Enhancement in the performance of a diesel engine fuelled with Pongamia methyl ester and n-butanol as oxygenated additive

The present paper investigates the performance and emission characteristics of a single-cylinder, four-stroke diesel engine fuelled with Pongamia methyl ester (PME) and n-butanol, at different loading conditions. Two blends of n-butanol–PME (10% and 20% n-butanol with PME on a volumetric basis) were prepared. The experimental results showed a significant improvement in the brake thermal efficiency of the engine with the blends and were found to increase with increasing percentage of n-butanol in the blends. The blended fuels also show lower emission such as carbon monoxide (CO), oxides of nitrogen (NOx) and smoke opacity. However, unburned hydrocarbon (HC) emission was found to be slightly increased. Thus, it is concluded that the biodiesel with 20% n-butanol blend showed better results with respect to efficiency and emissions point of view compared with biodiesel.