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Abstract
India’s dependency on fuel import from other countries has highly increasing year by year. The exploration for alternative fuels for diesel engines from the non- conventional energy sources are consistently growing owing to rise of petroleum price, the risk to the environment by toxic fumes, the depletion of natural fuels and the global warming effect. Karanja oil (Pongamia pinnata) is a natural vegetable oil and available in plenty amount in India. Firstly, so as to reduce the viscosity of Karanja oil, Methanol is added with it for transesterification process. The biodiesel (B20) of Karanja Oil Methyl Ester added with diethyl ether is tested in Variable Compression Ratio (VCR) engine. The performance of the engine can be determined by calculating the brake power, brake specific fuel consumption, brake thermal efficiency and the engine’s emission characteristics can be analyzed by checking the CO, CH, NOx from exhaust for different compression ratios and constant engine speed. From the obtained results, the brake thermal efficiency and brake specific fuel consumption of B20 is comparable to diesel. Emissions of CO, HC and smoke are reduced and NOx is increased with increasing blending of KOME with diesel.