Supplementing the Energy Need of Diesel Engines in Indian Transport and Power Sectors

The progress and prosperity of a nation like India depends largely upon the fossil fuel-based power production sectors. However, the use of these fuels leads to detrimental effects on the ecosystem because of various pollutants emitted from combustion of fossil fuel. Being the second largest populist country in the globe, India is heavily dependent on imported fossil fuels, thereby making it the major source of global warming and pollutant emission. The fossil energy in India is primarily used in transport and stationary power production sectors. Another problem with these fossil fuels is that it is located in the certain part of the globe which makes oil-deficient countries to depend on them. Therefore, an alternative arrangement is necessitated to reduce these dependencies and oil imports. Alternative renewable energy sources in the form of vegetable oil, biodiesel, biogas, producer gas, and alcohols have good prospects to replace or supplement fossil fuel. Oils derived from vegetables show the most promising fuel for diesel engines. However, vegetable oils have the lower calorific values along with the high viscosity and density as compared to diesel, which are not suitable properties to run the engine. Hence, these properties are improvised through blending, preheating, transesterifications, and emulsifications. Transesterification of vegetable oil yields biodiesel which is the most prominent and popular among the processes. Gaseous fuels such as biogas and producer gas have also been successfully implemented in diesel engine through the dual fuel mode. Stressing the importance of alternative fuel sources for diesel engines, the present study focuses on the effects of these arrangements on engine performance and emission characteristics.