Performance and emission analysis of blends of karanja methyl ester with diesel in a compression ignition engine

On the face of the upcoming energy crisis, vegetable oils have come up as a promising source of fuel. They are being studied widely because of their abundant availability, renewable nature and better performance when used in engines. An experimental investigation was made to evaluate the performance and emission characteristics of a diesel engine using different blends of methyl ester of karanja with diesel. Karanja methyl ester was blended with diesel in proportions of 5%, 10%, 15%, 20%, 30%, 40%, 50% and 100% by mass. The performance parameters were found to be very close to that of diesel. The brake thermal and mechanical efficiencies were better than diesel for some specific blending ratios under certain loads. The emission characteristics were also found to be better than diesel with levels of carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, nitric oxide and hydrocarbons lower than pure diesel.