Comparative investigations on performance parameters of insulated diesel engine and conventional diesel engine with biogas

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 vegetable 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 petrochemical industry receives the vast majority of India's alcohol production. Since biodiesel has a moderate viscosity and oxygen in its molecular makeup, it is made from vegetable oils. However, LHR engines are required for these biodiesels because of their high heat release rate and rapid combustion rate, making them ideal for fuels with a low calorific value and a high viscosity. The various benefits of gaseous fuels over liquid fuels include lower pollution levels and higher calorific values, making them a safer alternative. Several techniques exist for inducting gaseous fuels, including port injection, carburetion technique, and injection at the end of the compression stroke, among others. Biogas gas was pumped into the engine via the port, and traditional methods of injecting cottonseed biodiesel were also used in the investigations. The LHR engine's combustion chamber was a cylinder head covered with ceramic. At full load, the highest intake of biogas in a CE engine was 35% and in an LHR engine it was 45% of the total mass of biodiesel. The following performance metrics were studied: volumetric efficiency, coolant load, exhaust gas temperature (EGT), brake specific energy consumption (BSEC), and brake thermal efficiency (BTE) at varying levels ofconventional engine (CE) and low-speed rotation (LHR) engine braking power (BP) with maximal biogas induction. The LHR engine outperformed the CE in almost every performance metric when the biogas induction was set to its maximum.