Emission Properties of a Diesel Engine Fuelled with Snake Gourd Biodiesel and Blends

In this study, snake gourd biodiesel (SGB) was used as an alternative fuel in a four-stroke, one-cylinder, direct injection, 14.7 kW diesel engine. A test was carried out in which the engine was fuelled with petroleum diesel, SGB and five different blends of diesel/biodiesel (B10, B20, B30, B50 and B80). The test engine was run at 0 kW load and 12.3 kW load, and the results were analyzed. The biodiesel and its blends produced significantly less emissions than the petroleum diesel, which could be attributed to better combustion efficiency. The use of biodiesel resulted in lower emissions of CO, SO2, particulate matter (PM) and increased emissions of NO2. The results also showed that increasing the load from 0 kW to 12.3 kW resulted to an overall increase in the emissions and CO, SO2, and PM emissions were lower with SGB by 86.6%, 93.02%, and 91.80% at 0 kW load and 62.48%, 86.79%, and 72.72% at 12.3 kW load conditions. while NO2 emissions were higher by 90.91% and 93.02% at 0 kW and 12.3 kW load conditions respectively than that of the petrol diesel. This study showed that the exhaust emissions of SGB and its blends are lower than those of the petrol diesels, which indicates that SGB and its blends when used in diesel engines has more favorable effects on air quality.