Performance analysis of karanja and kusum oils as alternative bio-diesel fuel in diesel engine

Abstract: Scarcity of conventional petroleum resources has promoted research in alternative fuels for internal combustion engines. Among various possible options, fuels derived from triglycerides (vegetable oils/animal fats) are promising for the substitution of fossil diesel fuel. Vegetable oils poses some characteristics like durability, high viscosity and low volatility compared to mineral diesel fuel. In the present work, experiments were designed to study the effect of reducing kusum and karanja oil’s viscosity by preheating the fuel, using a shell and tube heat exchanger. The acquired engine data were analyzed for various parameters such as brake thermal efficiency, brake specific energy consumption (BSEC), emission of exhaust gases like CO, CO2, HC and NOx. In operation, the engine performance with kusum and karanja oil (preheated), was found to be very close to that of diesel. The preheated oil's performances were found to be slightly inferior in efficiency due to low heating value. The performance of karanja oil was found better than kusum oil in all respects.