Effect of EGR on the Exhaust Gas Temperature and Exhaust Opacity in Compression Ignition Engines Using Jatropha Oil as Fuel

Diesel engines are widely used as power sources for medium and heavy-duty applications because of their lower fuel consumption and lower emissions of carbon monoxide (CO) and unburned hydrocarbons (HC) compared with gasoline engines. Efficient use of natural resources is one of the fundamental requirements for any country to become self-sustainable. Both in organized and unorganized sectors internal combustion engine has become an indispensable prime mover. With the increasing demand on the use of fossil fuels, a stronger threat to clean environment is being posed as the burning of fossil fuels is associated with emissions like CO2, CO, SOx, NOx and particulate matter, which are currently the dominant global source of emissions. In diesel engines, NOx formation is a highly temperature-dependent phenomenon. Therefore, in order to reduce NOx emissions in the exhaust, it is necessary to keep peak combustion temperatures under control. Exhaust gas recirculation is the most important technique for reducing NOx emissions. Re-circulating part of the exhaust gas helps in reducing NOx, but appreciable particulate emissions are observed at high loads, hence there is a trade-off between NOx and smoke emission. To get maximum benefit from this trade-off, a particulate trap may be used to reduce the amount of unburnt particulates in EGR, which in turn reduce the particulate emission also. An experimental investigation was conducted to observe the effect of exhaust gas re-circulation on the exhaust gas temperatures and exhaust opacity. The experimental setup for the proposed experiments was developed on a single-cylinder, direct injection, air-cooled, compression ignition engine. A matrix of experiments was conducted for observing the effect of different quantities of EGR on exhaust gas temperatures and opacity.