Production of eco-friendly fuel with the help of steam distillation from new plant source and the investigation of its influence of fuel injection strategy in diesel engine.

The primary intention of this experiment is to abate the harmful emissions of imported petroleum fuel by approach of novel citronella emulsified fuel. The study is emphasized by evaluating the influence of alteration in IT (injection timing) and IP (injection pressure) in diesel engine when utilizing B20 emulsion fuel of 5% water, 1% surfactant, 14% citronella oil and 80% diesel. The IT and IP are speckled in the array of 21 degCA bTDC, 23 degCA bTDC and 25 degCA bTDC and 180, 200, 220 and 240 bar correspondingly. It is found that retarding the IT and increasing the IP along with emulsified fuel lead to increase in the brake thermal efficiency by 1.16% and minimal in the brake-specific fuel consumption by 4.86% at top load state when correlated with diesel. Exhaust emissions carbon monoxide, NOx and smoke were considerably reduced by 35%, 0.8% and 34% respectively, but slight increase in HC was observed by 5.26%; heat release rate and cylinder pressure had a considerable improvement. From the determination of these values, the optimum values of IT and IP are inferred as 21° bTDC and 200 bar. Graphical abstract.