Impact of Biogas Substitution on the Performance of a Diesel Engine: A Dual-Fuel Approach Toward Clean Energy

This study examines the working parameters of a
transformed compression ignition engine to operate on the
biogas-diesel blended fuels as dual-fuel combustion engine. This is achieved through coupling the dynamometer operated at constant speed, compression ratio and constant rated engine speed. Variable loads at 20%, 40%, 60%, 80% and 100 percent of full load are tested. Three fuel configurations namely, pure diesel, 10% biogas and diesel mixture, and 30% biogas and diesel mixture. The 30% biogas with diesel mixture offer a higher brake thermal efficiency and mechanical efficiency at medium to high load thereby suggesting a high energy conversion as a percentage of biogas applied. Conversely, the 10% biogas with diesel blend has a smoother part-load transients, but its typical performance is lower than that of the one provided at pure diesel operation. The brake power output is in correlation of loads across each of the fuel types and the 30 percent mix of biogas and diesel emerge as a most favorable performance profile. Overall, these results prove the feasibility of biogas with diesel dual-fuel configuration in fueling the CI engine output to the broader operating scope.