and emissions characteristics of CNG fueled reactivity controlled compression ignition (RCCI) engine , 2016 .

[15]  A. Ramesh,et al.  An experimental study of the biogas-diesel HCCI mode of engine operation , 2010 .

[16]  K. A. Subramanian,et al.  Effect of different percentages of biodiesel–diesel blends on injection, spray, combustion, performance, and emission characteristics of a diesel engine , 2015 .

[17]  John B. Heywood,et al.  Internal combustion engine fundamentals , 1988 .

[18]  S. Verhelst,et al.  Combustion and emissions characteristics of a dual fuel engine operated on alternative gaseous fuels , 2013 .

[19]  Sanjib Kumar Karmee,et al.  Preparation of biodiesel from crude oil of Pongamia pinnata. , 2005, Bioresource technology.

[20]  Saiful Bari,et al.  Effect of carbon dioxide on the performance of biogas/diesel duel-fuel engine , 1996 .

[21]  Robert L. McCormick,et al.  Regulated Emissions from Biodiesel Tested in Heavy-Duty Engines Meeting 2004 Emission Standards , 2005 .

[22]  Mohand Tazerout,et al.  Towards improvement of natural gas-diesel dual fuel mode: An experimental investigation on performance and exhaust emissions , 2014 .

[23]  S. Saxena,et al.  Experimental study of biogas combustion in an HCCI engine for power generation with high indicated efficiency and ultra-low NOx emissions. , 2012 .

[24]  Peter Glarborg,et al.  The CH3+NO Rate Coefficient at High Temperatures: Theoretical Analysis and Comparison with Experiment , 1998 .

[25]  U. Saha,et al.  Effect of compression ratio on performance, combustion and emission characteristics of a dual fuel diesel engine run on raw biogas , 2014 .

[26]  Ming Zheng,et al.  Transient simulation of a catalytic converter for a dual fuel engine , 2000 .