Experimental investigation to reduce exhaust emissions in a single cylinder CI engine fuelled with methyl ester of neem oil using antioxidant (L-ascorbic acid)

ABSTRACT

Biodiesel offers cleaner combustion over conventional diesel fuel, including reduced particulate matter, carbon monoxide and unburned hydrocarbon emissions. However, several studies point to a slight increase in NO_x emissions (about 13%) for biodiesel fuel compared with conventional diesel fuel. The use of antioxidant additives is one of the most cost-effective ways to reduce the formation of NO_x. In this study, the effect of antioxidant additive (L-ascorbic acid) on NO_x emissions in a neem methyl ester fuelled direct injection diesel engine has been investigated experimentally. The antioxidant additive is mixed in various proportions with neem methyl ester and was tested in computerized four-stroke, water-cooled single cylinder diesel engine of 3.5 kW rated power. Results show that the antioxidant additive is effective in controlling the emissions like NO_x, HC and CO₂ of neem biodiesel fuelled diesel engines. Particularly for LA300 mixture, NO_x emissions reduce by 16.95% at full load conditions due to the delay or inhibitions of the oxidative process by donating an electron or hydrogen atom to a radical derivative. However, there is a slight increase in carbon monoxide emissions to a slight decrease in brake thermal efficiency.

KEYWORDS:

• Biodiesel
• neem
• L-ascorbic acid
• antioxidants
• fuel additives
• engine emissions

Acknowledgement

The authors would like to thank the management of SRM University for providing us the laboratory facilities to perform this study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.