Experimental Investigation of Performance and Emissions on Low Speed Diesel Engine with Dual Injection of Solar Generated Steam and Pongamia Methyl Ester

An experimental investigation has been carried out to examine the effects of steam injection into the intake manifold of a single cylinder, low speed, direct injection diesel engine fuelled with biodiesel palm methyl ester. Steam injection is generally carried out by non-conventional energy source. The addition of steam in to the intake manifold of the engine was carried out by vaporizing the water inside a boiler and heat is supplied by the solar concentrated parabolic dish. Biodiesels are known to produce higher NO_x when compared to the neat diesel. Addition of steam to the combustion chamber of diesel engine has known effects of reducing the dangerous emissions of NO_x but it is not clearly known about the engine performance and emissions. To examine this, an experimental investigation has been carried out on a single cylinder low speed diesel engine with steam injection in to the intake manifold during the suction stroke on the performance and engine emissions. Experiment results shows that there is a significant reduction in smoke levels and NO_x during the steam injection both for the diesel fuel and pongamia methyl ester. Also there is a significant improvement of engine performance in terms of specific fuel consumption and brake thermal efficiency with steam injection.