Argemone Mexicana: A Wonder Weed of Sustainable Bio-additive for Diesel Engines

Bio additives from edible oils increases the volume of low-carbon fuels, but detriments the food chain security in developing countries by rising global food prices. The present work was an investigation to develop an economic fuel additive to mineral diesel from Argemone mexicana for fuelling diesel engines and evaluating the performance and emission studies. The esterification followed by transesterification improved combustible properties, engine performances and declined hazardous emissions to well below that of petroleum diesel. GCMS study was conducted to characterise the developed additive. Fuelling of bio-additive in absolute and 10 to 20% packages was conducted by rigorous engine trial. The engine trial inferred that 10 to 20% blend with mineral diesel can be fuelled to commercial diesel engines with better fuel economy without any adulteration or engine modification in engine hardware system.