Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Energy Conversion and Management journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/enconman Effects of black soldier fly biodiesel blended with diesel fuel on combustion, performance and emission characteristics of diesel engine Kashif ur Rehman a,c , Xiu Liu a , Hui Wang a , Longyu Zheng a, ⁎ , Rashid ur Rehman e , Xiaobei Cheng d , Qing Li b , Wu Li a , Minmin Cai a , Jibin Zhang a , Ziniu Yu a a State Key Laboratory of Agricultural Microbiology, National Engineering Research Center of Microbial Pesticides, College of Life Science and Technology, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, PR China b College of Science, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, PR China c Livestock and Dairy Development Department, Government of Punjab, Pakistan d School of Energy and Power Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, PR China e State Key Lab of Materials-Oriented Chemical Engineering, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Nanjing Tech University, Nanjing, PR China ARTICLE INFO Keywords: Black soldier fly Biodiesel Injection rate Injection pressure Diesel engine Emission characteristic ABSTRACT The different fuel injection time, fuel injection pressure, fuel types were investigated to achieve low temperature premixed combustion in four-cylinder light-duty diesel engine using a common rail injection system. The two blending proportions of black soldier fly biodiesel (BD) at 10% and 20% BD-diesel blends were compared with pure diesel fuel in the present study. The combustion, performance, and emission of black soldier fly biodiesel were explored and compared with the conventional diesel combustion. Experimental outcomes showed that under low load, early and late injection time can attain low temperature premixed combustion that resulted in prolonged ignition delay and increased heat release rate. It has been observed that equivalent fuel consumption rate of black soldier fly biodiesel was driven higher (245–260 g/kWh) by increasing fuel injection time and fuel injection pressure but lower than pure diesel fuel (255–270 g/kWh). Moreover, an oxide of nitrogen emission rises with early fuel injection time (100–1200 ppm) compared to late fuel injection time (200–300 ppm), whereas the pure diesel fuel has lower emission 900 ppm at early fuel injection time but the rate was similar at late fuel injection time (200 ppm), whereas the early and late fuel injection time can reduce the smoke emission 0.02 l/m than diesel fuel which has smoke emission 0.04 l/m and 0.08 early and late fuel injection time re- spectively. The low blending ratio 10% BD recorded the reduction in the oxide of nitrogen emission (50%) than 20% BD and similar effects was observed for equivalent fuel consumption. The heat release rate was found to be high in higher fuel injection pressure due to the increase in the proportion of premixed combustion. Furthermore, the oxide of nitrogen emission was increased with the rise of fuel injection pressure, but smoke emission reduced during the process. 1. Introduction In response to the growing demand for energy, the fossil fuels re- sources are depleting and environmental problems raised by the high use of petroleum fuels, countries want to limit their energy dependence on oil exporting countries. Therefore, biodiesel is the best available, with extensively researched foundations to meet the energy demands of planet earth [1]. The high augmentation in the world population was expected in 2050 up to 9 billion people, that will lead the industrial growth, transportation and agriculture sector on its high peak [2], petroleum fuels drive all. Hence the utilization is growing very hastily. Also, the excessive use of fossil fuels has led to an alarming global environmental damage and health hazard. The other issue is that the combustion of fossil fuels is the primary source of emission of the oxide https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enconman.2018.07.102 Received 16 May 2018; Received in revised form 22 July 2018; Accepted 31 July 2018 Abbreviations: BSF, black soldier fly; FIT, fuel injection time; FIP, fuel injection pressure; LTPC, low temperature premixed combustion; DE, diesel engine; BD, BSF biodiesel; ID, ignition delay; HRR, heat release rate; EFC, equivalent fuel consumption; DF, diesel fuel; NO, oxide of nitrogen; TDC, top dead center; BSFC, brake specific fuel consumption; CO, carbon monoxide; CO2, carbon dioxide; COV, coefficient of variance; PM, particular matter; PPC, Partially premixed combustion; BSFL, black soldier fly larvae; EGR, exhaust gas recirculation; HC, hydrocarbon compound; CAD, crank angle degree; ATDC, after top dead center; BMEP, brake mean effective pressure; PHRR, peak heat released rate; CA50, Crank angle 50; NA, not available ⁎ Corresponding author. E-mail address: ly.zheng@mail.hzau.edu.cn (L. Zheng). Energy Conversion and Management 173 (2018) 489–498 0196-8904/ © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. T