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. Performance and emission characteristics were evaluated for straight vegetable jatropha ethanol (SVJE) blends. Engine performance (brake specific energy consumption, brake thermal efficiency) and emissions (CO, HC, NOx, and smoke opacity) were measured to evaluate the behavior of the diesel engine running on SVJE blends. It has been found that at part load condition, the brake thermal efficiency and brake specific energy consumption of blends of SVJE were insignificant. HC, CO emissions and smoke opacity were reduced at part load condition. However, there was a decrease in NOx in case of SVJE diesel blends at full load condition.
