Response Surface Methodology to predict the performance and emission characteristics of gas-diesel engine working on producer gases of non-uniform calorific values

Highlights: • Gasification of biomass from rural areas can run internal combustion engine. • The impact of calorific values of producer gas on engine's performance predicted. • Response surface methodology predicts the potential use of biomasses in rural application. • High calorific value producer gas from rural biomass enhances diesel replacement. Energy generation through gasification technology has received significant attention from policy makers and researchers. To promote government policies on biomass and utilize energy source that are abundantly available in rural areas, suitable technologies must be developed with a focus on popular applications in a place. The biomass in rural areas differs from place to place and they may not generate uniform calorific value (CV) of producer gas (PG). The quality of PG is essential to run engines of power generators with required performance. Hence, in this study, a mathematical investigation was performed on a dual-fuel diesel engine for CV of PG from 3.4 to 6.6 MJ/Nm³. The major objective was to find the impact of the variation in CV of PG from coir pith, rice husk, rubber wood, coconut shell and rubber seed kernel shell on the performance of the engine. Response Surface methodology with suitable tools had been used for developing the model. The model predicted the optimum thermal efficiency, specific energy consumption and diesel replacement rate as 25.8%, 13.95 MJ/kWh and 59.04% respectively while calorific value of PG was 6.57 MJ/Nm³. However, CO and NO_x emissions were found increasing with the increase in calorific value of PG.