The Influence of Diesel-Biodiesel-Alcohol Blends on the Performance and Emissions in a Diesel Engine

Abstract

The pure biodiesel is not widely used in diesel engines due to its high viscosity leading to the fuel droplet size, poor atomization qualities and fuel penetration in the cylinder which is very vital in terms of engine performance and emissions. Therefore it is important to balance the biodiesel’s high viscosity with alcohol additives and positively contribute the combustion efficiency and resulted in lower NO_x emissions. The aim of this study is to evaluate the performance and emissions of high proportion of methanol and propanol (20% by volume) in a B30 blend and conventional diesel when operating on a direct injection diesel engine. The experiments were conducted from 1200 rpm to 2600 rpm with the intervals of 200 rpm at full load conditions for seven types’ blended fuels. The results revealed that lower brake power was observed with B30M15P5 and B30M17P3 test fuels. However, an increase in brake specific fuel consumption (BSFC) of 31.12% and 34.01% was determined when the engine was fueled with B30M15P5 and B30M17P3, respectively. It was concluded that NO_x emissions decreased up to 32.4% and 27.9% for B30M10P10 and B30M15P5, respectively at 2000 rpm in comparison with biodiesel.

Keywords: Combustion, engine performance, additives, diesel engine.