COMBINED EFFECT OF EXHAUST GAS RECIRCULATION (EGR) AND FUEL INJECTION PRESSURE ON CRDI ENGINE OPERATING WITH JATROPHA CURCAS BIODIESEL BLENDS

This work investigates the influence of Exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) and injection pressure on the performance and emissions of CRDI engine using Jatropha curcas biodiesel blends of 10% and 20% (B10 and B20). Experiments were carried out for three fuel injection pressures (FIP) of 300, 400 and 500 bar with 15% and 20% EGR rate at constant speed of 2000 rpm and standard injection timing of 150 BTDC. Parameters like brake thermal efficiency and emission characteristics such as smoke opacity, oxides of nitrogen (NOx), hydrocarbon (HC) and carbon mono-oxide (CO) were measured and analysed. The results showed improvement of performance in terms of brake thermal efficiency for blends B10, B20 and with 15%EGR rate. Smoke, HC and CO decreased while slightly increasing NOx emissions when working with biodiesel. In summary, it is optimized that engine running with combination of B20 blend and 15% EGR rate culminates into NOx reductions without affecting engine efficiency and other emissions like smoke opacity, hydrocarbon and carbon mono-oxide