Numerical Investigation of the Performance and Emission Characteristics of a CI engine using Diesel and its blends with Ethanol and Jatropha Biodiesel

A global concern that has arisen in the present time due to the constant depletion of the fossil fuels reservoirs and also due to the greenhouse gases emitted by use these fuels has led many researchers to find alternate sources of energy, out of which biodiesels have found a suitable place. Thus, in this effort of finding the compatibility of bio-fuels in present diesel engines, many experimental works have been carried out. However, these experimental works consume much cost and time when compared to numerical simulations. Under this context, an effort has been made in this paper to numerically simulate the performance and emission characteristics of a CI engine fueled with diesel, diesel and ethanol 20% blend (E20), diesel and jatropha 20% blend (JB20) and diese, ethanol 20% and jatropha 20% blend (JBE20) and make a comparison between the same. It was found that the use of JB20 decreased the thermal efficiency compared to pure diesel. However, ethanol blends increased the efficiency slightly, the increase being more for E20 than JBE20. On the other hand, diesel showed the lowest brake specific fuel consumption, the highest being for JB20. In case of emissions, the use of JB20 increased the NOx emission and E20, JBE20 decreased the NOx emissions compared to pure diesel, the decrease being more for E20. The specific CO2 emissions followed the same trend as NOx emission. In case of the specific particulate matter (PM) and smoke emissions, diesel showed the highest emission at full load, followed by E20, the lowest being for JB20. E20 showed the highest exhaust gas temperature followed by JB20, the lowest for pure diesel.