Combination of Biogas-dual Fuel Engine Method and Activated Charcoal Adsorbent to Minimize Emissions from Two-wheeler

Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Mataram Mataram, Indonesia

^* Corresponding author: hendrytira@unram.ac.id

Abstract

Two-wheelers emissions have been reduced by using sustainable fuels, mainly biogas, in conjunction with adsorbents made from corncob charcoal. Biogas is obtained by purifying biogas from fermented cow dung. In addition, activated charcoal adsorbents obtained from corn cobs are used in the biogas purification process. This process yields biogas with a methane concentration of 93.4%. Purified biogas is then mixed with liquid fuel. Therefore, this study employs the dual fuel combustion method, in which liquid fuel serves as the pilot fuel. The experiment was conducted by introducing biogas at a rate of 1 L/minute and without load at a constant engine speed of 900 rpm. The findings demonstrate a strong synergy between biogas and activated carbon adsorbents in significantly reducing CO and HC emissions. Notably, the adsorbent's capacity to adsorb exhaust emissions improves as the concentration of NaCl activator in activated charcoal increases. HC emissions can be reduced by up to 20%, while CO emissions can be reduced by up to 5.6%. However, CO emissions show an increase, particularly during biogas combustion. Yet, this increase is reversed when combined with activated charcoal adsorbent. The NaCl activator has been proven to widen charcoal pores effectively, enhancing absorption efficiency.