Comparative evaluation of biodiesel production and engine characteristics of Jatropha and Argemone Mexicana oils

This paper deals with a performance evaluation of locally made 20L batch type reactor and JP and AM biodiesels produced by using this reactor. The inputs for transesterification process were Jatropha and Argemone Mexicana oils, with an alcohol to oil molar ratio of 6:1, 1% NaOH catalyst, 55 °C reaction temperature, an hour settling time and 600 rpm agitation speed. The conversion ability of the reactor for Jatropha and Argemone Mexicana oil seeds has shown a 94% and 94.5%, respectively. The property of these biodiesels has analyzed and its result was within the limit of ASTM D6751. Performance and emission behavior of different blends of these oils such as B10, B20, B30 and pure diesel were evaluated in a single cylinder, four stroke CI engine with rated speed of 1500 rpm and rated power of 4 kW. The B10 blend has shown closer characteristics in terms of specific fuel consumption, brake thermal efficiency and exhaust gas temperature at different loads to diesel. On the other hand, B10 has resulted with higher CO2 and CO and lower NOx emission potential compared to the two blends. The lower NO2 emission is due to its lowest exhaust gas temperature. The biodiesels finally pass standard tests of EPE by fulfilling the standard parameters that made them competitive and substitute options to diesel fuel.