Experimental Investigation on Engine Performance Fuelled with Biodiesel-Diesel Blended and Parametric Optimization of Engine Performance Using Taguchi Method

Abstract

The fuel properties and engine performance of blended Calophyllum biodiesel (CB) and Macadamia biodiesel (MB) blended with diesel at various percentages such as 10%, 20%, 30%, 40%, and 50% were investigated in this study. The engine was tested at a constant speed of 1500 rpm. According to ASTM standards, the properties of B20 blended (CB10%+MB10%+80% Diesel) fuel were superior to other tested blends. The engine test results show that when compared to base diesel fuel, B20 blend resulted in 3.92%,4.68% with stronger performance characteristics of brake thermal efficiency, brake specific energy consumption, and a higher emission reduction of 4.63% of HC, 15.62% of CO, 5.8% of smoke, in spite of a small penalty of 4.86% of carbon dioxide and 3.9% of oxides of nitrogen emission at full load condition. Normality analysis was used to check the distribution of the response data, and regression analysis was used to derive the mathematical model for the selected engine parameters (BSFC, BTE, NOx, and Smoke). The desirability approach of the taguchi method was employed to optimize independent variables to minimize emissions and maximize performance parameters.