Experimental study on diesel engine coupled with a catalytic converter run on dual-fuel mode using biogas produced from agricultural waste

Abstract

This work studied experimentally the performance and exhaust gas emission of a diesel engine coupled with a catalytic converter run on dual-fuel mode using refined biogas resulted from agricultural waste. The content of methane on the biogas is 70%. The experiments were carried out at constant load 1500 kW. The engine rotation varies from 1000 rpm to 1500 rpm. The biogas flow rate varies from 0 to 6 L/min. The output power of the engine operated on dual-fuel mode is better than the engine operated with pure diesel. The brake thermal efficiency of the diesel engine with flow rate of 2 L/min and 4 L/min is better than diesel only. The specific fuel consumption of the diesel engine operated on dual-fuel mode is higher than pure diesel mode. The opacity number of the engine operated on dual-fuel mode is better than pure diesel mode. However, the CO number and HC number of the engine operated on dual-fuel mode are higher than pure diesel mode. The diesel replacement ratio is within the range 15.6% % to 74.8%. It is recommended to run the present diesel engine in dual fuel mode with biogas flow rate 2 L/min-4 L/min.