Abstract:
Non-edible filtered Jatropha (Jatropha curcas), Karanja (Pongamia pinnata) and Polanga (Calophyllum inophyllum)
oil based mono esters (biodiesel) produced and blended with diesel were tested for their use as
substitute fuels of diesel engines. The major objective of the present investigations was to experimentally
access the practical applications of biodiesel in a single cylinder diesel engine used in generating sets and
the agricultural applications in India. Diesel; neat biodiesel from Jatropha, Karanja and Polanga; and their
blends (20 and 50 by v%) were used for conducting combustion tests at varying loads (0, 50 and 100%).
The engine combustion parameters such as peak pressure, time of occurrence of peak pressure, heat
release rate and ignition delay were computed. Combustion analysis revealed that neat Polanga biodiesel
that results in maximum peak cylinder pressure was the optimum fuel blend as far as the peak cylinder
pressure was concerned. The ignition delays were consistently shorter for neat Jatropha biodiesel, varying
between 5.9 and 4.2 crank angles lower than diesel with the difference increasing with the load. Similarly,
ignition delays were shorter for neat Karanja and Polanga biodiesel when compared with diesel.
