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CONVERSION KIT TO USE 100% BIOGAS IN EXISTING DIESEL ENGINES

G. P. Govil, Galgotias College of Engg. & Technology, Greater Noida. (U.P.) E-mail: gpgovil@rediffmail.com

INTRODUCTION India is an agricultural country with more than 75% of its population engaged in agriculture and related activities. The centralised power generation systems are inadequate to meet the energy needs of the decentralised communities of rural India. Over past few decades there has been phenomenal increase in the use of diesel engines in rural areas. As more and more diesel engines are being used for a variety of rural applications viz. tractors, irrigation pumps, generator sets, cheff-cutter, crushers and mills etc., there is growing need to adapt/modify these engines for efficient and trouble-free operation with biomass-based renewable gaseous fuels such as Biogas. Biogas is ideally suited for rural applications where the required biomass in the form of animal excreta, are available in plenty. It contains methane (55-60%) and carbon dioxide (40-45%). Strengthening the exploitation of these resources not only helps to fulfil rural energy needs in a renewable manner but also promotes rural industries, agriculture, dairy and animal farming. In addition, apart from the economic aspects, there is no doubt that decentralised electricity systems strengthen self-reliance and therefore, helps rural efforts. It might make economic sense to keep the grid as a standby and provide rural electricity through decentralised system instead. With increasing population and the need for rural employment and productivity, evaluation of rural industries based on biomass based gaseous fuels is essential. It will help villagers to stay back in villages rather than looking for job in cities.
The Indian Cow April-June, 2006

Central Government and State Government have helped the people in villages for installation of biogas plant on individual basis or for community mainly for cooking and heating under various schemes. Villagers could not maintain them properly and hence they have become defunct and now they have also started using LPG gas. It is my suggestion, that the Government should start Operation Gobar like Operation Flood. An entrepreneur from village should install biogas plant, mange it with the help of villagers and provide the power, biogas and slurry to them at a reasonable cost. In Goshalas biogas is available in plenty and they use diesel engines to meet their power requirement. Goshalas are away from city and does not have power from the grid and they can not sustain the expenditure for diesel for power generation. Thus a suitable conversion kit to readily convert the existing diesel engines to operate on 100% biogas for a variety of rural applications is required. . It is stated that if only 75% of the dung is collected than 165 lakh Mw power and 236 lakh Ton fertilizer can be produced. Modes of Engine Operation Gaseous fuels cannot be used directly in the conventional diesel engines even at a very high compression ratio because their self-ignition temperatures are quite high. For igniting them, an intense source of energy is required such as a spark or a pilot diesel ignition.

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So diesel engines can be modified to operate on gaseous fuels in two different ways viz., Dual fuel operation with ignition by pilot fuel injection.(60-65% Biogas . 35-40% Diesel) Operation on gas alone with spark ignition. (100% Biogas) Conversion of Diesel Engine to Biogas Engine Conversion of diesel engines into Biogas engine needs the following steps: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Incorporation of a suitable ignition system. Spark plug to be fitted in place of the fuel injector. Compression ratio to be reduced. Gas Carburettor Speed control device

1m3 of the biogas and the consumption is about 1m3 per kilowatt hour in the engine for power generation and engine produces 50% power in comparison to diesel engine as the biogas has 55%-60% methane and 40-45% carbon dioxide. If biogas is purified than power generation will be more. For example diesel engine of 10 kW will generate 5 KW power and will consume 5m3 of gas per hour Gas Technologies India with the help of Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Rural Infrastructure Vardha (MGIRI) has developed the biogas kit which can be fixed on the engine with slight modification in the engine. Upto 20 hp engine the kit can be installed at site itself. ( This kit has been installed at 1. Shree Kishan Goshala ,Kanjhawala Road, Bawana Delhi, Shree Kishan Goshala ,Karheera Ghazibad, 3. Shree Balram Gosewa Sadan, Godkabas, Kotkhabda Jaipur and has been successfully working). The schematic diagram is shown in Fig.1 for the conversion of diesel engine to biogas engine.

Technical Details. 25 kg of Gobar is required for the production of

COOLING WATER

BIO GA DIGESTE SPARK PLUG VENTURI

ENGINE IGNITION MEC GOVERNOR

SOLINOID CONTROL VALVE CONTROLLED GOVERNOR IN CASE O OVERSPEED

MANUAL G

Fig.1 Diesel Engine Converted to 100 % Biogas Engine The Indian Cow April-June, 2006

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