An Attempt in Blending Higher Volume of Ethanol with Diesel for Replacing the Neat Diesel to Fuel Compression Ignition Engines

Abstract

Alcohols are renewable in nature and can be manufactured from biomass. Butanol a higher alcohol, can be utilized as co-solvent to prevent the phase separation of diesel-ethanol blends as per the previous researches.. This experimentation has been conducted with the blends of diesel-ethanol with various proportions of n-butanol followed by the solubility test in the temperature range of 5–25°C. The results indicate that 45% of ethanol can be blended with diesel by the assistance of 10% of n-butanol to make the final blend stable up to a temperature of 5°C for 20 days, which met the requirements of the essential properties (ASTM). Existing diesel engine has been modified as per the optimal level of parameters such as intake air temperature (IAT), fuel injection timing (FIT), nozzle opening pressure (NOP) and compression ratio (CR) obtained using Taghuchi method of L9 orthogonal array. Arrived out parameters are 75°C of IAT, 29°before top dead centre of FIT, 210 bar of NOP and 19: 1 of compression ratio. The implementation of these parameters in diesel engine and fueling with diesel-ethanol butanol blend containing 45% ethanol produced closer performance and emissions characteristics compared to that of diesel. However, the emissions of smoke, hydrocarbon and carbon monoxide produced by the optimal blend are found to be marginally higher compared to that of diesel. These can be ratified by the introduction of after treatment systems modifications.