Design and development of downdraft gasifier for operating CI engine on dual fuel mode

Abstract

Gasification is a thermo-chemical process which converts solid biomass into a mixture of combustible gases that can be used in various applications. In this project, a downdraft gasifier was designed and developed for running a single cylinder, 4-stroke, air cooled, direct injection diesel engine developing a power of 4.4 kW, at a rated speed of 1500 rpm on dual fuel mode. Wood chips and mustard oil cake in the ratio of 7:3 was used as a feed stock in the gasifier. An experimental study was also carried out on diesel fuel (DF) and producer gas (PG) on dual fuel mode. The producer gas was introduced in the inlet manifold of engine at 4lpm, 6lpm and 8lpm respectively. The performance and emission characteristics of the engine were studied at different loads for various gas flow rates. A reduction in the consumption of diesel fuel was observed when operated on dual fuel mode though there was a reduction in brake thermal efficiency. NO emission was found to be very low in dual fuel which is a great advantage of dual fuel mode over diesel fuel alone but, CO and HC emission for dual fuel mode was found to be higher than diesel.