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Dwindling petroleum reserves and alarming level of air pollution has been an issue of great concern in recent times and researchers across the world are experimenting on variety of renewable fuels for meeting the future energy demands. Within the gamut of alternative fuels, biofuels are the most promising and have the potential to mitigate climate change and lease a new life to existing IC engines. The vegetable oils are having immense potential in this context and have been used either in neat or modified form by large number of researchers. Jatropha curcus is a perennial plant and bears non edible oil. The plant is drought tolerant and has been cultivated all over the arid and semi-arid areas for reforestation. In the present study, blends of jatropha oil and ethanol have been prepared in 5, 10, 15 and 20% (v/v) and evaluation of important properties of blends has been carried. The results show that properties are quite similar to diesel fuel.

The diesel engine has for many decades now assumed a leading role in both the medium and medium-large transport sector due to their high efficiency and ability to produce high torque at low RPM. Furthermore, energy diversification and petroleum independence are also required by each country. In response to this, biodiesel is being considered as a promising solution due to its high calorific value and lubricity conventional petroleum diesel. However, commercial use of biodiesel has been limited because of some drawbacks including corrosivity, instability of fuel properties, higher viscosity, etc. Biodiesel are known for lower CO, HC and PM emissions. But, on the flip side they produce higher NOx emissions. The addition of alcohol to biodiesel diesel blend can help in reducing high NOx produced by the biodiesel while improving some physical fuel properties.

The energy crisis coupled with depleting fuel reserves and rising emission levels has encouraged research in the fields of performance enhancement, emission reduction technologies and engineering designs. The present paper aims primarily to offset the problem of high emissions and low efficiencies in low cost CI engines used as temporary power solutions on a large scale. The investigation relates to the low cost optimization of an intake runner having the ability to vary the swirl ratio within the runner. Test runs reveal that NOx and CO2 follow a relatively smaller gradient of rise and fall in their values depending on the configuration; whereas UHC and CO have a rapid changes in values with larger gradients. However, in a relative analysis, no configuration was able to simultaneously reduce all emission parameters and thus, there exists a necessity to find an optimized configuration as a negotiation between the improved and deteriorated parameters.

Gasoline has been the major fuel in transportation, its good calorific value and high volatility have made it suitable for use in different injection methods. The drastic increase in use of carbon based fuels has led to increase in harmful emissions, thus resulting in implementation of stricter emissions norms. These harmful emissions include carbon monoxide and NOx. To meet the new norms and reduce the harmful emissions, better techniques have to be implemented to achieve better combustion of gasoline and reduce the amount of carbon monoxide in the exhaust. One such way of doing this is by enriching gasoline with hydrogen. Due to its low activation energy and high calorific value, the high energy released from hydrogen can be used to achieve complete combustion of gasoline fuel. However, there are certain drawbacks to the use of hydrogen in spark ignition engine, knocking and overheating of engine parts being the major problems.

The present study was carried to explore the potential suitability of biodiesel as an extender of Kerosene in an off road dual fuel (gasoline start, kerosene run) generator set and results were compared with kerosene base line data. The biodiesel was blended with kerosene in two different proportions; 2.5% and 5% by volume. Physico-chemical properties of blends were also found to be comparable with kerosene. Engine tests were performed on three test fuels namely K100 (Kerosene 100%), KB 2.5 (Kerosene 97.5% + Biodiesel 2.5%) and KB5 (Kerosene 95% + Biodiesel 5%). It was found that brake thermal efficiency [BTE] increases up to 3.9% while brake specific energy consumption [BSEC] decreases up to 2.2% with increasing 5% volume fraction of biodiesel in kerosene. The exhaust temperature for blends was lower than kerosene. The test engine emitted reduced Carbon monoxide [CO] emission was 7.4 % less than using neat kerosene as compared to kerosene-biodiesel blends.

Rapid depletion in fuel resources owing to the low efficiency of current automobiles has been a major threat to future generations for fuel availability as well as environmental health. Advanced new generation of internal combustion (IC) engines are expected to have far better emissions levels both gaseous (NOx and CO) and particulate matter, at the same time having far lower fuel consumption on a wide range of operating condition. These criteria could be improved having a homogeneous combustion process in an engine. Homogeneous mixing of fuel and air in HCCI leads to cleaner combustion and lower emissions. Since peak temperatures are significantly lower than in typical SI engines, NOx levels and soot are reduced to some extent. Because of absence of complete homogeneous combustion but quasi homogeneous combustion present in HCCI, there is still a possibility of further reducing the emissions as well as enhancing the engine performance.

Diesel Engines are widely used in transportation, industrial and agriculture sectors worldwide due to their versatility and ruggedness. However, they also emit harmful emissions detrimental to human health and environment. Apart from environmental degradation, the perturbation in international crude oil prices is also mandating use of renewable fuels. In this context, vegetable oils such as Jatropha Curcas due to their carbon neutral nature and widespread availability, seems to present a promising alternative to the mineral diesel. Straight vegetable oils (SVO) are not recommended for direct diesel engine application due to their higher viscosity, poor volatility etc. and dilution of straight vegetable oil may effectively enable its direct application in unmodified diesel engines. In the present study, Jatropha oil was diluted with n-Butanol to improve the fuel properties of the blend.

Internal combustion engines are the backbone of contemporary global transportation. But the major drawbacks associated with them, are the exhaust gases. These include carbon monoxide (CO), unburned hydrocarbons (UBHC), oxides of nitrogen (NOx), odor, particulate matter (PM) etc. Among them the emissions of oxides of nitrogen (NOx) and the particulate matter are the reasons of serious concern. For NOx reduction in recent developing technologies, diesel water emulsion was found the best approach for the existing engines by researchers. In the present study, performance and emission statistics of a diesel engine using diesel water emulsion operating at different compression ratios from 17:1 to 18:1 was performed. Stable Emulsions were prepared with 5%, 10%, 15%, 20% and 25 % (v/v) water concentration with variable agitation speed ranging from 5000-15000 rpm along with two surfactants. Various physico-chemical properties of emulsions were tested for all six samples including diesel.

Internal combustion engines are extensively used in every field of life in today's world. Diesel engines being more efficient are preferred in the industrial and transportation sector in comparison to spark ignition engines for their higher efficiency, versatility and ruggedness. The major emissions of diesel engines are oxides of nitrogen (NOx), particulate matter (PM), carbon dioxide (CO2), carbon monoxide (CO). Among these emissions, oxides of nitrogen (NOx) and the particulate matter are the reasons of serious concern. For reduction of oxides of nitrogen (NOx) and particulate matter simultaneously, the use of Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition (HCCI) have provided a sustainable solution in the present scenario. Further, the use of CNG in HCCI engine along with pilot diesel injection; the emissions have been decreased drastically. Homogeneous mixing of fuel and air leads to cleaner combustion and lower emissions.

The increasing rate of fossil fuel depletion and large scale debasement of the environment has been a serious concern across the globe. This twin problem of energy crises has caused researchers to look for a variety of solutions in the field of internal combustion engines. In this current scenario the issue of fuel availability has increased the use alternative fuels, especially alcohol derived fuels. Alcohol-diesel blends can be been seen as a prominent fuel for CI engine in the near future. Previous research on the use of alcohol as an alternative fuel in CI engines is restricted to short branch alcohols, such as methanol and ethanol. Despite their comparable combustion properties longer chain alcohols, such as butanol, isobutanol and pentanol have been barely investigated. In the present study performance and emission characteristics of an isobutanol-diesel blend was studied. One of the major problems encountered by isobutanol in CI engines is its low cetane rating.

Biodiesel in has gained great momentum in last few years and has been a subject of vast research all around the globe. Bulk of the research work carried out so far has been confined to production of methyl esters of vegetable oil that is known as biodiesel in the transesterification process. In the present study, jatropha oil ethyl ester (JOEE) was prepared using transesterification process with ethanol and KOH as a catalyst. The evaluation of important physico-chemical properties was carried and the properties were found within acceptable limits of ASTM/EN standards. A small capacity diesel engine was fuelled with different blends of JOEE and diesel and various performances, emission and combustion characteristics were evaluated. The results suggested that brake thermal efficiency was increased and emissions of carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons and smoke opacity were found lower for JOEE blend confirming better combustion due to the oxygenated fuel and higher cetane rating.

In the past few decades, use of energy resources in industrial and transportation sector have reached to its peak resulting in depleting resources and environment squalor. Vegetable oils, which have properties comparable to diesel fuel, are considered promising alternative fuels for unmodified diesel engines. However, high viscosity of vegetable oils is a major challenge which could be reduced by blending with alcohols. The aim of the present study was to investigate the suitability of orange peel oil and n-butanol blends as an alternative fuel for CI engine. Various blends of butanol with orange peel oil were prepared on volumetric basis and named as B10OPO90 (10% n-butanol and 90% orange peel oil), B20OPO80 (20% n-butanol and 80% orange peel oil), B30OPO70 (30% n-butanol and 70% orange peel oil) and B40OPO60 (40% n-butanol and 60% orange peel oil). All blends were found homogenous and various physico-chemical properties were evaluated in accordance to relevant standards.

Diesel engines are employed particularly in the field of heavy transportation and agriculture on account of their higher thermal efficiency and durability. As these engines, are the backbones of contemporary global transportation and accounts a 30% of world's energy consumption, which is second highest after the industrial sector. Therefore, the fossil fuel consumption becomes the prime concern. Following the global energy crisis and the increasingly stringent emission norms, the search for alternative renewable fuels has intensified. Currently, biodiesel (BD) has been identified as the most attractive and practical choice to replace fossil fuel as the main source of energy, due to the similarity in the properties with conventional diesel. However, its development and application have been hindered by the high cost of required feedstock. Therefore, in recent years, researchers have been seeking the alternative sources of non-edible oil which are economical.

Increased dependency on fossil fuels has led to its depletion as well as affected the environment adversely. Moreover, increasing crude oil prices is pressurizing vehicle manufacturers to invent new technology so as to increase fuel economy and at the same time to keep emissions under control. Hydrogen has gained popularity not just in terms of being an abundant alternative but also due to being a very clean propellant. In the present investigation, hydrogen boosting has been performed on an SI engine running on gasoline-methanol and ethanol-gasoline blends to determine the additional advantages of the same compared to pure gasoline operation. The engine selected for experimental analysis is a single cylinder, air cooled spark ignition engine that has been modified for hydrogen injection in the intake manifold prior to the port with the injection timing being held constant throughout the experiment.

Primary energy sources can be divided into non-renewable and renewable. The over-exploration of non-renewable sources for energy availability imposes considerable impacts on the environment. Reducing the use of fossil fuels would significantly reduce the carbon dioxide emissions and other pollutants produced. The future drift for sustainable production of renewable energy is cautiously thoughtful for it has been increasingly understood that first generation biofuels, majorly produced from food crops that are limited in their ability to achieve targets for biofuel production, climate change mitigation and economic growth. These concerns have increased the interest in developing second generation biofuels produced from non-edible feedstock such as microalgae, which potentially offers greatest opportunities in the longer term. Microalgae are considered a very promising feedstock for biodiesel production due to their very high yield and their no competition with food crops.

The present world scenario faces a serious threat from increasing dependence on fossil fuels. This has triggered the awareness to find alternative energy as their sustainable energy sources. Biodiesel as a cleaner renewable fuel may be considered as a good substitution for diesel fuel due to it being used in any compression ignition engine without any modification. The main advantages of using biodiesel are its renewability and better quality of exhaust gas emissions. In terms of emissions from biodiesel, the cause of concern continues to be the NOx emissions. Therefore, to compliment the functioning of biodiesels, Urea-SCR over Cu-ZSM5 catalyst is an effective option due to its ability to convert NOx into nitrogen and water. There has been increasing concerns that biodiesel feedstock may compete with food supply in the long term. The recent paper focuses on use of two non-edible oils mahua oil and fish oil (processed from waste produced by fish).

The present consumption rates and heavy dependence on fossil fuels pose a humongous threat to the environment. The increased pollution in urban areas is already causing serious sociological, ecological and economic implications. The issue of energy security led governments and researchers to look for alternate means of renewable and environment friendly fuels. Biodiesel has been one of the promising, and economically viable alternatives. The biodiesels are reported to cause reduction in CO, HC and PM emissions. However, NOx emissions are increased in case of biodiesel in CI engine. Therefore, a Urea-SCR over Fe-ZSM5 honeycomb substrate (400cpsi) zeolite catalyst after treatment system is an effective technology to reduce emissions for biodiesel applications. Exhaust gases pass through the catalyst and reactions take place along its surface, consequently converting NOx into nitrogen and H2O.

Concerns about long term availability of petroleum based fuels and stringent environmental norms have been a subject for deliberations around the globe. The vegetable oil based fuels and alcohols are very promising alternative fuels for substitution of diesel, reduce exhaust emissions and to improve combustion in diesel engines which is mainly possible due to oxygenated nature of these fuels. Jatropha oil is important non-edible oil in India which is either used in neat or modified form as diesel fuel. Furthermore n-butanol is renewable higher alcohol having properties quite similar to diesel fuel. In the present study, n-butanol was blended in Jatropha Oil (JO) and Jatropha Oil Methyl Ester (JME) on volumetric basis (10 and 20%). The blends were homogeneous and stable and there was no phase separation. The different physicochemical properties of blends were evaluated as per relevant standards.

The power generation, agriculture, and transportation sectors are dominated by diesel engines due to better thermal efficiency and durability. Diesel engines are also a major contributor to the air pollutants such as NOx and particulate matter. Acetone-butanol-ethanol (ABE) is considered a promising alternative fuel as it emits less pollutants compared to conventional fuels. In current work, the ABE used was of the ratio (3:6:1) and four samples were prepared for engine trial ABE (10%90%diesel), ABE (20%80%diesel), ABE (30%70%diesel) and ABE (40%60%diesel). Their physio-chemical properties like kinematic viscosity, density, specific gravity and calorific value were checked and tested on compression ignition engine at different operating parameters. The experimental work was conducted upon Kirloskar 4-stroke single cylinder, vertical, air-cooled 661cc compression ignition engine at different speeds and loads.

The world today is facing the effect of the dependence on fossil fuels. Also, the rate of consumption of Fossil derived fuels is alarming. The use of non-conventional energy sources is to be increased so as to tackle the global climatic changes, environmental pollution and also to lower down the rate of depletion of fossil fuels. The urgent need to replace the petroleum products having harmful emissions has leaded us to the Biodiesel. Biodiesel is a well-known alternative for diesel with an advantage over the later because of its biodegradable, less toxic nature, superior lubricity, better emission characteristics and in a way environment friendly. The present study focuses on the comparative study and analysis of performance and emission characteristics of a light duty diesel engine on blends of Fish oil Biodiesel in Diesel and Calophyllum Inophyllum Oil Biodiesel in Diesel.