Performance and emission characteristics of a diesel engine using complementary blending of castor and karanja biodiesel

The performance and emissions of blends of karanja and castor biodiesel with conventional diesel in an unmodified single-cylinder DI diesel engine was studied. Different combination of biodiesel and diesel (castor 5% + karanja 5% + diesel 90%, castor 5% + karanja 10% + diesel 85%, castor 10% + karanja 5% + diesel 85%, castor 5% + karanja 15% + diesel 80%, castor 10% + karanja 10% + diesel 80% and castor 15% + karanja 5% + diesel 80%) were studied under varying load from 0 to 100%. The results revealed that BTE slightly decreased while BSFC increased with increasing biodiesel concentration in fuel blends. Unburned hydrocarbon (HC), carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO2), nitrogen oxides (NOx) and smoke reduced with increasing biodiesel content in fuel blends. An increasing concentration of castor biodiesel resulted in higher emissions. The blend containing castor 5% + karanja 10% + diesel 85% was found most suitable for a DI diesel engine in the context of performance and emission.