Abstract
This study investigates the impact of an acetone-butanol-ethanol (ABE) mixture on spray parameters, engine performance and emission levels of neat cottonseed biodiesel and neat diesel blends. The spray test was carried out using a high-speed camera, and the engine test was conducted on a variable compression diesel engine. Adding an ABE blend can increase the spray penetration of both neat biodiesel and diesel due to the low viscosity and surface tension, thereby enhancing the vaporization rate and combustion efficiency. A maximum in-cylinder pressure value was recorded for the ABE-diesel blend. The brake power (BP) of all ABE blends was slightly reduced due to the low heating values of ABE blends. Exhaust gas temperature (EGT), nitrogen oxides (NOx) and carbon monoxide (CO) emissions were also reduced with the addition of the ABE blend to neat diesel and biodiesel by 14–17%, 11–13% and 25–54%, respectively, compared to neat diesel. Unburnt hydrocarbon (UHC) emissions were reduced with the addition of ABE to diesel by 13%, while UHC emissions were increased with the addition of ABE to biodiesel blend by 25–34% compared to neat diesel. It can be concluded that the ABE mixture is a good additive blend to neat diesel rather than neat biodiesel for improving diesel properties by using green energy for compression ignition (CI) engines with no or minor modifications.
Highlights
The rapid depletion of fossil fuel reserves, population growth and the increase in air pollution from internal combustion engines using fossil fuels have motivated the search for an alternative biofuel such as biodiesel and alcohol [1,2]
The main goal of this paper is to evaluate and compare the macroscopic spray parameters and engine performance of 10% ABE blended with neat biodiesel and diesel as fuel in a direct injection (DI) diesel engine
Unburnt hydrocarbon (UHC) emissions were reduced by 13% when ABE was added to diesel
Summary
The rapid depletion of fossil fuel reserves, population growth and the increase in air pollution from internal combustion engines using fossil fuels have motivated the search for an alternative biofuel such as biodiesel and alcohol [1,2]. Acetone-butanol-ethanol (ABE), a butanol intermediate product fermentation, has shown potential as an additive fuel blend for conventional diesel due to a reduction in the recovery cost requirements of butanol separation [3,4,5]. Another benefit of using ABE is that it is produced from renewable sources such as agricultural waste [6,7,8]. The ABE blend has attracted researchers’ attention because it is a renewable fuel that reduces dependence on fossil fuels and decreases diesel engine emissions [9,10]. They found that ABE-diesel has a lower sooting tendency than the butanol-diesel blend because it possesses higher oxygen content and lower carbon content for the same blend ratio
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