Experimental assessment of a diesel engine fueled with diesel-biodiesel-1-pentanol blends

Abstract

Higher alcohols made of renewable resources have better fuel properties and can potentially serve as better alternatives than lower alcohols in fuel blends. 1-Pentanol, which has a chain of five carbons and can easily be blended with both diesel and biodiesel, is a promising type of alcohol for the future. The purpose of this work is to investigate the fuel properties of ternary blends of diesel (D), waste oil methyl ester (B) and the higher alcohol of 1-pentanol (Pen), the effects of such blends on engine performance and emissions of a diesel engine. By splash blending, several ternary blends were prepared: DB (80% diesel and 20% biodiesel by volume), D75B20Pen5 (75% diesel, 20% biodiesel, 5% 1-Pentanol), D70B20Pen10 (70% diesel, 20% biodiesel, 10% 1-Pentanol) and D60B20Pen20 (60% diesel, 20% biodiesel, 20% 1-pentanol). In order to determine engine performance and exhaust emissions, tests were performed at 3 engine loads (0, 1.5, 3kW) with a constant engine speed (2000rpm). Ternary blends increased brake specific fuel consumption (BSFC) while decreased brake thermal efficiency (BTE) as compared to diesel fuel. Also, an increase of pentanol concentration had an increasing effect on exhaust gas temperature (EGT). The higher latent heat of evaporation caused a cooling effect, reduction in combustion efficiency and an increase in CO emissions. Similar to CO emissions, HC emissions of pentanol blends increased significantly. Also, the addition of pentanol to diesel-biodiesel blends has a significant impact on the increase of NOx emissions.