Experimental investigation on the emission characteristics of a variable compression ratio multi-fuel engine using palm biodiesel

The present work aims to optimise the levels of such parameters as compression ratio (CR), injection pressure (IP) and palm oil biodiesel blend % of a single cylinder direct injection compression ignition engine on carbon monoxide (CO), hydrocarbon (HC) and nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions. Taguchi and Analysis of Variance techniques were used to find the optimum levels of the parameters and contribution of the parameters on the emission, respectively. Mathematical models were developed using the multiple linear regression technique. Confirmation tests were performed for predicting the gas emissions to check the adequacy of the proposed model. The research outcome infers that the CR was the most dominant factor influencing CO and HC followed by IP and biodiesel blend %. It was observed that the CO and HC emissions decreased with the increase in the CR and IP, while the exhaust NOx emission increased with the increase in the CR and IP.