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The present study discusses the effects of engine combustion, performance and emission features of methanol-gasoline blend fired lean burn Spark Ignition (SI) engine. Performance features such as Brake Power (BP), Brake Specific Fuel Consumption (BSFC), Brake Thermal Efficiency (BTE), tail pipe emissions namely Hydrocarbon (HC), Carbon Monoxide (CO), Nitrogen Oxide (NO), Carbon di Oxide (CO2) and combustion characteristics viz. in-cylinder pressure, Heat Release Rate (HRR), Cumulative Heat Release (CHR) and variation of mean effective pressure were measured and compared with that of neat gasoline. Experiments were conducted on a modified sole cylinder four-stroke compression engine (Kirloskar TAF1) to operate as SI engine with a compression ratio of 10.5:1. A new manifold injection system and ignition system were developed by replacing the fuel injection pump and injector.

Biodiesel is an alternate fuel for diesel consisting of the alkyl monoester of fatty acids derived from vegetable oils. The most usual method to transform oil into biodiesel is transesterification which can be carried out using different catalyst. Jatropha is second generation oil which is non edible and can be use for producing biodiesel. The first part is to expel oil from jatropha seeds. There are different types of expelling methods such as mechanical extraction, solvent extraction and enzymatic extraction. The study was conducted with hand driven mechanical expeller which is most conventional way of extracting oil from seeds with mechanical efficiency of 60-80% for single pass. The study includes various combinations of parameters like seed treatment, sun drying, pre-heating, soaking at different temperatures and different de-hulling compositions.

Biodiesel is an alternative fuel for diesel which is made through a chemical process which converts vegetable oils and fats of natural origin into fatty acid methyl esters (FAME). The most usual method to transform Bio-oil into biodiesel is Transesterification that can be carried out using different catalyst systems. Jatropha is second generation, non-edible oil and can be used for producing biodiesel. The Transesterification reaction consists of heating jatropha oil with proper concentration of methanol at appropriate temperature in the presence of catalyst. After reaction, the mixture is allowed to settle down for 8-10 hrs. Two separate layers, top layer of biodiesel and lower layer of glycerol will form, which can be separated. Reaction temperature, amount of methanol, catalyst and reaction time are important parameters which decide yield and quality of biodiesel.

Microalgae as feedstock are the potential third generation biofuels. Microalgae are photosynthetic microorganism which requires light, carbon-di-oxide, nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium for growth and to produce lipids, proteins and carbohydrates in large amounts over short a periods of time. The production of biofuels from microalgal is a viable alternative due to their easy adaptability to growth conditions, possibility of growing biomass either in fresh or marine waters. Hence the current project was designed to elucidate the biodiesel producing ability of blue-green algae such as Spirulina platensis and Green algae Chlorella vulgaris. The selected algae were cultivated in suitable growth media such as modified Zarrouke medium and bold basal medium, respectively. The Spirulina platensis and Chlorella vulgaris were mass cultured for 8 days then harvested using 50 micron nylon filters and dried in sunlight to obtain dry biomass.