Performance and combustion characteristics of a diesel engine with titanium oxide coated piston using Pongamia methyl ester

Owing to the increasing cost of petroleum products, fast depletion of fossil fuel, environmental consideration and stringent emission norms, it is necessary to search for alternative fuels for diesel engines. The alternative fuel can be produced from materials available within the country. Though the vegetable oils can be fuelled for diesel engines, their high viscosities and low volatilities have led to the investigation of its various derivatives such as monoesters, known as bio diesel. It is derived from triglycerides (vegetable oil and animal fates) by transesterification process. It is biodegradable and renewable in nature. Biodiesel can be used more efficiently in semi adiabatic engines (Semi LHR), in which the temperature of the combustion chamber is increased by thermal barrier coating on the piston crown. In this study, the piston crown was coated with ceramic material (TiO₂) of about 0.5 mm, by plasma spray method. In this present work, the experiments were carried out with of Pongamia oil methyl (PME) ester and diesel blends (B20 & B100) in a four stroke direct injection diesel engine with and without coated piston at different load conditions. The results revealed 100% bio diesel, an improvement in brake thermal efficiency (BTE) and the brake specific fuel consumption decreased by about 10 % at full load. The exhaust emissions like carbon monoxide (CO) and hydrocarbon (HC) were decreased and the nitrogen oxide (NO) emission increased by 15% with coated engine compared with the uncoated engine with diesel fuel. The peak pressure and heat release rate were increased for the coated engine compared with the standard engine.