Title: Experimental investigation of downdraught wood gasifier on the performance characteristics of IC engine

Authors: S. Sivakumar; S. Ragunathan

Addresses: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Kumaraguru College of Technology, Coimbatore, India ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, AVS Engineering College, Salem, India

Abstract: This paper was focused towards successful gasification of wood and identification of optimum operating parameters like equivalence ratio for generation of quality gas for onward generation of power. The optimum parameter for wood had been estimated to 30%, the gas composition (CO, H₂) and calorific value of wood is observed as CO = 17.8%, H₂ = 11.8%, CV = 1,082 Kcal/nm³. Upon fixing the best operating point, attention was focused towards utilising this gas for generating power via dual fuel mode in IC engines. A consistent diesel replacement of about 62% was achieved by operating the engine on duel fuel mode with wood. Remarkable deviation in the engine performance in terms of indicated thermal efficiency, in cylinder peak pressure, indicated mean effective pressure (IMEP), cumulative heat release rate and emission were observed.

Keywords: wood gasification; downdraft gasifiers; equivalence ratio; IC engines; gas composition; calorific value; dual fuel; diesel replacement; thermal efficiency; cylinder peak pressure; indicated mean effective pressure; IMEP; cumulative heat release rate; engine emissions.

DOI: 10.1504/IJETP.2017.084495

International Journal of Energy Technology and Policy, 2017 Vol.13 No.3, pp.249 - 265

Received: 01 Jun 2015
Accepted: 21 Aug 2015
Published online: 09 Jun 2017 *

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