Experimental Analysis of a Dual-Fuel Engine Fueled by Producer Gas Derived From Pine Leaves and Cattle Dung Briquettes

In the recent times, there has been a much concerned about the efficient utilization and conservation of energy across the globe. The fossil fuels supply most of the energy requirements, however, it is a non-renewable energy source having a limited reserve across the globe. In view of this, there has been a continuous drive to explore the renewable, easily available and environment friendly energy sources to partially or fully replace the fossil fuel. With this background, this paper investigates the viability of utilizing producer gas, derived from the biomass briquettes, as the primary fuel to run a diesel engine in dual fuel mode. Biomass used was sun-dried pine leaves and cow dung. Briquettes were prepared at the proportion of 75 % cow dung and 25 % pine leaves, by mass, using water as the binder. The producer gas, generated from a downdraft gasifier, was fed to single cylinder, four-stroke, water-cooled, 5.2 kW compression ignition engine to run on dual fuel mode. A minor modification of engine was carried out to suit the dual fuel mode operation. The performance and emission characteristics of the engine were studied at various loads. The system sustains well in a dual fuel mode although there is a drop in brake thermal efficiency in the range of 7 to 22%. There is a significant reduction, up to 93%, in NO_X emission in the exhaust but CO and CO₂ emission increases, more than 40% and 8% respectively, in the dual fuel mode.