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Particulate matter is one of the major pollutant responsible for deteriorating air quality, particularly in urban centers. Information on contributing sources with the share from different sources is a first and one of the important steps in controlling pollution. Diverse sources, anthropogenic as well as natural, like industries, transport, domestic burning, construction, wind-blown dust, road dust contribute to particulate matter pollution. Receptor modeling is a scientific method which is utilized for assessment of the contribution of various sources based on chemical characteristics of particulate matter sources and ambient air particulate matter. Representative data of fractions of various chemical species in the particulate matter from the different sources i.e. source fingerprint is an essential input for the receptor modeling approach.

CNG has recently seen increased penetration within the automotive industry. Due to recent sanctions on diesel fuelled vehicles, manufactures have again shifted their attention to natural gas as a suitable alternative. Turbocharging of SI engines has seen widespread application due to its benefit in terms of engine downsizing and increasing engine performance [1]. This paper discusses the methodology involved in development of a multi cylinder turbocharged natural gas engine from an existing diesel engine. Various parameters such as valve timing, intake volume, runner length, etc. were studied using 1D simulation tool GT power and based on their results an optimized configuration was selected and a proto engine was built. Electronic throttle body was used to give better transient performance and emission control. Turbocharger selection and its location plays a critical role.

The paper discusses the methodology for measuring the sound absorption of sound package materials in a different sizes of reverberation chambers. The large reverberation chamber is based on test methods and requirements as per ASTM C423 and ISO 354 standards. Both the test standards are similar and recommend a reverberation chamber volume of at least 125 m3 and 200 m3 respectively for sound absorption measurements from 100 Hz to 5000 Hz. The test sample size requirements are from 5.5 to 6.7 m2 as per ASTM C423 and 10 to 12 m2 as per ISO 354. In the automotive sector passenger car, heavy truck, and commercial vehicle, the parts that are used are much smaller in size than the size prescribed in both the standards. The requirement is to study the critical parameters such as the chamber volume, sample size, reverberation time and cut-off frequency etc. which are affecting the sound absorption property of acoustic material.

Two carburetted passenger cars of different makes, converted for CNG (Compressed Natural Gas) operation (in dual mode) and optimised by ARAI (The Automotive Research Association of India, Pune, India), were tested for vehicular performance. The respective engines were also mapped for performance, energy consumption and emission. The power loss in CNG mode was 7% & 15% and torque reduction was 21% & 15% in respective engines. There is considerable improvement in thermal efficiency and reduction of emission in the entire operating range. The vehicle performance on Chassis Dynamometer shows similar results. The second engine was also tested with a ceramic catalytic converter which gave 93% reduction in CO and 50% reduction in HC in major portion of operating range. 1100 CC car was also tested on the test track. Optimisation work included installation of ARAI mixer design.

Alternative fuels for both spark ignition (SI) and compression ignition (CI) engines have become very important owing to increased environmental protection concern, the need to reduce dependency on petroleum and even socioeconomic aspects. An appropriate sustainable fuel alternative has turn out to be a main concern and bio-diesel is one of the sustainable fuels. The path of interest in biodiesel has highlighted its advantages which include decrease in hydrocarbon and particulate matter. Meanwhile its shortcoming includes higher emission of oxides of nitrogen. This work is an attempt to develop a mathematical relationship to predict thermal NOx in CI engine fuelled with neat biodiesel. Attention was focused on using in-cylinder pressure based variables to predict NOx. In cylinder pressure measurement is a valuable tool for the analysis of CI engine combustion, which is used for finding the heat release rate, ignition delay, etc.

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.

Ride Comfort forms a core design aspect for suspension and is to be considered as primary requirement for vehicle performance in terms of drivability and uptime of passenger. Maintaining a balance between ride comfort and handling poses a major challenge to finalize the suspension specifications. The objective of this project it to perform ride- comfort analysis for a commercial truck using MATLAB Simulink. First, benchmarking was carried out on a 4x2 commercial truck and the physical parameters were obtained. Further, a mathematical model is developed using MATLAB Simulink R2015a and acceleration- time data is collected. An experimentation was carried out on the truck at speeds of 20 kmph, 30 kmph, 40 kmph and 50 kmph over a single hump to obtain actual acceleration time domain data. The model is then correlated with actual test over a single hump. This is followed by running the vehicle on Class A, B & C road profiles to account for random vibrations.

Bharat Stage VI (BS VI) emission norms are already introduced in India from 1st April 2020. The implementation of BS VI emission standards essentially brings Indian motor vehicle regulations on par with most stringent International standards. The BS VI regulation also mandated Real Driving Emission (RDE) measurement with objective to limit regulated pollutants esp. NOX & PN during real use of vehicle. For M1 passenger vehicles Carbon Dioxide (CO2) emissions measured in Lab is also regulated under CAFÉ (Corporate Average Fuel Economy) however, CO2 emission during Real on Road Driving is not regulated. So, this study was carried out to compare CO2 on real road traffic conditions with standard lab conditions. This study was done on a set of BS VI compliant vehicles with diverse characteristic such as engine capacity, fuel type.

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.

Utilization of higher ethanol blends, 20% ethanol in gasoline (E20), as an alternate fuel can provide apparent benefits like higher octane number leading to improved anti-knocking properties, higher oxygen content resulting in complete combustion. Apart from technical benefits, use of ethanol blends offer certain widespread socioeconomic benefits including option of renewable source of energy, value addition to agriculture feedstock resulting in increase in farm income, creation of more jobs in rural sector and creating job at local levels. Use of higher blends of ethanol can reduce dependence on foreign crude leading to substantial savings in cost of petroleum import. The impact of higher Gasoline-Ethanol blend (E20), on the fuel system components of gasoline vehicles must be known for assessment of whether the fuel system will be able to perform as intended for the complete design life of the system.

With introduction of Bharat Stage VI (BS VI) norms from 1st April 2020, automotive industry will observe one of most stringent Indian emission regulation implementation in line with International standards. The Bharat Stage VI (BS VI) regulation also mandates for Real Driving Emission (RDE) measurement from 1st April 2020 for data collection and subsequently establishment of RDE compliance Factor (CF) by 1st April 2023. Indian RDE test procedure will be largely based on European RDE with minor changes in terms of climatic conditions, traffic pattern, speed limit, topography, and vehicle population. For performing a successful RDE trial one of the most critical part is selection of a route on which all RDE boundary conditions can be met. This technical paper summarizes the outcome of RDE experiments carried out on Light Duty Vehicles (LDV) in the city of Pune, Mumbai, and Bangalore. The collected data was post processed using CO2 based Moving Average Window (MAW) method.

In India, B7 (a biodiesel mix of 7% by volume in diesel) has been approved for use in diesel engines. Due to the depletion of fossil fuel supplies and tight pollution requirements, alternative diesel fuel has become critical. However, given the properties of diesel, no direct renewable alternative fuel can totally replace diesel. As a result, one of the solutions may be to replace part of the diesel with ethanol. In this inquisition, the impact of various diesel-ethanol blends, counting ED7.7, ED10, ED15 and ED20, were examined on two in-use multi-cylinder engines complying to different emission norms. The two engines under consideration complies with CPCB-I and CPCB-II, which is an Indian legal requirement for stationary Genset engines. For both engines, a 5-mode steady-state test cycle was considered. For each mode, the engine’s performance characteristics, including power, torque, and BSFC, were tested and described.

Currently, on-road transport contributes nearly 12% of India’s total energy related carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions that are expected to be doubled by 2040. Following the global trends of increasingly stringent greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) and criteria emissions, India will likely impose equivalent Bharat Stage (BS) regulations mandating simultaneous reduction in CO2 emissions and nearly 90% lower nitrogen oxides (NOx) from the current BS-VI levels. Consequently, Indian automakers would likely face tremendous challenges in meeting such emission reduction requirements while balancing performance and the total cost of ownership (TCO) trade-offs. Therefore, it is conceivable that cost-effective system improvements for the existing internal combustion engine (ICE) powertrains would be of high strategic importance for the automakers.

Methanol fuel has attracted global attention from engine researchers since the crude oil crisis and the rise in crude oil prices in the recent years. As it is one of the possible alcoholic fuels after ethanol in an automotive application that can reduce dependence on crude oil. India has also initiated research studies on methanol since the 1980s. NITI Aayog is encouraging the use of methanol as an automotive fuel for transport sector. This desktop study includes the potentiality of methanol as an automotive fuel and the methanol roadmap for India as a biofuel in the conventional gasoline application. It has been seen that Methanol has the potential to be used as a fuel in automobiles to replace gasoline or crude oil-based fuels in terms of engine performance. According to a study, India’s methanol promotion measures will encourage more enterprises to invest in the research and construction of methanol producing plants and development of methanol-fueled engines.

Researchers are under pressure to investigate and discover ways to improve the efficacy and reduce emissions from ICE due to the depletion of energy resources and the growing concern over global warming. Hydrogen is viewed as a promising fuel and has been investigated as a potential fuel in combustion because to several desirable qualities like carbon-less content and strong flammability limitations. When equated to other alternative fuels like LPG, CNG, LNG, etc., hydrogen has inimitable qualities because it lacks carbon, making it one of the promising alternatives fuels. In order to achieve zero CO2 emissions for traffic applications in the near future, hydrogen being an automotive fuel in ICE is a solution. The ICE powered by hydrogen is prepared for that. The actual drawbacks of using hydrogen in ICE generally are manufacturing, storage, and development of the requisite infrastructure. Hydrogen can be produced in its many forms.

Following global trends of increasingly stringent greenhouse gas (GHG) and criteria pollutant regulations, India will likely introduce within the next decade equivalent Bharat Stage (BS) regulations for Diesel engines requiring simultaneous reduction in CO2 emissions and up to 90% reduction in NOx emission from current BS-VI levels. Consequently, automakers are likely to face tremendous challenges in meeting such emission reduction requirements while maintaining performance and vehicle total cost of ownership (TCO), especially in the Indian market, which has experienced significant tightening of emission regulation during the past decade. Therefore, it is conceivable that cost effective approaches for improving existing diesel engines platforms for future regulations would be of high strategic importance for automakers.