PERFORMANCE EVALUATION OF BLENDS OF MAHUA OIL METHYL ESTER FOR COMPRESSION IGNITION ENGINE

Decline in fossil fuel resources along with high crude oil prices generated attention towards the development of fuel from alternate sources. One of the best alternatives is biodiesels obtained from different vegetable oils. In the present study attention is being focused on comparison of performance and emissions results of biodiesel derived from Mahua oil when applied in different proportions in compression ignition (diesel) engine. A single cylinder four stroke diesel engine (Kirloskar) was tested at various loads with the blended fuel at the rated speed of 1500 rpm. Mahua oil methyl ester blended with diesel in proportions of 5%, 10%, 15%, and 20%, by volume and pure diesel were used as fuel. An AVL gas analyzer and a smoke meter were used for the measurements of exhaust gas emissions. Engine performance (specific fuel consumption, brake thermal efficiency, and exhaust gas temperature) and emissions (HC, CO, CO₂, NO_x and Smoke Opacity) were measured to evaluate and compute the behavior of the diesel engine running on biodiesel. The results show that the brake thermal efficiency of diesel is higher at all loads followed by blends of Mahua methyl ester and diesel. Experimentally the maximum brake thermal efficiency and minimum specific fuel consumption were found for blends up to 20% Mahua oil methyl ester at all loads among the blends. The specific fuel consumption was found to be even lower than the conventional diesel for blends up to B20. The brake thermal efficiency for B10 and B20 were also closer to diesel and the CO emissions were found to be lesser than diesel while there was a slight increase in the smoke opacity and NO_x. The reductions in brake specific fuel consumption and CO emissions made the blend of biodiesel B20 a suitable alternative fuel for diesel