A study of performance and emissions of Direct Injection diesel engine fuelled with cotton seed oil methyl ester and pumpkin seed oil methyl ester and its blends with diesel using Exhaust Gas Recirculation

An experimental investigation of diesel engine performance fuelled with cotton seed oil methyl ester (COME), pumpkin seed oil methyl ester (POME) and its blends with neat diesel using Exhaust Gas Recirculation technique have been carried out. An optimum nozzle opening pressure of 250 bar and lower static injection timing of 20 degrees bTDC is considered as it has been observed that these conditions offer better performance and are lower in emissions. From the experimental results, it could be observed that there is a decreasing trend of emission characteristics of Hydro Carbon, smoke density and NOx for Exhaust Gas Recirculation (EGR) for both COME and POME at full load with respect to blend ratio. The percentage reduction in oxides of nitrogen for B100 COME-EGR is 1.39% and for B100 POME-EGR is 1.11% as compared to B100 conventional method. The percentage reduction in oxides of nitrogen for B25 COME-EGR is 0.94% and for B25 POME-EGR is 0.13% as compared to B25 conventional method at full load condition. The same trend is followed for all other blends such as B50 and B75. However, the use of EGR leads to a rise in soot emission because of the soot -NOx trade-off for both cases.