Effect of 1-butanol on the characteristics of diesel engine powered with novel tamarind biodiesel for the future sustainable energy source

Abstract

ABSTRACT The depletion of petroleum resources, rise in fuel prices and stringent emission norms over diesel engines play a vital role in economic development of country like India, which attracts the researchers to search for novel alternate fuel for diesel. The present experimental work explores the effect of 1-butanol with rich potential of tamarind seed biodiesel for diesel engine applications. This investigation focuses on the effect of butanol as an oxygenated fuel additive to tamarind biodiesel at different concentrations like 5%, 10%, and 15% on volume basis to examine engine characteristics. The test results indicate the addition of 5% butanol to biodiesel blend had shown considerable enhancement in brake thermal efficiency, which is 3.21% over the tamarind biodiesel blend. It is also found marginal reductions in exhaust emissions such as carbon monoxide, hydrocarbon, and smoke opacity by 7.25%, 6.52%, and 6.2% respectively when contrasted with tamarind biodiesel blend at peak load operation. However, marginal increment found for nitrogen oxide emissions at all load conditions. Hence, the use of oxygenate additive to tamarind biodiesel blend could be critically considered as a prospective renewable fuel source.