Study of performance of a dual fuel engine using biogas and producer gas

Abstract

The disposal of biomass waste in India has been a challenge in urban as well as rural areas. Biomass is one of the most common forms of renewable energy. The agricultural residue generated from the agro-industry can be beneficially utilized in power generation in rural areas. Many states in India generate a large amount of crop residue during the harvesting season. At present, a large amount of crop residue is burnt in the open field that causes environmental pollution. In urban areas, solid waste generated from the kitchen vegetable also becomes an unhandled problem. This cumulative waste creates a terrible effect on the environment and causes many health issues in all developing countries. The purpose of the use of a dual fuel engine is to utilize biomass residue and kitchen waste for power generation and to reduce emissions levels. This utilization of biomass residue helps in reducing fossil fuel consumption. Thus, dual fuel technology can play a significant role in decreasing the dependency on conventional diesel fuel. In the present research, producer gas was generated from crop residue (cotton stalk) and waste wood (sawdust) by using a downdraft gasifier. The producer gas was cooled and cleaned by using a water scrubber. Biogas was generated from the kitchen vegetable waste using an anaerobic digester. The influence of utilizing ‘producer gas and biogas’ was investigated to study the performance and emission characteristics of a dual fuel engine. The dual fuel CI engine was run at different compression ratios and different brake power values ranging from 0–4.0 kW in steps of 0.8 kW. The results of the dual fuel engine using producer gas-diesel and biogas-diesel were discussed. An average reduction of 63.62% HC emission was achieved by increasing CR from 12–18 at 3.2 kW brake power as compared to diesel mode. Further, NOx and SOx emission levels were reduced by 56.05% and 69.70% in producer gas-diesel and biogas-diesel mode respectively. Brake thermal efficiency improved at higher compression ratio and injection pressure values in both the dual fuel modes. Maximum diesel fuel substitution of 58.02% and 48.25% in producer gas-diesel and biogas-diesel mode respectively was observed at a compression ratio of 18. Further, the reduction in noise level was observed under the dual fuel mode of operation.