Performance and Exhaust Emissions of a Spark Ignition Internal Combustion Engine Fed with Butanol–Glycerol Blend

Stanislaw Szwaja,Romualdas Juknelevičius,Michal Pyrc,Michal Gruca

doi:10.3390/en14206473

Abstract

Investigation of a new type of fuel for the internal combustion engine, which can be successfully used in both the power generation and the automotive industries, is presented in this article. The proposed fuel is a blend of 75% n-butanol and 25% glycerol. The engine tests conducted with this glycerol–butanol blend were focused on the performance, combustion thermodynamics, and exhaust emissions of a spark-ignition engine. A comparative analysis was performed to find potential similarities and differences in the engine fueled with gasoline 95 and the proposed glycerol–butanol blend. As measured, CO exhaust emissions increased, NOx emissions decreased, and UHC emissions were unchanged for the glycerol–butanol blend when compared to the test with sole gasoline. As regards the engine performance and combustion progress, no significant differences were observed. Exhaust temperature remarkably decreased by 3.4%, which contributed to an increase in the indicated mean effective pressure by approximately 4% compared to gasoline 95. To summarize, the proposed glycerol–butanol blend can be directly used as a replacement for gasoline in internal combustion spark-ignition engines.

Highlights

A by-product of the biodiesel production process is glycerol, which is quite widely used in the pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries [1]
Presciutti et al [3] found in their study that due to its low calorific value (LHV), its combustion is not an efficient way to produce energy
The research work and the results presented in this article can be reasonably considered a new and innovative issue, which can characterize itself with big potential for implementation in the future, fulfilling demands from both the automotive industry and ordinary customers

Summary

Introduction

A by-product of the biodiesel production process is glycerol, which is quite widely used in the pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries [1]. Several studies have been conducted to adapt glycerol to the bio-refinery industry. It is well-known that glycerol is a by-product of the production of biodiesel from vegetable oil, mainly rapeseed oil [2]. To increase the production of biodiesel from renewable sources, an excess of glycerol production has been observed, which is difficult to neutralize. In this way, excess glycerol is considered a waste, posing a problem for biofuel producers. The study conducted by Presciutti et al disclosed that the combustion of glycerol with oxygen does not produce acrolein. On the contrary to the opinion by Presciutti, other researchers [4,5] shared the view that glycerol has a great potential as a fuel for thermal machines (IC motors, gas turbines, power boilers)

Methods

Results

Conclusion