Well to Wheel: A life-cycle based analysis of CI engine powered with diesel and various alcohol blends

Abstract

The core objective of the present research is to investigate the life cycle-based en-vironmental analysis of a CI engine powered with diesel (DF), diesel (90%) and etha-nol (10%) (E10), and diesel (90%) and methanol (10%) (M10) blends. The data is gathered when the engine runs at a constant engine speed of 1800 rpm, and varying engine loads from 2.5 Nm to 10 Nm with gaps of 2.5 Nm. In the results, higher CO2 emissions are recorded when the engine is fed by E10 and M10 test fuels due to the worsening engine performance and high-oxygen content of relevant alcohols. Cumu-latively, the CO2 emission is higher 17.37% for E10 and 24.76% for M10 test fuel in comparison to that of DF. Given that the life cycle analysis, it is noticed that DF has respectable advantages. In comparison to that of conventional DF, life cycle based total environmental pollution cost of E10 and M10 test fuels is calculated to be high-er by 4.13% and 8.61%, respectively. The highest specific life cycle-based environ-mental values are calculated to be 0.1371 $/kWh, 0.1444 $/kWh, and 0.1607 $/kWh for DF, E10, and M10 test fuels at 2.5 Nm. The highest life cycle based environmen-tal payback pollution values are achieved to be 22.62 years for DF, 23.83 years for E10, and 26.52 years for M10 test fuels at 2.5 Nm. In the conclusion, it is well-noticed that biofuels cannot compete with conventional DF in terms of economical and CO2-based life cycle environmental pollution issues in today’s technology.