Emission Studies on a Diesel Engine Fueled with Mixed Biodiesel Produced from Non-edible Oils

Over exploitation of fossil-based fuels for energy has given rise to serious issues like environmental degradation and global warming. Replacement of petroleum-based fuels with biofuels, such as vegetable oils, biodiesels, etc. has drawn the attention of researchers in order to address the a fore-mentioned issues in recent years. The present experimental investigation aims to produce mixed biodiesel (MXBD) from a mixture of three non-edible oils, viz. jatropha, karanja, and mahua and its application in a compression ignition engine to study the engine performance and exhaust emission behaviors. Results showed that MXBD exhibited superior engine performance and emissions over diesel, jatropha biodiesel (JBD), karanja biodiesel (KBD), and mahua biodiesel (MBD). Brake thermal efficiency with MXBD was greater compared to diesel and other biodiesels, whereas brake specific energy consumption with MXBD was lesser than other biodiesels and a little more than diesel at all engine loads. CO, HC, and smoke emissions were lowest with MXBD compared to all other considered fuels at entire engine loads. NOx emissions with MXBD were found to be marginally higher than those with other test fuels. Thus, the present work establishes MXBD as a better alternate fuel option for diesel engines over JBD, KBD, and MBD in terms of both engine performance and exhaust emissions.