Biomass and Bioenergy 27 (2004) 393 397

Diesel engine emissions and performance from blends of

karanja methyl ester and diesel
H. Raheman , A.G. Phadatare
Agricultural and Food Engineering Department, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur 721302, India
Received 3 June 2003; received in revised form 1 March 2004; accepted 3 March 2004

Abstract
This paper presents the results of investigations carried out in studying the fuel properties of karanja methyl ester (KME)
and its blend with diesel from 20% to 80% by volume and in running a diesel engine with these fuels. Engine tests have been
carried out with the aim of obtaining comparative measures of torque, power, speci4c fuel consumption and emissions such
as CO, smoke density and NOx to evaluate and compute the behaviour of the diesel engine running on the above-mentioned
fuels. The reduction in exhaust emissions together with increase in torque, brake power, brake thermal e:ciency and reduction
in brake-speci4c fuel consumption made the blends of karanja esteri4ed oil (B20 and B40) a suitable alternative fuel for
diesel and could help in controlling air pollution.
? 2004 Published by Elsevier Ltd.
Keywords: Alternative fuel; Pongamia glabra; Karanja methyl ester; Biodiesel blend; Emissions; Engine performance

1. Introduction
Many researchers have reported that with the use
of vegetable oil ester as a fuel in diesel engines, a
reduction in harmful exhaust emissions as well as
a comparable engine performance with diesel were
achieved [17]. Most of the esteri4ed oils tried in
diesel engines were soybean, sun>ower, sa?ower,
and rapeseed. These oils are essentially edible oils in
the Indian context and use of biodiesels from these
oils as a substitute to diesel fuel may lead to a concept of self-su:ciency in vegetable oil production,
which India has not attained yet. With the abundance
of forest and tree-borne non-edible oils available in
Corresponding
author. Tel.: +91-3222-283160; fax:
+91-3222-282244.
E-mail address: hifjur@agfe.iitkgp.ernet.in (H. Raheman).

0961-9534/$ - see front matter ? 2004 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

doi:10.1016/j.biombioe.2004.03.002

India, not much attempt has been made to use esters of these non-edible oils as a substitute for diesel.
Karanja (Pongamia glabra) is one such forest-based
tree-borne non-edible oil with a production potential
of 135,000 million tones [8]. Hence, a study was undertaken at Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur
to run a diesel engine with esteri4ed karanja oil and
its blend with diesel.
2. Experiments
2.1. Composition of karanja oil
The basic composition of any vegetable oil is
triglyceride, which is the ester of three fatty acids and
one glycerol. The fatty acid composition of karanja
oil is summarized in Table 1 [9].

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H. Raheman, A.G. Phadatare / Biomass and Bioenergy 27 (2004) 393 397

Table 1
Fatty acid composition of karanja oil
Sl. no.

Fatty acid

Structure

Formula

Wt %

1
2
3
4
5

Palmitic
Stearic
Lignoceric
Oleic
Linoleic

16:0
18:0
24:0
18:1
18:2

C16 H32 O2
C18 H36 O2
C24 H48 O2
C18 H34 O2
C18 H32 O2

3.77.9
2.48.9
1.13.5
44.571.3
10.818.3

2.2. Esteri3cation of karanja oil

Esteri4cation of karanja oil is composed of heating of oil, addition of KOH and methyl alcohol,
stirring of mixture, separation of glycerol, washing
with distilled water and heating for removal of water. Karanja oil was esteri4ed using the esteri4cation
system developed in the laboratory of Agricultural
and Food Engineering Department, Indian Institute of
Technology, Kharagpur [9]. The system was capable
of preparing the oil esters su:cient in quantity for
running commonly used farm engines (3:73 kW) for
at least 8 h.

dition, emissions like smoke density, CO, NOx and

exhaust temperature were measured using a smoke
meter and an online exhaust gas analyser. Each
reading was replicated thrice to obtain a reasonable
value.
The engine test was done according to BIS: 5994-II
[11]. Parameters like the speed of operation, fuel consumption and torque were measured from which brake
power, brake speci4c fuel consumption and brake
thermal e:ciency were computed. All observations
recorded were replicated thrice to get a reasonable
value.

2.3. Fuel properties

3. Results and discussion

Fuel properties were determined as per the test

code prescribed by the Institute of Petroleum, London
[10] for raw karanja oil, karanja methyl ester (B100)
and its blends with varying proportion of high-speed
diesel from 20% to 80% by volume (B20, B40, B60
and B80).

3.1. Fuel characteristics

2.4. Emissions and engine performance

The karanja methyl ester (biodiesel, B100) and its
blends (B20, B40, B60 and B80) were used to test a
single cylinder, four-stroke, DI, water-cooled diesel
engine having a rated output of 7:5 kW at 3000 rpm
and a compression ratio of 16:1. The engine was coupled with an electric dynamometer with the help of a
V-belt and pulley to apply diMerent engine loads. The
emissions from the engine were studied at diMerent engine loads (10%, 25%, 50%, 75%, 85% and 100% of
the load corresponding to the load at maximum power)
at an average engine speed of 2525 (62%) rpm.
After the engine reached the stabilized working con-

After esteri4cation, the colour of karanja oil

changed from deep brown to reddish yellow and on
an average 750 ml of karanja methyl ester (biodiesel)
was obtained from 1 l of karanja oil. The measured
properties are presented in Table 2.
The kinematic viscosity of karanja oil was found
to be 10.7 times more than that of diesel determined
at 40 C. After esteri4cation, the kinematic viscosity
reduced to 2.9 times than that of pure karanja oil. It
further reduced with increase in diesel amount in the
blend. A similar reduction in speci4c gravity was also
observed. However, the calori4c value of biodiesel
was found to be 36:12 MJ=kg, which is less than the
calori4c value of diesel (42:21 MJ=kg) and greater
than that of the karanja oil (34 MJ=kg). As the percentage of biodiesel in the blends increased, the calori4c
value decreased. The >ash points of karanja oil and
biodiesel were found to be greater than 100 C, which
is safe for storage and handling.

H. Raheman, A.G. Phadatare / Biomass and Bioenergy 27 (2004) 393 397

395

Table 2
Fuel properties of karanja oil, karanja methyl ester and its blends
Sl. no.

Fuel

Speci4c
gravity

Kinematic
viscosity (mm2 =s)

Calori4c
value (MJ/kg)

Flash
point ( C)

1
2
3
4
5
6
7

Karanja oil
B100
B20
B40
B60
B80
Diesel

0.912
0.876
0.848
0.856
0.864
0.869
0.846

27.84
9.60
3.39
4.63
5.42
6.56
2.60

34.00
36.12
38.28
37.85
37.25
36.47
42.21

205
187
79
81
84
92
52

Fig. 1. Variation of CO with load for diMerent fuels tested.

3.2. Emission studies

3.2.1. CO emission
The variation of CO produced by running the diesel
engine using B20 to B100 is compared with diesel
in Fig. 1. The minimum and maximum CO produced
were 0.004, 0.016% resulting in a reduction of 94%
and 73%, respectively, as compared to diesel.
3.2.2. Smoke density
The variation of smoke density produced during the
test for diMerent fuels is presented in Fig. 2. The minimum and maximum smoke densities produced for
B20 to B100 were 1% and 3% with a maximum and
minimum reduction of 80% and 20%, respectively, as
compared to diesel.

Fig. 2. Variation of smoke density with load for diMerent fuels

tested.

3.2.3. NOx emission

The variation of NOx with engine load for diMerent fuels tested is presented in Fig. 3. The amount of
NOx produced for B20 to B100 varied between 4 and
12 ppm as compared to 12 and 13 ppm for diesel. On
an average a 26% reduction in NOx was obtained for
biodiesel and its blends as compared to diesel.
The reductions in emissions (CO, smoke density
and NOx ) could be due to complete combustion of fuel
as compared to diesel. Similar trends of observations
on CO, smoke density and NOx production were also
reported while running the diesel engines with esteri4ed rapeseed, sun>ower, and soybean oil [13,57].
3.2.4. Exhaust temperature
The variation of exhaust temperature with load
for diMerent fuels tested is compared with diesel in
Fig. 4. For B20B100, the exhaust temperature

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H. Raheman, A.G. Phadatare / Biomass and Bioenergy 27 (2004) 393 397

14
12

Torque, Nm

10
8
B20
B40
B60
B80
B100
Diesel

6
4
2
0
0

20

40

60
Load %

80

100

120

Fig. 5. Variation of torque with load for diMerent fuels tested.

Brake specific fuel consumption, kg/kWh

Fig. 3. Variation of NOx with load for diMerent fuels tested.

0.8
0.7
0.6
0.5
0.4
B20
B40
B60
B80
B100
Diesel

0.3
0.2
0.1
0.0
0

Fig. 4. Variation of exhaust temperature with load for diMerent

fuels tested.

measured varied between 260 C and 336 C as compared to 262 C and 335 C for diesel indicating no
much variation in exhaust temperature. This could be
due to nearly the same quantity of fuel being consumed per hour for both diesel and biodiesel blends in
each load setting of the engine. Since heat loss to the
exhaust on percent basis was approximately constant
throughout the entire load range hence same quantity
of fuel consumed means same heat was dejected, resulting in little variation in exhaust temperature.
3.3. Engine performance
3.3.1. Torque
The variation of torque of the engine with load for
diMerent fuels is presented in Fig. 5. The torque in-

20

40

60
Load %

80

100

120

Fig. 6. Variation of brake-speci4c fuel consumption with load for

diMerent fuels tested.

creased with increase in load. This was due to an increase in fuel consumption with an increase in load.
The torques produced in case of B20 and B40 were
0.113% higher than that of diesel due to complete
combustion of fuels. In case B60 to B100, it reduced
by 423% from that of diesel due to a decrease in the
calori4c value of fuel with an increase in biodiesel
percentage in the blends.
3.3.2. Brake-speci3c fuel consumption
The variation of brake-speci4c fuel consumption
with load for diMerent fuels is presented in Fig. 6.
For all fuels tested, brake-speci4c fuel consumption
decreased with increase in load. One possible explanation for this reduction could be due to the higher
percentage of increase in brake power with load as

H. Raheman, A.G. Phadatare / Biomass and Bioenergy 27 (2004) 393 397

Brake thermal efficiency, %

30
25
20
B20
B40
B60
B80
B100
Diesel

15
10
5
0
0

20

40

60

80

100

120

Load %

Fig. 7. Variation of brake thermal e:ciency with load for diMerent

fuels tested.

compared to fuel consumption. For an average speed

of 2525 rpm (2%), the brake-speci4c fuel consumption for B20 and B40 was 0.87.4% lower than diesel.
In case of B60B100, the brake-speci4c fuel consumption was 1148% higher than that of diesel. This
reverse trend was observed due to the lower calori4c
value with an increase in biodiesel percentage in the
blends.
3.3.3. Brake thermal e8ciency
The variation of brake thermal e:ciency with load
for diMerent fuels is presented in Fig. 7. In all cases,
it increased with an increase in percent load. This
was due to a reduction in heat loss and increase in
power with increase in percent load. The maximum
brake thermal e:ciencies were obtained to be 26.79
and 26.19 for B20 and B40, respectively, which were
higher than that of diesel (24.62%). The maximum
brake thermal e:ciencies obtained for B60, B80 and
B100 were 24.26%, 23.96 and 22.71%, respectively.
This lower brake thermal e:ciency obtained for
B60B100 could be due to a reduction in the calori4c
value and an increase in fuel consumption as compared to B20.
4. Conclusions
Based on the result of this study it was found that
blends of karanja methyl ester with diesel reduced

397

emissions such as CO, smoke density and NOx on an

average of 80%, 50% and 26%, respectively. However, the brake power output increased on an average 6% up to biodiesel blend B40 and with a further
increase in the biodiesel percentage in the blend it
reduced.
Hence it can be concluded that the blends of karanja
methyl ester with diesel up to 40% by volume could
replace diesel for running the diesel engine for getting less emissions without sacri4cing the power output and will thus help in controlling air pollution
to a great extent.
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