Exhaust Analysis and Performance of a Single Cylinder Diesel Engine Run on Dual Fuels

In the present study, a 4-stroke 5 hp diesel engine was tested with two different fuel blends. In the first case, dieselkerosene blends (with 10% to 40% kerosene blending by volume) and in the second case, air-liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) mixture (15% to 25 % LPG mixing by volume) along with diesel was tested at constant engine speed of 1700 rpm. Different engine exhaust emissions, namely, carbon dioxide (CO 2 ), carbon monoxide (CO), unburnt hydrocarbons (UHC), sulphur dioxide (SO 2 ), oxides of nitrogen (NO x ) and unused oxygen (O 2 ) were compared using pure diesel, diesel-kerosene blends and air-LPG mixtures. With diesel-kerosene blends minimum exhaust emissions were observed at 30% kerosene blend. Exhaust gas emissions, namely, CO, UHC, and SO 2 reduced by 40%, 18% and 19%, respectively, when compared with pure diesel emissions. Slight increase in the NO x exhaust emission (2.4%) was observed. With air-LPG mixtures, minimum exhaust emissions were observed at 20% LPG mixing. Exhaust gas emissions, namely, CO, UHC, and SO 2 reduced by 80%, 71%, and 21%, respectively. However, 19% increase in NO x exhaust emission was observed. Engine performance improved and specific fuel consumption (SFC) was observed to be minimal at 30% kerosene blending and decreased by 3.7% as compared to pure diesel value at the same brake power output. SFC was also observed to be minimal at 20% LPG mix and decreased by about 20% as compared to pure diesel value at the same brake power output. The fuel operating cost also reduced by 3.6% at 30% kerosene blend and further reduced by 9.6% at 20% LPG mixing with air.