Abstract
Biofuels provide high oxygen content for combustion and do modify properties that influence the engine operation process such as viscosity, enthalpy of vaporization, and cetane number. Some requirements of performance, fuel consumption, efficiency, and exhaust emission are necessary for the validation of these biofuels for application in engines. This work studies the effects of the use of diethyl ether (DEE) in biodiesel-ethanol blends in a DI mechanical diesel engine. The blends used in the tests were B80E20 (biodiesel 80%-ethanol 20%) and B76E19DEE5 (biodiesel 76%-ethanol 19%-DEE 5%). Fossil diesel (D100) and biodiesel (B100) were evaluated as reference fuels. The results revealed similar engine efficiencies among tested fuels at all loads. The use of B100 increased CO and NOx and decreased THC compared to D100 at the three loads tested. B80E20 fuel showed an increase in NOx emission in comparison with all fuels tested, which was attributed to higher oxygen content and lower cetane number. THC and CO were also increased for B80E20 compared to B100 and D100. The use of B76E19DEE5 fuel revealed reductions in NOx and CO emissions, while THC emissions increased. The engine efficiency of B76E19DEE5 was also highlighted at intermediate and more elevated engine load conditions.
Highlights
The growing concern over climate change and fossil fuel dependency has increased visibility for renewable energy sources [1]
When engine operated with B100 there was an increase in Brake Specific Fuel Consumption (BSFC) of about 14% on average, under the three loads, in comparison with D100, while the difference in lower heating value (LHV) was only 12% lower for B100 in comparison with D100
When compared to B100, the biodiesel-ethanol (B80E20) blend has shown an increase in BSFC of 5.3%, 4.2%, and 3% at loads of 2.7 kW, 5.4 kW, and 8.1 kW, respectively
Summary
The growing concern over climate change and fossil fuel dependency has increased visibility for renewable energy sources [1]. Yilmaz [13] observed a reduction in NOx emissions when using a blend of biodiesel (85%) and ethanol (15%) in comparison to diesel and biodiesel The author attributed this result to the higher enthalpy of vaporization and the lower heating value (LHV) of the ethanol, which reduced the combustion temperature. DEE appears as a potential additive to diesel-biodiesel-ethanol blends among oxygenated biofuels due to its chemical properties such as high cetane number (>125), moderate energy density (similar to biodiesel), high oxygen content in its structure, low self-ignition temperature, prolonged flame duration, and adequate miscibility with diesel, biodiesel, and ethanol In this context, DEE can be considered more suitable to be used for CI engines application than ethanol or methanol due to its higher CN and LHV [16]. The tests were developed in a light-duty naturally aspirated diesel engine with mechanical fuel injection, evaluate the performance, efficiency, and exhaust emissions
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