Experimental Investigation Of Neem Methyl Esters As Biodiesel on C.I Engine

Diesel is a fossil fuel that is getting depleted at a fast rate. So an alternative fuel is necessary and a need of the hour. Neem oil, which is cultivated in India at large scales, has a high potential to become an alternative fuel to replace diesel fuel. Direct use of Neem oil cannot be done, as its viscosity is more than the diesel fuel, and hence affects the combustion characteristics. The Neem oil is esterified to reduce the viscosity and it is blended with diesel on volume basis in different proportions. Typical blend proportions used are: 10:90, 20:80, 30:70. The blends are used to run a single cylinder CI engine and the performance and emission characteristics were studied and compared at different load conditions. Results showed that for the B20 blend results in better performance and lower emissions. The reason for B20 to give better performance is due to extra amount of oxygen that is present in the blend and for B30 to decrease in performance is due to increased viscosity of the fuel. And hence possibilities of homogeneous mixing decrease and combustion efficiency falls down. The engine emission such as carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, oxides of nitrogen and smoke emission were comparable to diesel operation.