M.V.S. Murali Krishna and P.V.K. Murthy
Abstract
The burning of fossil fuels at the current rate is likely to create an environmental crisis. Alcohols and vegetable oils are probable candidates for alternate fuels for use in diesel engines as they are renewable in nature. Pure alcohols can not be used in diesel engines due to their low cetane number and high latent heat of evaporation, while pure vegetable oils in diesel engines produce combustion problems because of high viscosity and poor volatility. The drawbacks associated with these alternate fuels in diesel engine call for hot combustion chamber, which is provided by low heat rejection diesel engine. In present study, the pollution levels of smoke, nitrogen oxides (NO) and aldehydes are reported with use of the ethanol, carburetted through a variable-jet carburetor and crude jatropha oil, injected at different operating conditions of the oil and at varied injection pressures of the engine. These pollutants are compared with pure diesel operation on conventional engine.