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Biofuels derived from renewable plant sources (tree borne vegetable oil) hold immense potential for meeting India's future energy needs. The pure vegetable oils need chemical treatment to be ready as engine fuel. This chemically treated vegetable oil is called Biodiesel. This paper investigates vehicle performance of different blends of biodiesel as engine fuel. Biodiesel used for these studies was derived from Jatropha curcus. Blends of Biodiesel upto 15% did not affect the engine power while blends with higher proportion of Biodiesel showed tendency to decrease the engine power. Best fuel economy was observed with 10% biodiesel blended fuel. Oxides of Nitrogen (NOx) emissions, increased under different operating conditions while smoke was reduced at all speed ranges in Road Load Simulation and Wide Open Throttle test modes.

Emission regulations for portable generator sets have been enforced in India from June, 2000 and more and more stringent standards are in offing. Studies on application of monolith and packed bed oxidation catalytic converters on a two-stroke gasoline and 4-stroke kerosene fuelled SI engine generator sets were carried out. Substantial reductions in HC (unburned hydrocarbons) and CO (carbon monoxide) emissions were obtained on the 2-stroke generator even without secondary air and it could meet the June 2001 standards. For functioning of the catalytic converters on kerosene generator, secondary air had to be introduced. Although, significant reduction in CO were obtained, for improving conversion of HC, improvements in catalyst formulation and optimization of secondary air are to be done.

Bio-fuels are being viewed from the multi-dimensional prospective of depleting fossil fuels resources and promoting environmental health, energy security, support to agricultural sector and rural employment. Increased attention is being paid for the use of bio fuels production and their utilization in the transport sector. India being a major agricultural based economy with large scale dependence on imported crude oil will certainly benefit through the increased use of agricultural resources for producing bio fuels which could be blended with motor gasoline and diesel fuel. With high volatility in international oil prices, it is important that we must reduce our dependence on imports of oil for energy security of the country. Based on the success of the pilot projects started earlier with 5 % ethanol in gasoline, Government of India has already decided to blend 5 % of ethanol in gasoline on a commercial scale.

Gasoline components play a prime role in the formation of deposits on engine components. In order to reduce the deposit forming tendency of fuels, oil marketing companies dope the multi functional additives in gasoline for trouble free operation over a longer period of time. For assessing intake valve deposits and combustion chamber deposits forming tendency of gasoline/additised gasoline, Coordination European Council (CEC) has established the engine test method CEC F-20-A-98 on Mercedes Benz M 111 gasoline engine. The above test method is able to discriminate IVD and CCD formation tendency with neat fuel and additised fuel. In the present work, an effort has been made to discriminate between the additives and an attempt has also been made to understand their impact on emission characteristics.

Field trials were conducted on two-stroke engine powered two-wheelers with 5%, 10 % ethanol and 3 % methanol. The performance and emissions of vehicles operating on these fuels were compared to those with neat gasoline up to 20,000 km. No significant change in fuel economy was observed with 5 % ethanol and 3 % methanol, however about 1.1 % loss was observed with 10 % ethanol. Emission test conducted after mileage build-up showed reduction of carbon monoxide (CO) with 5 % and 10 % ethanol, while increase of CO was observed with 3% methanol. Total hydrocarbon emissions increased on mileage build-up with all the test fuels. Merit rating of engine components after 20,000 km indicated that the ratings were better for 5 % ethanol blended gasoline. Startability and drivability problems were observed with 3% methanol after completing 10,000 km.