Performance and emission analysis of a dual fuel variable compression ratio (VCR) CI engine utilizing producer gas derived from walnut shells

Abstract In the present scenario, due to atrocious rise in energy demand interest has been grown in extracting energy from renewable sources such as waste biomass. In this study, preparation of producer gas from walnut shell gasification has been done for the purpose of partially substituting diesel with producer gas for VCR dual fuel (DF) diesel engine working in dual mode. Experiments have been conducted at different brake power and compression ratio for predicting the engine performance and emission characteristics. A comparative result analysis has been done for both diesel and dual mode. The results revealed that maximum fuel saving of 58.18% was achieved in dual mode operation. Brake thermal efficiency (ηbth) attained a maximum value of 25.63 and 21.61% in diesel and dual mode respectively. At brake power of 3.44 kW for diesel mode, NOX emission was 16.09-45.23% more as compared with dual mode. With dual mode CO and hydrocarbon emission were increased in the range of 62.21-72.53% and 83.25-87.60% correspondingly as compared to diesel mode. Further, diesel mode maximum CO2 fraction was 2.13% and 3.41% for dual mode.