The by-product of Jatropha biodiesel production which is Jatropha press-cake has a potential to be used as a direct feedstock in a gasification process. A throatless downdraft gasifier had been used to convert the press-cakes into producer gas. This study focus on the use of producer gas derived from Jatropha press-cake as an alternative fuel in a diesel genset in dual fuel mode operation. The emission and performance were investigated through a combination of parameter settings at diesel injection timing of 6, 9, and 12 degrees BTDC, gas flowrates of 0, 10, and 20 kg/h, and electrical load of 1, 1.5 and 2 kW.
Genset performance were defined according to diesel consumption rate (DCR), equivalence ratio (ER), specific fuel consumption (SFC), thermal efficiency (TE), and exhaust gas temperature. In general, performance was found to be lower in dual fuel mode operation than running the engine in diesel only. This was due to the low calorific value of the producer gas which is equal to 4.702 MJ/kg as analyzed by CRL corp. Also, the emission level for HC, CO, CO2, and NOx were higher for dual fuel operation. Individual and overall optimization had been implemented using response surface methodology, central composite design.
A comparison of net energy analysis of Jatropha biodiesel production coupled with press-cake gasification and direct gasification of Jatropha seed from the result of previous study shows that NEB and NER were higher for biodiesel and producer gas derived from press-cake
