Impact of ternary blends of biodiesel on diesel engine performance

• High viscosity and lower calorific value of PB100 and WCB100 are main problem of these fuels.
• Poor cloud and pour point make it difficult to use PB100 and WCB100 to be used as fuel.
• The cold flow properties of ternary blend WCB10:PB10:D80 are comparable to diesel.
• The BSFC and BTE of ternary blend are higher at 25% loading comparable to diesel.
• The HC and CO emissions are lower in case of biodiesel while NOx emission is lower in diesel.

The Pongamia and waste cooking oils are the main non edible oils for biodiesel production in India. The aim of the present work is to evaluate the fuel properties and investigate the impact on engine performance using Pongamia and waste cooking biodiesel and their ternary blend with diesel. The investigation of the fuel properties shows that Pongamia biodiesel and waste cooking biodiesel have poor cold flow property. This will lead to starting problem in the engine operation. To overcome this problem the ternary blends of diesel, waste cooking biodiesel and Pongamia biodiesel are prepared. The cloud and pour point for ternary blend, (WCB20:PB20:D60) were found to be 7 °C and 6.5 °C which are comparable to cloud and pour point of diesel 6 °C and 5 °C, respectively. The result of the test showed that brake specific fuel consumption for Pongamia biodiesel and waste cooking biodiesel is higher than ternary blend, (WCB20:PB20:D60) due to their lower energy content. The brake thermal efficiency of ternary blend and diesel is comparable while the Pongamia and waste cooking biodiesel have low efficiency. The result of investigation showed that ternary blend can be developed as alternate fuel.