Impact of Liquefied Petroleum Gas on the Emission Characteristics of Diesel in a Single Cylinder Four Stroke Engine

The depletion of oil resource and change in global warming has led to the development of alternate energy resources. Commercially the LPG gas is used as alternate fuel for the spark ignition engine. In this work an experimental investigation is done on Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) along with dual fuel mode of diesel as an alternative fuel for four stroke compression ignition engines. The primary objective of this study was to analyze the performance and the exhaust emissions of the engine using different LPG flow rate. The engine used in the study was originally a single cylinder, four-stroke compression ignition engine and minor modifications were carried out to permit the experiments to run on LPG fuel. The LPG is supplied in the suction stroke mixed with air while diesel is injected at the end of the compression stroke to initiate the combustion process. The LPG is made to flow with different levels of 3%, 6%, 9%, 12%, 18% and 21% on the volume basis with Diesel 100%. The electrical dynamometer was coupled with this compression ignition engine (720 to 2160 watts). Experiments were conducted and performance parameters such as Brake thermal efficiency (BTE), Specific fuel consumption (SFC), indicated power (IP), Torque (T), and Mechanical efficiency are calculated. AVL five gas was employed to determine the percentage of analyzer emission gases such as Co, UBHC, CO₂ and NOx. Optimum performance was obtained at the flow rate of 18% LPG compared with base line data. This paper explores a crucial aspect of engine emissions, specifically focusing on the impact of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) on the emission characteristics of a diesel engine in a single-cylinder four-stroke setup. This research sheds light on potential improvements in emissions and environmental sustainability, providing valuable insights for the automotive and environmental industries.