Impact of Simarouba glauca biodiesel blends as a fuel on the performance and emission analysis in an unmodified DICI engine

The present investigation presents Simarouba glauca as a source of non-edible oil for production of biodiesel which can be a suitable replacement of diesel fuel in unmodified DICI engine. The potential of simarouba biodiesel (B100) and its blends (10% and 20% by volume known as B10 and B20 respectively) were explored and compared with diesel fuel. The physico-chemical properties of B100, B10 and B20 were determined and compared with diesel fuel and found efficiently performing the values, adhering to the ASTM D6751 and EN 14214 standards. The performance parameters like brake specific fuel consumption (BSFC), brake thermal efficiency (BThE) and exhaust gas temperature (EGT) were evaluated and compared with that of diesel fuel. At full load conditions for B10 and B20, BSFC is 1.81% and 3.51% higher; BThE is 1.90% and 3.14% lower; and EGT is 2.76% and 3.82% higher respectively than that of diesel fuel. Based on the detailed investigation toward emission analysis for B10 and B20, CO emission is 8-12% lower; HC is 26.6-33.4% lower; while CO2 is 4.5-7.5% higher and NOx is 4.2-8.3% higher respectively than that of diesel fuel. The results indicated that simarouba biodiesel can be used as an alternative and environmentally friendly fuel without any engine modification.