Research comparing insulated diesel engines with regular diesel engines powered by biogas in terms of performance metrics

Abstract

Fossil fuels are depleting at an alarming rate as a result of increased demand in the transportation and agricultural sectors , skyrocketing fuel prices in the international oil market that divert funds from vital areas like healthcare, education, poverty alleviation, and defense, and a host of environmental issues like climate change and the greenhouse effect caused by internal combustion engines. As a result, the hunt for alternative fuels is more important than ever. The renewable nature of vegetabl e oils and alcohols makes them viable alternatives to diesel fuels. Nevertheless, diesel engines encounter combustion issues due to the disadvantages linked to alcohols (low cetane number {measure of combustion quality} and calorific value) and vegetable oils (high viscosity and low volatility). The majority of India's alcohol production is redirected to the petrochemical sector. Since biodiesel has a moderate viscosity and oxygen in its molecular makeup, it is made from vegetable oils. But, low heat rejection (LHR) engines are required for these biodiesels because of the rapid heat release rate and quicker combustion rate that these engines provide, making them ideal for fuels with a low calorific value and a high viscosity. For numerous reasons, including lower pollution levels and higher calorific values, gaseous fuels are preferable to their liquid counterparts. Several techniques exist for inducting gaseous fuels, including port injection, carburetion technique, and injection at the end of th e compression stroke, among others. The experiments used biogas gas as the main fuel, pumped into the engine via the port, and traditional injection of cottonseed biodiesel as the secondary fuel. The ceramic-coated cylinder head served as the LHR engine's combustion chamber. While the LHR engine's maximum induction of biogas at full load was 45% of the entire mass of biodiesel, the CE engine's maximum induction was 35%. Brake thermal efficiency (BTE), brake specific energy consumption (BSEC), exhaust gas temperature (EGT), coolant load, and volumetric efficiency were measured at various values of brake power (BP) in conventional engines (CE) and low-speed hybrid (LHR) engines with maximum biogas induction. Compared to CE, LHR engine performance metrics were much better with maximal induction of biogas.