Effect of Injection Pressure on Performance of Dual Fuel Diesel Engine 2013-01-2887

Biodiesel is a non-toxic, biodegradable and renewable alternative fuel that can be used as a replacement for diesel in diesel engine. Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) is considered to be one of the most promising alternative fuels. LPG can replace petrol and also it reduces NOx, soot and particulate matter. Therefore, it is more inexpensive and of ecological advantage to use gaseous fuel in diesel engines approved for the dual fuel concept. The fuel injection pressure is one of the important operating parameters which affect atomization of fuel and mixture formation and hence it determines the performance and emissions of a diesel engine. There will be a decrease in the particle diameter due to increase in the fuel injection pressure and it leads the diesel fuel spray to vaporize quickly. However, with decreasing fuel particles their inertia will also decrease and for this reason fuel can not penetrate deeply into the combustion chamber. The objective of this study was to use palm oil methyl ester (POME) as pilot fuel in dual fuel engine so as to find out the effects of injection pressure on emissions and engine performance in a diesel engine. Injection pressure was changed from 190 bar to 230 bar in experiment. A single cylinder diesel engine was tailored to operate in dual fuel mode. In dual fuel mode, LPG was used as primary fuel and (POME) was used as pilot fuel. Experiments are conducted by fuelling the diesel engine with POME and its LPG blends for an injection pressure of 190bar, 210bar and 230bar. The performance of the diesel is studied on the dual fuel engine using LPG fuel along with POME. The highest brake thermal efficiency of diesel with 2LPM LPG blend is obtained for an injection pressure of 210bar and that for Palm oil Methyl ester blend with LPG at 2LPM, highest brake thermal efficiency is obtained for 230bar. Low emissions and high brake thermal efficiency of diesel engine with LPG blend for pure diesel are obtained at an injection pressure of 210bar and that for bio-diesel with LPG blends at an injection pressure of 230bar.