Performance and emission study of jatropha biodiesel and its blends

International Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Technology (IJMET), ISSN 0976 –
6340(Print), ISSN 0976 – 6359(Online) Volume 4, Issue 3, May - June (2013) © IAEME
85
PERFORMANCE AND EMISSION STUDY OF JATROPHA
BIODIESEL AND ITS BLENDS ON C.I. ENGINE
Rajan Kumar
Department of Mechanical Engineering, BIT Sindri, Dhanbad, Jharkhand, India
Dr. Manoj K Mishra
Department of Chemistry, BIT Sindri, Dhanbad, Jharkhand, India
Dr. Shyam K Singh
Director, BIT Sindri, Dhanbad, Jharkhand, India
ABSTRACT
This paper investigates fuel qualities of blends using jatropha biodiesel and diesel,
and n-hexane solvent as additive. The blends used for this study were D100, JB10D90,
JB20D80, JB30D70 and JB30D65HX5. Experimental tests were carried out to study physico-
chemical properties (Density, viscosity, flash point, calorific values, Acid number, pour point
Cold Filter Plugging point and Cloud point), performance (Torque, Brake power, Brake
thermal Efficiency, Brake specific fuel consumption, brake specific energy conversion, brake
mean effective pressure, air fuel ratio and volumetric efficiency) and emission (Exhaust
temperature and smoke) on C.I Engine with various blends. The physico-chemical properties
of the blends show good resemblance with that of diesel. The performance results show that
the exhaust gas temperature of the jatropha blended fuel samples are found to be higher, but
the fuel sample(JB30D65HX5) with 5% hexane have the significantly lowest exhaust
temperature among all the fuel samples. The smoke emission for the jatropha blended fuel
samples are found to be slightly higher than the diesel up to the medium range of brake mean
effective pressure (bmep).
Keywords: Jatropha biodiesel, physicochemical properties, Performance, Emission
Abbreviation: T = Torque, bsfc=brake specific fuel consumption, bsec= brake specific
energy consumption, bmep=brake mean effective pressure
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
AND TECHNOLOGY (IJMET)
ISSN 0976 – 6340 (Print)
ISSN 0976 – 6359 (Online)
Volume 4, Issue 3, May - June (2013), pp. 85-93
© IAEME: www.iaeme.com/ijmet.asp
Journal Impact Factor (2013): 5.7731 (Calculated by GISI)
www.jifactor.com
IJMET
© I A E M E

86
1. INTRODUCTION
Vegetable oils are among the various sources of energy fuels being considered as
alternatives to fossil fuels. Soybean, sunflower, coconut and palm oils have been the main
raw materials for biodiesel production. However, these oils are required in refined forms to
obtain quality biodiesel and, in addition, they are foodstuffs. This makes production of
biodiesel from these sources uneconomical. Non-edible plant oils such as found in jatropha
curcas provide better alternatives. Vegetable oils could be used directly in diesel engines or
blended with diesel, however, their high viscosity lead to problems in the engine. Inefficient
oil - air mixing causes poor injector system performance which leads to incomplete
combustion hence producing high smoke and causing ring sticking, filter plugging and engine
deposits [1-4]. Since biodiesel is derived from vegetable oils or animal fats made up of esters,
these vegetable oils are renewable biological sources. It has been reported that they emit
substantially lower quantity of harmful pollutants compare to conventional diesel;
Researchers also found that comparable engine performance with diesel was achieved at
relatively lower emission. The merits of using biodiesel instead of conventional diesel are
non-toxic; rate of biodegradation is much faster than conventional diesel [5-7]. Green house
gases effects were least in case of biodiesel [8, 9]. The objective of this research work to
investigate fuel qualities which were prepared from jatropha biodiesel and diesel, and also
effect of n-hexane solvent as additive were studied on C.I Engine.
2. EXPERIMENTAL SECTION
Material and Methods
Materials: The following materials and chemicals were used in the present study.
Table 1: Details of the materials used
Sl
No.
Material Manufacturer
1 Jatropha biodiesel Southern online Bio Technologies Limited, Hyderabad
2 Diesel Local petrol station of Indian oil
3 n-Hexane Local chemical store, manufactured by BDH Ltd.
Preparation of fuel Samples: The fuels used for the current investigation with their
composition are given in table2
Table 2: Test Fuel Nomenclatures
Sl. No. Sample ID Composition (by vol %)
1 D100 100% diesel fuel
2 JB10D90 10% Jatropha Biodiesel and90% diesel fuel
5 JB30D65HX5 30% Jatropha Biodiesel, 65% diesel fuel and 5% Hexane

87
Methods
Physico-chemical Studies:
Diesel and biodiesel were mixed into a homogenous blend by magnetic stirring and
prepared five fuel samples of different composition. The properties studied were the Density,
viscosity, flash point, fire point, calorific values, Acid number, Pour point, Cold Filter
Plugging point and cloud point. Standard methods (i.e. ASTM and I.P.) were used in the
experiments.
The Engine: A single -cylinder, four-stoke 5HP; diesel engine is selected for the study. The
bore and the stoke lengths are 80mm and 110 mm respectively. The engine ran on four
different load conditions at 20%, 40%, 50% and 70% (approx.) with at constant speed of
1500rpm.
Performance Test: The following engine performance parameters were computed for above
five fuel samples Torque, Brake power, Brake thermal Efficiency, Brake specific fuel
consumption, brake specific energy conversion, brake mean effective pressure, air fuel ratio
and volumetric efficiency.
Emission Test: Exhaust temperature has been measured and also smoke is measured by AVL
smoke meter
Table 3: Physico-chemical analyses of different fuel samples
Sample ID/Properties JB 100 D100 JB10D90 JB20D80 JB30D70
Density (g/cm³) at 35ºC 0.87 0.80 0.81 0.82 0.83
Viscosity(cp) at 35ºC 13.16 10.71 11.4 12 12.8
Flash point (o
C) 88 61 68 70 70
Calorific Values (MJ/Kg) 40.05 45.35 43.38 42.16 41.86
Acid Number(Mg KOH/g) 0.67 0.03 0.07 0.13 0.19
Pour Point (o
C) 18 -6 -5 -5 -4
Cold Filter Plugging point (o
C) 17 1 ---- ---- 1
Cloud point (o
C) 18 1 ---- 3 ----
3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Fuel Analysis:
Fuel density directly affects fuel performance, as some of the engine properties, such
as cetane number, heating value and viscosity are strongly connected to density. From the
result, it could be observed that the density of diesel 0.80 was in agreement with all blends
samples.
Viscosity affects injector lubrication and fuel atomization. Fuel atomization is also
affected by fuel viscosity. Fuels with high viscosity tend to form larger droplets on injection
which can cause poor combustion, increased exhaust smoke and emissions. The high
viscosity of vegetable oils leads to problem in pumping and spray characteristics. The
inefficient mixing of vegetable oils with air contributes to incomplete combustion. The
viscosity of jatropha biodiesel is found to be highest and for diesel it is lowest. It is found that
when jatropha is blended in diesel then there will be significantly decrease in viscosity
Flash point is used in shipping and safety regulations to define flammable and
combustible materials. . The higher the flash point the safer the fuel and vice versa. The flash
point of Biodiesel is higher than that of fossil diesel; therefore it could be said that Biodiesel
is safer to handle than fossil diesel. Flash point is specified in biodiesel to serve as a
restriction of the amount of alcohol in a biodiesel for safety measures in transportation and

88
storage. It is also biodiesel quality related to fatty acid structure [10]. Blends of 20%
biodiesel to 80% petro-diesel (B20) have been recommended by various researchers [11]
Calorific Value, Heating Value or Heat of Combustion, is the amount of heating
energy released by the combustion of a unit value of fuels. Higher the calorific value, higher
the energy or heat released during combustion, lowers the fuel consumption. The calorific
value of jatropha and its blends is between 40.05-43.38 MJ/kg which are almost similar to
that of diesel, 45.35 MJ/kg.
The acid value determination is used to quantify the presence of acid moieties in a
biodiesel sample. The acid number of pure jatropha biodiesel is found to be highest and for
diesel it is lowest. It is found that when jatropha is blended in diesel then there will be
significantly decrease in acid number
Cloud point and pour point are used For petroleum products and biodiesel fuels, cloud
point and pour point of a petroleum product is an index of the lowest temperature of their
utility for certain applications.
Cold filter plugging point (CFPP) is the lowest temperature, expressed in 1°C, at
which a given volume of diesel type of fuel still passes through a standardized filtration
device in a specified time when cooled under certain conditions. This test gives an estimate
for the lowest temperature that a fuel will give trouble free flow in certain fuel systems. This
is important as in cold temperate countries; a high cold filter plugging point will clog up
vehicle engines more easily. The test is important in relation to the use of additives that allow
spreading the usage of winter diesel at temperatures below the cloud point. The tests
according to EN 590 show that a Cloud Point of +1 °C can have a CFPP −10 °C.
Engine performance test
A four stroke, direct injection, single cylinder diesel engine was employed for the
present experimental study in order to investigate effects of the produced Fuel samples on its
performance. The diesel fuel was used in the experimental study as reference fuel. Because it
is important to emphasize that effect of the jatropha oil on the engine by comparing results
obtained from the jatropha oil with those of the diesel fuel. The tests for all the fuel samples
were performed under the same conditions for analyzing the performance and emissions of
the fuels in four different levels of engine loads. The experiment was conducted using four
jatropha blended fuel samples and commercial diesel fuel for evaluating several performance
parameters such as torque (T), brake specific fuel consumption (bsfc), thermal efficiency
(ηbt), brake specific fuel consumption(bsfc), brake specific energy consumption(bsec),
volumetric efficiency and air-fuel ratio.
0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8
12
14
16
18
20
22
24
26
28
30
32
34
Brakethermalefficiency,%
Brake mean effective pressure(bmep),MPa
JB10D90
JB20D80
JB30D70
JB30D65HX5
D100
Fig 1: Variation of thermal efficiency with bmep

89
Figure.1 shows the variations of thermal efficiency with brake mean effective
pressure(bmep).For all the fuels the thermal efficiency increases with the increase in
bmep.All the jatropha blended fuel samples have slightly higher thermal efficiency under the
lower to medium range of bmep,and the thermal efficiency of diesel fuel was found to be
slightly higher at higher range of bmep.The peak thermal efficiency of JB10D90, JB20D90,
JB30D70, JB30D65HX5 and D100 are found to be 30.94%, 31.3%, 32.15%, 30.23% and
32.89% respectively.
0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8
0.20
0.25
0.30
0.35
0.40
0.45
0.50
0.55
0.60
Brakespecificfuelconsumption(bsfc),kg/kW-h
JB10D90
JB20D80
JB30D70
JB30D65HX5
D100
Fig 2: Variation of brake specific fuel consumption with bmep
Figure.2 shows the variations of brake specific fuel consumption (bsfc) with brake
mean effective pressure (bmep).It was observed that there was reduction of bsfc with the
increase in bmep for all the fuel samples. The bsfc is a comparative parameter that shows
how efficiently an engine is converting into work. For all the fuel samples tested, the bsfc are
almost similar except the JB30D70HX5, which have slightly higher value.
0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8
10
12
14
16
18
20
22
24
26
Brakespecificenergyconsumption(bsec),MJ/kW-h
JB10D90
JB20D80
JB30D70
JB30D65HX5
D100
Fig 3: Variation of brake specific energy consumption with bmep
Figure.3 shows the variations of brake specific energy consumption (bsec) with brake
mean effective pressure (bmep). Brake specific energy is another relevant parameter, which
is independent of fuel, and it is used to compare the energy requirement for producing unit
power in case of each test fuel. For all the fuels the bsec decreases with the increase in
bmep.the rate of decrease of bsec for diesel is found to be higher and at the higher range of
bmep it is almost similar than the other fuels. The bsec for diesel is found to be slightly
higher for low to medium range of bmep.This may be attributed due to higher heating value
of diesel fuel.

90
0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
Volumetricefficiency,%
JB10D90
JB20D80
JB30D70
JB30D65HX5
D100
Fig 4: Variation of volumetric efficiency with bmep
Figure.4 shows the variations of volumetric efficiency with brake mean effective
pressure (bmep). For all the fuels, it was observed that the volumetric efficiency decreases
with the increase in bmep.volumetric efficiency indicates the breathing ability of an engine.
It was found that the volumetric efficiency of diesel fuel is higher for all range of bmep.
0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
Air-fuelratio
JB10D90
JB20D80
JB30D70
JB30D65HX5
D100
Fig 5: Variation of Air-fuel ratio with bmep
Figure.5 shows the variations of air-fuel ratio with brake mean effective pressure
(bmep). It was observed that almost for all the fuel samples, air-fuel ratio decreases with the
increase in bmep.This may be attributed that for the increase in bmep,more quantity of fuels
are required to sustain the bmep.It was observed that the air –fuel ratio for diesel is highest
and 30% blended jatropha is lowest. This is because biodiesel contains oxygen and thus
require less air for Stoichiometric combustion, so more fuel can be burned with same amount
of air
Exhaust test
The emission caused by a fuel is very significant factor for choosing a fuel for the
engine. Pollution has reached dangerous levels and curbing it is of utmost importance.

91
0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
Exhausttemperature,K
JB10D90
JB20D80
JB30D70
JB30D65HX5
D100
Fig 6: Variation of exhaust temperature with bmep
Figure.6 shows the variations of exhaust temperature with brake mean effective
pressure (bmep). For all the fuels tested it was observed that the exhaust temperature
increases with the increase in bmep.High temperature in exhaust is not desirable, because
they can cause higher energy transfer from the combustion chamber to the surroundings.
High heat transfer decreases the thermal efficiency of the engine at finite value [13]. Among
all the fuels tested the exhaust temperature of the jatropha blended fuel samples is found to
be higher than the diesel except the sample with hexane.This confirm the work of
Pramanik,in which higher exhaust temperature for jatropha fuel is reported[3]. Here it was
noticed that the exhaust temperature of hexane blended jatropha sample wass lower for all
range of bmep.Higher exhaust temperature may be the cause of NOx formation, so the little
hexane in the blends of jatropha biodiesel can significantly reduce the exhaust temperature.
0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
Smokeunit
JB10D90
JB20D80
JB30D70
JB30D65HX5
D100
Fig 7: Variation of smoke unit with bmep
Figure.7 shows the variations of smoke emissions with brake mean effective pressure
(bmep). Here it was observed that for lower range of bmep,the smoke emission of jatropha
blended fuel samples were significantly lower than diesel, but it gradually increases with the
increase in bmep, and at the higher range it become higher than diesel. This may be attributed
that at higher bmep, there is improper mixing for jatropha blended fuel, which results in the
form of carbon soot

92
4. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION
The observations made in the present work were the part of ongoing research work, in
which the detailed analyses on the fuel properties of fuel samples along with the performance
and emission characteristics are studied. The following conclusions can be drawn from this
study:
The entire test for characterization of jatropha biodiesel blends demonstrated that the
density and viscosity of the pure jatropha biodiesel is found to be higher than diesel. But
blending of jatropha in diesel made these properties lower and thus has a close agreement
with diesel. The calorific value of pure jatropha biodiesel is found to be lower than diesel but
blending of jatropha in diesel improve the calorific value and its become equivalent to diesel.
The pour point, cloud point and cold filter plugging point also improve with the blending of
jatropha biodiesel in diesel making jatropha biodiesel a candidate fuel for CI engine.
No engine seizing, injector blocking was found during the entire operation of the
engine running with different fuel samples. The thermal efficiency of of jatrropha blended
fuel samples is slightly higher at lower to medium range of bmep. At higher range the
thermal efficiency of diesel is slightly higher .The brake specific fuel consumption (bsfc) of
all the fuel samples are almost similar. The brake specific energy consumption (bsec) of the
diesl is found to be little higher up to the medium range of bmep. For the higher range of
bmep, the bsec of all the fuel samples are found to be similar. The volumetric efficiency of
the diesel is found to be higher than the jatropha blended fuel samples. The exhaust gas
temperature of the jatropha blended fuel samples are found tot be higher,but the fuel sample
with 5% hexane have the significantly lowest exhaust temperature among all the fuel
samples.The smoke emission for the jatropha blended fuel samples are found to be slightly
higher than the diesel up to the medium range of bmep.
REFERENCES
1. Aldo Okullo, A. K. Temu, P. Ogwok and J. W. Ntalikwa (2012), “ Physico-Chemical
Properties of Biodiesel from Jatropha and Castor Oils,” International Journal of
Renewable Energy research, Vol.2, No.1, pp. 47-52.
2. Canoira Laureano, Galean Juan Garcia, Alacantara Ramon, Lapuerta Magin and Garcia
Contereras Reyes (2009), “Fatty Acid Methyl Esters (FAMES) from Castor oil:
Production Process Assessment and Synergistic effects in its properties,” Renewable
Energy, pp. 1-10,
3. Pramanik K (2003), “Properties and use of jatropha curcas oil and diesel fuel blends in
compression ignition engine,” Renewable Energy, vol. 28, pp. 239-248.
4. Knothe Gerhard and Steidley R. Kevin (2005), “Kinematic Viscosity of Biodiesel Fuel
components and related compounds. Influence of compound structure and comparison
to petro-diesel fuel Components,” Fuel, vol. 84, pp. 1059-1065.
5. Pandey. S, Sharma.A, Sahoo.P.K (2012), “Experimental Investigation on the
Performance and Emission Charactereristics of a Diesel Engine Fuelled with Ethanol,”
International Journal of Advances in Engineering & Technology, Vol. 4, Issue 2, pp.
341-353.
6. Alfuso S., Auriemma M., Police G. and. Prati M. V, (1993), “The effect of methyl-ester
of rapeseed oil on combustion and emissions of DI diesel engines”, SAE Paper 93-
2801.

93
7. Peterson C. and Reece D., (1995), “Emissions characteristics of ethyl and methyl ester
of rapeseed oil compared with low sulfur diesel control fuel in a chassis dynamometer
test of a pickup truck”, Transactions of ASAE, Vol. 39, No.(3), pp.805-816.
8. Murugesan A, Umarani C, Subtamanian R and Nedunchezhian N, (2009), “Bio-diesel
as an alternate fuel for diesel engines – a review”, Renew Sustain Energy Rev, Vol.13,
No. (3), pp 653-62.
9. alat M. and Balat H. A. (2008), “Critical review of bio-diesel as a vehicular
fuel,”Energy Convers Manage, Vol.49, No.(10), pp 2727-41.
10. Knothe Gerhard (2006), “Analyzing Biodiesel: Standards and other methods,”JAOCS,
vol. 83, pp. 823-833.
11. Demirbas Ayhan (2006), “Biodiesel Production via non-catalytic SCF method and
biodiesel fuel characteristics,” Energy Conservation and Management, vol. 47, pp.
2271-2282.
12. V.Ganeshan, Internal combustion engines, Tata Mcgraw Hill, 2nd Edition.
13. Arpa O, Yumrutas R and Argunhan Z (2010), “ Experimental investigation of the
effects of diesel- like fuel obtained from waste lubrication oil on engine performance
and exhaust emission,” Elsevier, Fuel processing Tecnology,vol.91,pp. 1241-1249.
14. Sanjay Patil, “Effect of Injector Opening Pressure on Performance, Combustion and
Emission Characteristics of C.I. Engine Fuelled with Palm Oil Methyl Ester”,
International Journal of Mechanical Engineering & Technology (IJMET), Volume 4,
Issue 1, 2013, pp. 233 - 241, ISSN Print: 0976 – 6340, ISSN Online: 0976 – 6359.
15. Mahesh P. Joshi and Dr. Abhay A. Pawar, “Experimental Study of Performance-
Emission Characteristics of CI Engine Fuelled with Cotton Seed Oil Methyl Ester
Biodiesel and Optimization of Engine Operating Parameters”, International Journal of
Mechanical Engineering & Technology (IJMET), Volume 4, Issue 1, 2013, pp. 185 -
202, ISSN Print: 0976 – 6340, ISSN Online: 0976 – 6359.
16. Prof. A.V.Mehta, M. G. Joshi, G. D. Patel and Saiyad M J. I., “Jatropha Oil with
Exhaust Heat Recovery System in 4 Stroke Single Cylinder Diesel Engine”,
International Journal of Mechanical Engineering & Technology (IJMET), Volume 4,
Issue 2, 2013, pp. 512 - 520, ISSN Print: 0976 – 6340, ISSN Online: 0976 – 6359.

Performance and emission study of jatropha biodiesel and its blends

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

What's hot

What's hot (19)

Viewers also liked

Viewers also liked (20)

Similar to Performance and emission study of jatropha biodiesel and its blends

Similar to Performance and emission study of jatropha biodiesel and its blends (20)

More from IAEME Publication

More from IAEME Publication (20)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

Performance and emission study of jatropha biodiesel and its blends