Performance and emission characteristics of a diesel engine fueled with palm, jatropha, and moringa oil methyl ester

• Production of biodiesel from crude moringa oil.
• Blended fuels produced lower HC and CO emission than diesel fuel.
• Blended fuel increases BSFC and NO emission than diesel fuel.

This paper aims to investigate the diesel engine performance and emission characteristics fueled with moringa biodiesel and compare those with the performance and emission characteristics of palm biodiesel, jatropha biodiesel, and diesel fuel. In this study, only 20% of each biodiesel (described by MB20, PB20, and JB20, respectively) was tested in diesel engine, given that open literature indicates the possible use of biodiesel of up to 20% in a diesel engine without modification. The physical and chemical properties of all fuel samples are also presented and compared with ASTM D6751 standards. A naturally aspirated multi-cylinder, four-stroke direct-injection diesel engine was used to evaluate their performance at different speeds and full load condition. All biodiesel fuel samples reduce brake power (BP) and increase brake-specific fuel consumption (BSFC) than diesel fuel. Engine emission results indicated that blended fuel reduces the average carbon monoxide (CO) and hydrocarbons (HC) emissions except nitric oxides (NO) emissions than diesel fuel. Among the biodiesel-blended fuel, Palm biodiesel showed better performance and minimal emission than jatropha and moringa biodiesel fuel. Although PB20 showed better performance, but performance of MB20 biodiesel blend is comparable with other fuels. Correspondingly, 20% of moringa biodiesel can be used in a diesel engine without any engine modification.