Analysis and optimisation of emissions and fuel economy of biodiesel fuelled CI engine using Taguchi technique

The objectives of the present work are to examine the combined effect of engine operating and injection parameters and to optimise these parameters for better fuel economy, performance, and reduced emissions. The fuels used were diesel and biodiesel blends of Jatropha and Karanja biodiesel. The results indicate that diesel gives higher thermal efficiency at low loads, however, the 20% jatropha blend was slightly more efficient, at high loads. It was observed that the BSFC increases when the EGR is varied from 0% to 20%. Even though the smoke opacity increases with increased EGR, advanced injection at 28o BTDC decreases smoke. Increased EGR also reduced NOx emissions by up to 11%. Blending also has a significant impact on the output parameters. Taguchi analysis was applied to optimise the performance and emission characteristics of the diesel engine and set of input values were obtained for the optimum performance under different conditions.