Experimental study on engine parameters variation in CRDI engine fuelled with palm biodiesel

[Display omitted] •B20 blend of palm oil methyl ester is fuelled in common rail direct injection engine.•Engine parameters like injection strategy, timing, pressure and exhaust gas recirculation is varied.•Efficiency of palm oil blend is close to diesel for variation in pilot fuel.•For the variation of injection the increased pressure and heat release rate is exhibited.•EGR is implemented to reduce NOx emissions. The present research emphasizes on performance, combustion and emission parameters generated by palm oil methyl ester by means of multiple fuel injection strategies. Initially 20% of transesterified palm oil in diesel was tested with varying split injection quantities at 10%, 20% and 30% with a PI angle of 33° bTDC and MI angle of 23° bTDC. Superior performance with respect to fuel consumption, efficiency and emissions was achieved at 30% pilot-injection mass of POME20. At peak load condition, brake thermal efficiency of diesel@10% PI quantity, POME20 at 10%, 20% and 30% PI quantities was observed as 26.15%, 27.95%, 28.45% and 30.42% respectively. The combustion characteristics also enhanced for POME20@30% PI quantity. In emission perspective, NOx emissions for POME20 at 30% pilot-injection mass were 7.19% higher than the diesel fuel at 10% pilot-injection mass. In an effort to decrease NOx emissions for POME20@30% PI mass while retaining the same performance, three methodologies was investigated, such as usage of 10% EGR, decreasing injection pressure from 600 bar to 500 bar, advancing pre-injection timing from 33° bTDC to 53° bTDC. While comparing the outcomes, POME20-30% PI mass@10% EGR showed 2.4% and 0.55% more brake thermal efficiency than diesel and POME20 with a PI quantity of 10%@0% EGR. Nitrogen oxide outflows for POME20-30% PI mass@10% EGR were nearly equivalent to diesel-10% PI mass@0% EGR and 1.28% lesser than POME20-10% PI mass@0% EGR. Finally it was concluded that POME20-30% PI quantity@10% EGR would be a best potential strategy with respect to performance and emission viewpoint.