Abstract—Decentralised power generation in remote rural
locations can be done using locally available biomass based
renewable energy sources. A single cylinder stationary diesel
engine was run in the neat vegetable oil (Jatropha oil) – biogas
dual fuel mode to study the potential of this method of operation
and also device simple methods to enhance the performance.
Increasing the rate of pumping of the injected Jatropha oil and
retarding its timing of injection resulted in considerable
improvements in thermal efficiency and reduction in emissions.
The smoke level at 60% of biogas energy dropped from 2.25 to
0.9 BSU, 2.15 to 0.6 BSU and 1.4 to 0.5 BSU with 7mm, 8mm
and 9mm diameter injection pump plungers respectively.
Further improvements in the combustion rate of the inducted
biogas were possible with enhanced swirl level of the inducted
air. At 60% biogas share the thermal efficiency went up by 8%,
HC emissions dropped by 26% and smoke level dropped by 17%
with enhanced swirl. On the whole, energy shares of biogas as
high as 80% could be achieved with good engine performance
Index Terms—Alternative engine fuels, biogas engines, dual
fuel engines, vegetable oil as fuel.
K. Narayana Reddy is with M/s Ashok Leyland Limited, Chennai, India
(e-mail: j.narayanareddy@gmail.com).
A. Ramesh is with the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian
Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai-600036, India (e-mail:
aramesh@iitm.ac.in).
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Cite:K. Narayana Reddy and A. Ramesh, "Biogas-Straight Vegetable Oil Dual Fuel Engine for Power
Generation in Remote Rural Locations," Journal of Clean Energy Technologies vol. 5, no. 6, pp. 487-491, 2017.
