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Atmospheric Environment 80 (2013) 190e197

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Atmospheric Environment
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/atmosenv

Emission reduction from a diesel engine fueled by pine oil biofuel

using SCR and catalytic converter
R. Vallinayagam a, S. Vedharaj a, W.M. Yang a, *, C.G. Saravanan b, P.S. Lee a, K.J.E. Chua a,
S.K. Chou a
a
b

Department of Mechanical Engineering, National University of Singapore, Singapore

Department of Mechanical Engineering, Annamalai University, Chidambaram, India

h i g h l i g h t s

The renewable source of energy has been harnessed from pine oilediesel blends.

BTE and heat release rate were increased with the reduction in fuel consumption.

The NOX emission is reduced by implementing SCR and catalytic converter.

Smoke, CO and HC for B50 were reduced by 70.1%, 67.5% and 58.6%.

a r t i c l e i n f o

a b s t r a c t

Article history:
Received 10 June 2013
Received in revised form
25 July 2013
Accepted 28 July 2013

In this work, we propose pine oil biofuel, a renewable fuel obtained from the resins of pine tree, as a
potential substitute fuel for a diesel engine. Pine oil is endowed with enhanced physical and thermal
properties such as lower viscosity and boiling point, which enhances the atomization and fuel/air mixing
process. However, the lower cetane number of the pine oil hinders its direct use in diesel engine and
hence, it is blended in suitable proportions with diesel so that the ignition assistance could be provided
by higher cetane diesel. Since lower cetane fuels are prone to more NOX formation, SCR (selective catalyst
reduction), using urea as reducing agent, along with a CC (catalytic converter) has been implemented in
the exhaust pipe. From the experimental study, the BTE (brake thermal efciency) was observed to be
increased as the composition of pine oil increases in the blend, with B50 (50% pine oil and 50% diesel)
showing 7.5% increase over diesel at full load condition. The major emissions such as smoke, CO, HC and
NOX were reduced by 70.1%, 67.5%, 58.6% and 15.2%, respectively, than diesel. Further, the average
emissions of B50 with SCR and CC assembly were observed to be reduced, signifying the positive impact
of pine oil biofuel on atmospheric environment. In the combustion characteristics front, peak heat
release rate and maximum in-cylinder pressure were observed to be higher with longer ignition delay.
2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords:
Pine oil
Diesel engine
SCR
Catalytic converter
Combustion
Urea
Emission
Environment

1. Introduction
In recent times, researchers have contemplated on using plant
based biofuels such as eucalyptus oil and ethanol as potential
substitute for diesel in diesel engine (Anandavelu et al., 2011;
Giakoumis et al., 2013; Hansen et al., 2005; Tamilvendhan and
Ilangovan, 2011). As opposed to biodiesel, which are synthesized
from oil extracted from seeds, these biofuels are synthesized from
plant parts and have lower viscosity. In a comparison, the atomization and spray characteristics of these fuels are superior to

* Corresponding author. Tel.: 65 6516 6481; fax: 65 6779 1459.

E-mail address: mpeywm@nus.edu.sg (W.M. Yang).
1352-2310/$ e see front matter 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2013.07.069

biodiesel, perhaps even better than diesel. However, despite the

advantages of enhanced fuel properties, the cetane number, which
characterizes the ignition quality of the fuel, was found to be lower.
Often, the lower cetane value fuels cannot be directly used as sole
fuel in diesel engine on account of its poor ignition quality and
therefore, they entail some engine modications to combat the
above said limitation. Since complete replacement of diesel by
these fuels is not possible without any engine modications,
blending of it with either diesel or methyl esters of vegetable oil has
been recommended as the possible and easiest option.
The physical and thermal properties of eucalyptus oil are
in agreement for its use in diesel engine with its major constituent being identied as cineole, containing in-built oxygen within
its structure (Devan and Mahalakshmi, 2010). Based on the

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R. Vallinayagam et al. / Atmospheric Environment 80 (2013) 190e197

experimental investigations conducted in a single cylinder DI

diesel engine using eucalyptus oil blended diesel fuel, it was reported that the mixing of eucalyptus oil with diesel up to 40%
increased BTE (brake thermal efciency) by 2.5% without affecting
the emissions (Tamilvendhan and Ilangovan, 2011). However,
lower cetane fuels tend to emit more NOX (oxides of nitrogen)
emission on account of higher peak heat release rate caused by
longer ignition delay. In an attempt to reduce NOX, Anandavelu
et al. (2011) implemented EGR to show a 50e60% reduction in
NOX emission without much compromise on engine performance.
Further, Devan et al. reported that the blend of 50% eucalyptus oil
with methyl ester of paradise oil, which was an attempt to
exclude the use of fossil fuel completely, showed better performance and emissions (Devan and Mahalakshmi, 2009). To increase the ignition qualities of eucalyptus oil, a recent study
adopted an engine modication technique to preheat the inlet air
so as to use it as sole fuel in diesel engine (Tamilvendhan and
Ilangovan, 2011). The study revealed a 50% reduction in smoke
emission at almost all loading conditions, while the BTE of the
engine was observed to be in par with diesel.
In the same note, the use of other plant based fuel, ethanol, in
diesel engine requires some modications with the engine or fuel
properties due to its lower cetane number (Guarieiro et al., 2009).
The problem with lower ignition quality of ethanol could be remedied by preheating the intake air and consequently, complete combustion can be achieved (Yilmaz, 2007). Moreover, ethanol can also
nd its use in diesel engine by modifying the engine design, particularly the fuel injection systems (Lawrence et al., 2011). Both these
approaches to make ethanol suitable for diesel engine would prove
costly and requires lot of efforts, given the diesel engine is standardized for the use of diesel only. To confront this, researchers have
suggested using ethanol in blends with diesel, known as diesohol,
with an additional intent to lean the air fuel mixture and produce
more efcient combustion (Huang et al., 2009; Lapuerta et al., 2008).
In addition, several research works reported the engine characterization study on using lower cetane fuels in blends such as ethanol e
biodiesel (Park et al., 2009; Shi et al., 2005), methanol e biodiesel
(Anand et al., 2011; Cheung et al., 2009), ethanol e diesel e biodiesel
(Kannan et al., 2012; Pang et al., 2006), methanol e diesel e biodiesel
(Qi et al., 2010; ZHOU et al., 2007) and ethanol e biodiesel e water
emulsion (Kannan and Anand, 2011; Qi et al., 2009). From the above
studies, it is apparent that less viscous biofuel with lower cetane
number and higher self-ignition temperature could also emerge as a
potential candidate for diesel engine.
In this work, we selected pine oil as a renewable fuel for diesel
engine in the lines of plant based fuels such as ethanol and eucalyptus
oil as discussed above. Rare attention has been paid to use pine oil in
diesel engine and hence signicant endeavors have been made to test
the characteristics of a diesel engine using this unutilized pine oil. Pine
oil has lower viscosity and boiling point, which is deemed to enhance
the fuel atomization and its mixing with air. Despite this advantage,
pine oil suffers a disadvantage of having lower cetane number, which
prevents its direct use in diesel engine. Therefore, the present study
has focused on using pine oil in blends with diesel and herein, the
ignition assistance is provided by high cetane diesel fuel. For the
current study, the pine oil being used has been procured from the
commercial store and various blend composition such as B10 (Pine oil
e 10% and diesel e 90%), B20 (Pine oil e 20% and diesel e 80%), B30
(Pine oil e 30% and diesel e 70%), B40 (Pine oil e 40% and diesel e 60%)
and B50 (Pine oil e 50% and diesel e 50%) were prepared and tested
for their performance, emission and combustion characteristics in a
single cylinder diesel engine. Since lower cetane value fuels are prone
to more NOX formation, SCR (selective catalyst reduction) and CC
(catalytic converter) assembly, which is regarded as an effective after
treatment process, has been incorporated in the exhaust pipe.

191

2. Pine oil biofuel e composition and attributes

Pine oil is obtained from oleoresin of pine tree and contains
terpineol, which is a tertiary alcohol, along with pinene. The
oleoresins, collected from the pine trees, were subjected to steam
distillation process to condense out pinene. The pinene was then
treated with orthophosphoric acid to generate terpineol, an
essential component of pine oil, leaving behind pinene. Finally, the
produced pine oil was found to contain lower boiling fractions such
as pinene (C10H16) and terpineol (C10H18O) as its two major constituents. Signicantly, the molecular formula of pine oil clearly
indicates that it is a hydrocarbon with inherent oxygen in its
structure. Unlike biodiesel, which are synthesized from triglycerides, pine oil is extracted from the plant based source and
hence its composition is quite distinct. Evidently, ester based fuels
are reported to have longer carbon chain length, whereas, plant
based fuels have shorter carbon chain length. Thus, the carbon to
hydrogen ratio of these plant based fuels is lower, which does have
an effect on engine soot and particulate emissions. In general, the
characteristics of plant based fuels are antagonistic with the characteristics of biodiesel in respect of thermal and physical properties. Notably, biodiesel tend to have higher viscosity, boiling point,
ash point and cetane number than pine oil.
A comprehensive comparison of various properties of eucalyptus oil and ethanol, as collected from open literature, is made
with pine oil, as shown in Table 1. Incidentally, the physical e
thermal properties of pine oil, as determined by ASTM standards,
have close resemblance with the properties of eucalyptus oil and
ethanol. However, contrary to ethanol, pine oil has higher caloric
value, which makes it as one of the appropriate biofuel to be used in
diesel engine. When compared to conventional petroleum diesel,
pine oil has lower viscosity, boiling point, ash point and cetane
number, while the caloric value of it is noted to be comparable.
However, the self-ignition temperature of pine oil was observed to
be slightly higher than diesel, affecting its auto-ignition characteristics. Therefore, it is required to provide some ignition support
for the successful operation of it in a diesel engine like blending
them with higher cetane fuel, preheating the inlet air or by adding
ignition promoters with the blend.
3. Experimental setup and arrangement
3.1. Engine setup
Kirloskar stationary diesel engine has been used for the investigation of pine oil blends and the engine is loaded by a water

Table 1
Property comparison of pine oil with other fuels.
Property

Measurement Pine oil

standards

Diesel

Ethanol Eucalyptus
oil

Density at 15  C
in kg m3
Kinematic viscosity
at 40  C in
106 m2 s1
Flash point in  C
Boiling point in  C
Gross caloric
value in kJ kg1
Sulfur content in %

ASTM D1298

875.1

822

789

890

ASTM D445

1.3

3.6

1.2

ASTM D92
ASTM D1160
ASTM D240

52
74
13
150180 180e340 78
42,800
42,700
26,800

54
175
43,270

ASTM D5453

ASTM D976

Less than Less than e

0.005
0.005
11
52
5e8

ASTM G72

300

Calculated cetane
index
Self-ignition
temperature  C

250

425

Less
than 15
300e330

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cooled eddy current dynamometer. The applied load is varied

progressively from low load (20%) to full load (100%) in steps of 20%.
The experimental setup and arrangement has been shown in Fig. 1.
The engine has been designed to develop a power of 5.2 kW and is
operated at a constant speed of 1500 rpm with an injection pressure of 220 bar. The operating and design conditions of the engine
are kept at manufacturers default value. Mechanical type fuel injection system with an in-line pump and 3 hole nozzle injector
assembly is used, and the engine is tested using pine oil blends
without any engine modications. The specications of the engine
are shown in Table 2. The fuel consumption rate was measured
using a burette and stop watch, and the measurements were
repeated for three times to assure the accuracy of the noted readings. A surge tanks has been positioned to dampen the vibrations
and pulsation produced by the engine, and the air ow rate was
measured by an orice meter.
The in-cylinder pressure readings were captured for 100 cycles
of operation using AVL pressure transducer, installed in the engine
cylinder head with the sensitivity of 16:11 pC bar1, and the average
value of it is noted. The in-cylinder pressure and cycle variations of
it were recorded using AVL 619 Indi meter hardware and Indwin
software version 2.2. During post processing, the heat release rate is
calculated by processing the in-cylinder pressure signals by the
method described by Heywood (1988). A K-type thermocouple and
a digital display were employed to note the EGT (exhaust gas
temperature). Exhaust emissions such as CO (carbon monoxide),
HC (hydrocarbon), CO2 (carbon dioxide), O2 (oxygen) and NOX were
measured using an NDIR (non-dispersive infrared) AVL-444 di-gas
analyzer. The exhaust sample to be evaluated was passed through a
cold trap (moisture separator) and lter element to prevent water
vapor and particulates entering into the analyzer. NOX and HC were
measured in ppm (parts per million) hexane equivalents, while CO
and CO2 emission were measured in terms of percentage volume.
Smoke level was measured in HSU (hatridge smoke unit) using a
standard AVL437C smoke meter.

3.2. After treatment

In the after treatment process, selective catalytic reduction,
which involves the spraying of urea in the tail pipe, was incorporated to mitigate NOX. Varying percentage of urea was sprayed in
the exhaust pipe, until a sufcient reduction in NOX value is achieved. In the ensuing process, 30% urea was found to be the optimum proportion intended for injection. It is worthwhile to note
that urea e water solution has become a popular reducing agent in
the commercial market and the emerging brand, Ad-blue, itself
recommends around 30% mix of urea with water. An additional
circuit to help realize the spray of urea was conceived as shown in
Fig. 1. Throughout the experiment, 300 ml of urea dissolved in
700 ml of water, kept in a separate tank, was injected in the exhaust
pipe. The rate of injection of urea is controlled by a small pump,
which maintains adequate pressure in the ow lines, and a three
way control valve, which controls the spray of urea in the exhaust
pipe. A catalytic converter is installed in the exhaust pipe, along
with SCR assembly, to effectively reduce HC and CO emissions. It
consists of a monolith honeycomb structure with platinum metal
catalyst packaged in a steel container. The hot exhaust gases ow
through the small channels in honeycomb structure and gets in
contact with the catalyst, resulting in oxidation of HC and CO to CO2
and H2O (water vapor).
3.3. Experimental procedure
While carrying out the experiments, ambient conditions were
maintained for all the tests as the ambient temperature and pressure does have an impact on the suction air drawn into the cylinder.
For the test runs, different blends of pine oil with diesel say, B10,
B20, B30, B40 and B50 were prepared. The increase in percentage of
pine oil beyond 50% is forbidden, as lower cetane number of it
would lead to combustion near TDC, paving way for engine knock.
Before commencing the testing with each blend, care is taken to

Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of the experimental setup with SCR (selective catalytic reduction) and CC (catalytic converter) assembly.

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193

Table 2
Engine specication.
Type
No of cylinders
Bore
Stroke
Compression ratio
Rated power
Rated speed
Dynamometer
Start of injection
Injection pressure
Type of injection
No of nozzle holes
Lubricating oil

Four stroke, Kirloskar make, compression ignition,

direct injection, constant speed, vertical, water cooled
One
87.5 mm
110 mm
17.5:1
5.2 kW
1500 rpm
Eddy current
23 BTDC
220 bar
Mechanical pump-nozzle injection
3
SAE40

completely remove the proportion of previously used fuel from the

fuel tank, fuel lines and associated fuel injection equipments.
Further, before starting the experiments with blends, the engine
was made to run with diesel so as to attain a steady warm up state,
which is ascertained by the temperature of the lubricating oil and
cooling water. Finally, performance, combustion and emission parameters of the engine were analyzed and discussed.
3.4. Error analysis
An uncertainty analysis is imperative to ascertain the authenticity of experimental results derived out from a specic study
conducted using diesel engine. The errors and uncertainties
emanate from the selection of instruments, environment, observation, operating condition and others. Therefore, some uncertainties with the instruments used for experiments are
inevitable, which are listed in Table 3. Using the percentage uncertainties of various instruments, the percentage uncertainties of
several parameters like TFC (total fuel consumption), BP (brake
power), BSFC (brake specic fuel consumption), and BTE were
determined. The method of propagation of errors was used in the
present study to calculate the uncertainty of individual parameters
and the total uncertainty of the experiment was found to be
2.36%.
4. Results and discussion
4.1. Investigation of combustion parameters
The heat release rate for pine oil and its blends at maximum
loading condition is shown in Fig. 2a. It can be seen from the
gure that both premixed and diffusion combustion phase of pine
Table 3
List of measurement accuracy and uncertainty.
Measurement

Accuracy

% uncertainty

Measurement technique

Load
Speed
Burette fuel
measurement
Time
Manometer

10 N
10 rpm
0.1 cc

0.2
0.1
1

Strain gauge type load cell

Magnetic pickup principle
Volumetric measurement

0.1 s
1 mm

0.2
1

CO
HC
NOX
Smoke
EGT indicator
Pressure pickup
Crank angle encoder

0.02%
10 ppm
12 ppm
0.1HSU
1  C
0.1 kg
1

0.2
0.1
0.2
1
0.15
0.1
0.2

Manual stop watch

Principle of balancing
column of liquid
NDIR technique
NDIR technique
NDIR technique
Opacimeter
K-type thermocouple
Magnetic pickup principle
Magnetic pickup principle

Fig. 2. Investigation of (a) Heat release rate (b) Ignition delay (c) In-cylinder pressure
at full load condition.

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oil and its blends exhibit different pattern from that of diesel,
owing to its distinct properties. Among the blends, B50 shows a
higher peak heat release rate of 153.06 kJ m3 deg at full load
condition. However, with the decrease of pine oil proportion, peak
heat release rate drops, with B10 exhibiting a lower peak heat
release rate of 99.21 kJ m3 deg. Pine oil blends have longer
ignition delay due to their lower cetane number leading to
accumulation of combustible mixture in combustion chamber and
thereby, the magnitude of peak heat release rate was noted to be
higher than diesel. Similar to this, many researchers have reported higher premixed burning rate due to longer ignition delay,
when using lower cetane fuels (Kannan and Anand, 2011).
Apparently, the longer ignition delay of pine oil is evident from
Fig. 2a, where the SOC (start of combustion) is noticed to be
10  CA (crank angle) BTDC (before top dead center) for diesel,
while that of B10 and B50 were found at 8  CA BTDC and 6  CA
BTDC respectively. For better clarity and understanding, the
ignition delay of various pine oil blends at full load condition has
been discerned in Fig. 2b. In addition to lower cetane number of
pine oil, the notion that less viscous fuels have lower bulk
modulus and compressibility (Rakopoulos, 2012) could have
triggered late injection of pine oilediesel blends, inciting late SOC.
Interesting observation could be noticed from in-cylinder
pressure curve for pine oilediesel blends, which is drawn with
respect to crank angle at maximum loading condition, and is shown
in Fig. 2c. B50 depicts a higher peak in-cylinder pressure than other
blends and diesel, which is believed to be due to its enhanced
vaporization and combustion. The combustion characteristics of
the engine are dependent on the fuel properties such as viscosity,
boiling point, surface tension and oxygen content. In this case, the
lower viscosity and boiling point of pine oil supports more complete combustion and hence, the peak in-cylinder pressure of B50
was perceived to be higher. Further, pine oil possess a comparable
caloric value with diesel and this in-turn, does not cause a drop in
peak in-cylinder pressure or maximum heat release rate like other
lower cetane fuels ethanol and methanol. As with the case of lower
cetane fuels, the reported results of higher peak heat release rate
and peak in-cylinder pressure are in compliance with the results
obtained by Anandavelu et al. (2011), when they experimented
lower cetane eucalyptus oil in a diesel engine.
4.2. Investigation of performance parameters
In general, diesel engine manifests a scenario of fuel atomization, vaporization, fuel air mixing and combustion until all essential
fuel for a particular loading condition and speed has been utilized
completely (Heywood, 1988.). When the viscosity of the fuel is
lower, the dispersion of fuel into ne droplets is more pronounced,
as pointed out from the experimental study of Hazar (2010).
Therefore, the lower viscosity of pine oil causes ne dispersion of
fuel droplet, enhancing the fuel air mixing and combustion process.
For this reason, the BTE of the engine for B50 was found to be 7.5%
higher than diesel at full load condition, as noticed from Fig. 3a. In
another consideration, presence of inbuilt oxygen in pine oil would
have promoted the combustion, increasing the BTE of the engine.
Further, Rakopoulos et al. (2010), in their study on less viscous and
lower cetane fuel, highlighted the longer ignition delay as the key
factor to the accumulation of fuel air mixture and subsequent
constant volume combustion, leading to higher BTE which is very
relevant to our study with lower cetane pine oil biofuel.
In case of other alternate liquid fuels such as biodiesel or
ethanol, which possess lower caloric value, the BSFC of the engine
is bound to increase with the increase in proportion of either biodiesel or ethanol. For example, Abd Alla et al. (2002) accounted for
higher BSFC with the increase in ratio of ethanol in diesel and

Fig. 3. Investigation of (a) BTE (brake thermal efciency) (b) BSFC (brake specic fuel
consumption) (c) EGT (exhaust gas temperature).

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195

Panwar et al. (2010) reported an increase in BSFC with the increase

in castor seed oil biodiesel with diesel, precisely beyond 20%.
However, for pine oil blends, in face of its comparable caloric value
with diesel, there is a decrease in BSFC. Notably, at full load condition, the BSFC of the engine progressively decreases from 2.2% for
B10 to 7.5% for B50, which is discerned in Fig. 3b. Despite the longer
ignition delay of pine oilediesel blends, the performance of the
engine is not affected because of the factors such as lower viscosity
and boiling point, comparable caloric value with diesel and
presence of inherent oxygen within the fuel.
The obtained increase in BTE could be further comprehended
from the EGT curve, shown in Fig. 3c, wherein, the EGT was found to
decrease with the increase in proportion of pine oil. Past reports on
performance and emission study in a diesel engine have shown
increased EGT as a sign of lower thermal efciency (Chauhan et al.,
2010). Thus, the decrease in EGT could be attributed to the reported
increase in BTE of pine oilediesel blends. In addition, there is a
general notion of increase in EGT when the injection timing of the
engine is retarded or when there is a signicant delay in the
combustion of fuel (Scholl and Sorenson, 1993). However, in the
current work, despite the delayed SOC of pine oilediesel blends;
EGT was found to be decreased, because of the improved dispersion
of pine oilediesel droplets and better combustion which is quite
clear from the EGT pattern.
4.3. Investigation of emission parameters
From the investigation of performance and combustion characteristics, it is apparent to note that B50 shows better performance
and combustion owing to its superior fuel properties. However, the
fraction of pine oil in diesel beyond 50% is not presented in this work,
as operation of higher blends of less viscous and lower cetane fuels
are prone to engine knocking. Since B50 gave better performance
and combustion, it was chosen as an optimum blend for further
emission study in a diesel engine tted with SCR and CC assembly.
4.3.1. NOX emission
Fig. 4a reveals an increased NOX emission for B50, as the higher
premixed heat release rate of B50 elevated the in-cylinder temperature, promoting NOX formation at higher loads. After applying
SCR and CC assembly, the NOX emission is substantially reduced by
15.2% and 32.4% than diesel and B50, respectively. When urea is
injected in the exhaust manifold, the breakdown of urea [(NH2)2CO]
into ammonia happens by virtue of two processes e thermolysis
and hydrolysis (Fang and DaCosta, 2003) as shown below,

NH2 2 CO H2 O/2NH3 CO2

Precisely, the ammonia formed during the decomposition and
hydrolysis process reacts with NO and NO2 in the tail pipe to from
N2 and H2O. The reaction which governs the formation of end
products, after urea injection, is as follows,

2NH3 NO NO2 /2N2 3H2 O

Similar ndings were reported by many researchers when using
urea based SCR systems, emphasizing it as one of the prominent
method to reduce NOX emission (Birkhold et al., 2006; Koebel et al.,
2000). Since SCR being an after treatment methodology, there is
seldom any compromise in the engine performance when compared
to EGR, where a reduction in NOX emission at the expense of engine
performance is observed (Abd-Alla, 2002; Zheng et al., 2004).
4.3.2. Smoke emission
When oxygenated fuels are used as substitute fuel for diesel,
smoke free combustion could be realized (Sathiyagnanam et al.,

Fig. 4. Investigation of (a) NOX (oxides of nitrogen) emission (b) Smoke emission.

2010), given the presence of inbuilt oxygen promotes better

combustion. Since pine oil being an oxygenated fuel, the smoke
emission of B50 is lower than diesel by 45.5%. With SCR CC
assembly, the smoke emission of B50 is favorably reduced by
70.1%, compared to diesel, as the oxidation catalyst helped to
promote the oxidation of soot. These distinctions can be easily
interpreted from Fig. 4b, which shows the smoke emissions of B50
and diesel with and without SCR CC assembly. The results
drawn in this study are relevant to the conclusions of Zhang et al.
(2010), wherein, a remarkable reduction in smoke emission with
CC is observed, when using less viscous and lower cetane
oxygenated fuel. In the same note, it is noteworthy to mention
that SCR system with CC has the potential to reduce both NOX and
smoke simultaneously, as reported by Shi et al. (2006), which is
clearly evident from the present study with pine oilediesel
blends.
4.3.3. CO and HC emission
It could be inferred from Fig. 5a that the CO emission of B50 is
lower than diesel at medium and higher loads; however, there is
an increase at lower loads. The reason for the formation of higher

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CO emissions for B50 at lower load is due to the decrease in fuel to

air equivalence ratio (Fig. 5b) and cylinder wall temperature,
which limits the further oxidation of CO to CO2. This is the case
with many oxygenated fuels, where the presence of excess oxygen
will dilute the air fuel mixture and affect the combustion process,
increasing the CO emission at lower loads. Notably, Devan et al.
pointed out a similar phenomenon through his study, when the
fossil fuel was completely replaced by oxygenated fuels, methyl
ester of paradise oil and eucalyptus oil (Devan and Mahalakshmi,
2009). However, at full load conditions, CO emission of B50 discerns a 45.9% reduction compared to diesel. The cause for the
maximum reduction of CO emission could be due to the complete
combustion, as the viscosity of the blend is reduced with the
addition of pine oil. With the implementation of SCR CC assembly, B50 shows a maximum reduction of CO emission by 67.5%
compared to diesel at full load condition. Generally, catalytic
converters are known to oxidize any unburnt CO and HC present
in the tail pipe into the end products of combustion, CO2 and H2O.
Thus, a greater reduction in CO emission has been realized with
the implementation of CC. Similar observations could be perceived
for HC emission, as shown in Fig. 5c, with a notable reduction of
58.6% for B50 with SCR CC assembly than diesel at full load
condition.
To help understand the emission characteristics for B50 with
SCR CC assembly, the percentage decrease in average emission
(AV) of CO, HC, Smoke and NOX were computed based on the below
formula,

AV

EB50  ED
ED

Where, EB50 is the average emission for B50 SCR CC and ED is

the average emission for diesel.
On estimation, it was noted that the average emissions such as
HC, CO, Smoke and NOX were reduced by 47.7%, 56.3%, 74.7% and
23.7% respectively for B50 with SCR CC assembly than diesel.

5. Conclusion
Pine oil has been utilized as renewable fuel in the current
research work and from the basic experimental investigation, B50
was observed to emit less CO, HC and smoke emission. Though
greener to environment, the deleterious NOX emission persisted
and hence an after treatment technique, SCR CC assembly, was
implemented to reduce the overall emissions. By this measure,
NOX emission was mitigated, while all other emissions such as CO,
HC and Smoke were substantially reduced. The underlying signicance and highlights of the present study are summarized as
follows,

Fig. 5. Investigation of (a) CO (carbon monoxide) emission (b) Fuel to air equivalence
ratio (c) HC (hydrocarbon) emission.

1. Despite the lower cetane number of pine oil, the other advantages of pine oil such as lower viscosity and boiling point, and
comparable caloric value with diesel has had a positive impact
on combustion, performance and emission characteristics of
the engine.
2. The BTE of the engine, for B50, was noted to be 7.5% higher than
diesel, whereas, emissions such as smoke, CO, HC and NOX were
observed to be 70.1%, 67.5%, 58.6% and 15.2% lower than diesel
at full load condition.
3. Though the SOC is delayed by few degrees than diesel, the
maximum heat release rate and in-cylinder pressure of B50
was found to be higher

Author's personal copy

R. Vallinayagam et al. / Atmospheric Environment 80 (2013) 190e197

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