Performance and Emission Characteristics of a CRDe SUV Fueled With Neat Biodiesel (B-100) From Jatropha, Pongamea Source and Diesel Fuel

Present investigation addresses the use of neat, indigenous biodiesel (B100) in a sports utility vehicle (SUV) with second generation common rail technology. Current research determines the effect of biodiesel (B100) on performance & emission of modern diesel engine, equipped with diesel oxidation catalyst. Biodiesel used in this study were Pongamea Methyl Ester (PME) & Jatropha Methyl Ester (JME) derived from vegetable oil. Fuel related aspects for these two raw material and its effects on engine characteristics were discussed. Both engine & vehicle level tests had been carried out with the aim of obtaining performance characteristics such as brake specific fuel consumption, brake thermal efficiency, brake power, exhaust gas temperature, & emissions such as CO, THC, NO_x, smoke opacity to evaluate and compute the behaviors of diesel engine running on PME & JME. Comparative vehicle performance like drivability, gradeability and noise was also measured between biodiesel and diesel. Experimental results revealed that significant reduction in power was observed through out the operating range in both JME & PME, because of its lower heating value. Between this two biodiesel, there was a visible difference in power drop. Engine exhaust gas emission like Hydrocarbon (HC), Carbon monoxide (CO), & Smoke emission reduce significantly, when engine runs with biodiesel (JME & PME) meanwhile using of B100 causes increase in Nitrogen oxide (NO_x) emission. Particulate matter was significantly lower than those of a vehicle running on fossil diesel. However loss in power, when using biodiesel has been regained by increasing the fuelling & optimizing the combustion parameters like rail pressure, injection timing & duration. Based on the study it is observed that B100 can be used as fuel in diesel engine without any hardware modification, but only by remapping the CRDe system.