Investigation on Performance and Emission of Pongamia Biodiesel Using Diethyl Ether and Zinc Oxide as Additive in Diesel Engine

Abstract

Biodiesel is one of the better replacement for diesel fuel because of the depleting fuel resources. The cost of the biodiesel compared to diesel is major setback in commercialization. As mass production is encouraged the cost involved in production will reduce and may available at the cost less than diesel. Biodiesel is one of the promising source of fuel which stands as one of the better alternative diesel fuel. This study represents the production of biodiesel by using esterification and transesterification of pongamia oil which is obtained from pongamia pinnata. Diethyl ether and zinc oxide used as additive to enhance cetane number, properties of biodiesel. The DI diesel engine is tested for its Performance and emission characteristics using pure biodiesel, biodiesel with 5%DEE biodiesel with 50ppm of zinc oxide, diesel on four stroke direct injection diesel engine were studied. And found that biodiesel with 5%DEE gives better result than biodiesel. Biodiesel with added additives gives 5% higher brake thermal efficiency than diesel at full load condition, hydrocarbon emission less than 10%, carbon monoxide emission 40.35% less than B100, NOx is 0.7%, hydrocarbon 11.36% were lower than biodiesel. Thus, pongamia biodiesel with 5%diethyl ether can be used as one of the alternative source of energy for diesel.