Title: Optimisation of biodiesel production from bitter groundnut oil using Taguchi method and its performance and emissions characteristics on a 4-cylinder Tata Indica engine

Authors: Ashok Kumar Yadav; Mohd Emran Khan; Amit Pal; Durgesh Sharma

Addresses: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Raj Kumar Goel Institute of Technology, Ghaziabad, 201003, India ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Technology, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi 110025, India ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, Delhi Technological University, Delhi 110042, India ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, Raj Kumar Goel Institute of Technology, Ghaziabad, 201003, India

Abstract: In this study, the production, performance and emission characteristics of biodiesel blends produced from bitter ground nut oil were compared to the diesel fuel. In first part of research, the production of biodiesel from bitter groundnut oil and optimisation of process parameters were undertaken. In second part, performance of 4-cylinder Tata Indica diesel engine has been studied at different engine speeds. During engine performance tests, the biodiesel blends showed higher brake specific fuel consumption and exhaust gas temperature, while marginally lower brake power, torque and brake thermal efficiency than the diesel fuel were noticed. Engine emissions showed higher carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxide releases, but decreased amount of carbon monoxide for biodiesel blends compared to the diesel fuel. From the experimental results, it is clear that the bitter groundnut oil-based biodiesel can also be used in a CI engine without any modifications.

Keywords: biodiesel blends; bitter groundnut oil; Taguchi methods; engine performance; engine emissions; optimisation; 4-cylinder engines; process parameters; engine speeds; brake specific fuel consumption; exhaust gas temperature; brake power; torque; brake thermal efficiency; CO2; carbon dioxide; nitrogen oxide; carbon monoxide.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSAMI.2015.075054

International Journal of Sustainable Agricultural Management and Informatics, 2015 Vol.1 No.4, pp.285 - 300

Received: 12 Jun 2015
Accepted: 08 Dec 2015
Published online: 01 Mar 2016 *

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