Isobutanol Addition Research Articles

Fluorine-free foaming extinguishing agent: Design route, fire extinguishing performance, foam stability mechanism

The development of fluorine-free foaming extinguishing agent, abbreviation FFEA, has become an urgent scientific challenge in the field of fire protection engineering due to the fact that the key component of existing aqueous film-forming foams is listed as a persistent organic pollutant. A study was conducted on foam performance and fire extinguishing efficiency of FFEA prepared by hydrocarbon and silicone surfactants with low-carbon alcohol modulation, using three selected silicone surfactants. The results show that the FFEA, including low-carbon alcohol-modulated Silok8141/SDS and Silok8008/SDS, exhibit low surface tension, good foam stabilization coefficient and long foam drainage time. Laboratory foam extinguishing experiments demonstrate that the FFEA produced by Silok8141/SDS/Isobutanol ternary system has better cooling effect and fire extinguishing performance. And the study of FFEA mechanism reveals that the addition of isobutanol blocks the foam liquid channel and increases the foam stability. The wide applicability of the design route for FFEA prepared by low-carbon alcohol-regulated hydrocarbon and silicone surfactants has been demonstrated.

Increased yield of AP-3 by inactivation of asm25 in Actinosynnema pretiosum ssp. auranticum ATCC 31565.

Asamitocins are maytansinoids produced by Actinosynnema pretiosum ssp. auranticum ATCC 31565 (A. pretiosum ATCC 31565), which have a structure similar to that of maytansine, therefore serving as a precursor of maytansine in the development of antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs). Currently, there are more than 20 known derivatives of ansamitocins, among which ansamitocin P-3 (AP-3) exhibits the highest antitumor activity. Despite its importance, the application of AP-3 is restricted by low yield, likely due to a substrate competition mechanism underlying the synthesis pathways of AP-3 and its byproducts. Given that N-demethylansamitocin P-3, the precursor of AP-3, is regulated by asm25 and asm10 to synthesize AGP-3 and AP-3, respectively, asm25 is predicted to be an inhibitory gene for AP-3 production. In this study, we inactivated asm25 in A. pretiosum ATCC 31565 by CRISPR-Cas9-guided gene editing. asm25 depletion resulted in a more than 2-fold increase in AP-3 yield. Surprisingly, the addition of isobutanol further improved AP-3 yield in the asm25 knockout strain by more than 6 times; in contrast, only a 1.53-fold increase was found in the WT strain under the parallel condition. Thus, we uncovered an unknown function of asm25 in AP-3 yield and identified asm25 as a promising target to enhance the large-scale industrial production of AP-3.

Measurement of the critical temperature and critical pressure of isopropanol and isobutanol blended with gasoline components

Isopropanol and isobutanol are potentially partial substitutes for gasoline. The critical properties of isoalcohol-gasoline blends are of great importance to optimize their combustion and emission performance in engines. In this paper, the critical temperature (Tc) and critical pressure (pc) of eight miscible systems (isopropanol/isobutanol + n-hexane, isopropanol/isobutanol + n-heptane, isopropanol/isobutanol + n-octane, isopropanol/isobutanol + n-heptane + isooctane) were measured by the flow method in the range of 497.69–569.21 K and 2.495–4.766 MPa. Experimental results show that the addition of isopropanol and isobutanol can significantly reduce the Tc of C6-C8 alkanes by 0–60.85 K and increase the pc by 0–2.271 MPa. A model for calculating the Tc and pc of these mixtures is presented based on the Redlich–Kister equations. The maximum average absolute relative deviations of the Tc and pc are 0.08% and 0.46%, respectively.

Effect of Isobutanol Addition on the Biodiesel Density

Higher alcohols such as butanol isomers have received remarkable attention as alternative fuels for compression ignition engines because of their great potential as blending components in mixtures with biodiesel and diesel resulting in significant reduction in greenhouse gases and harmful pollutants. In this context, the influence of temperature and pressure on the density of used cooking oil biodiesel, 1-butanol, isobutanol, and biodiesel mixtures with different levels of isobutanol (0.0500, 0.0941, and 0.1397 by mass) was assessed over the temperature range of 298–343 K and pressures up to 30 MPa. For this purpose, a vibrating tube densimeter was calibrated using water and n-octane. The average expanded uncertainty of measured density at a confidence level of 0.95 (k = 2) was estimated to be 0.80 kg m–3. The densities of all the systems were represented by the Tait equation of state with AARD % (0.01–0.035%) including the results for the new Tait equation for the biodiesel + isobutanol blends. When isobutanol is added to biodiesel to form a 14% by mass of alcohol, the density of mixture decreases 11 kg.m–3. Thermal expansivity and isothermal compressibility increase with maximum deviations of 9.6 % and 7.8 % at 343 K and atmospheric pressure.

Individual and Simultaneous Isobutanol + Nitromethane and 2-Ethylhexanitrate Influences on Diesel Fuel Property Indexes

This study investigated the influences of n-pentanol, n-butanol, and isobutanol on the calculated cetane index (CCI), density, boiling point of mid-boiling point (T50), flash point and pour point followed by studying individual effects of isobutanol, isobutanol + nitromethane, and 2-ethylhexyl nitrate (EHN). The simultaneous effects of isobutanol + nitromethane + EHN addition on the properties of the diesel fuel were studied, too. The results showed that the addition of isobutanol would tend to better properties of blended diesel fuel (BDF). Increasing nitromethane concentration in the fuel could enhance CCI, flash point, and viscosity for 3.29 %, 11.29 %, 2.56 % whereas no significant effects on the density and pour point were observed. Low EHN’s concentration firstly increased the CCI and volatility whereas further increase would lead to a reduction in a manner that the BDF with 0.02 vol. % of EHN exhibited 2.57 % and 3.59 % increases for CCI and boiling points, respectively. The addition of EHN to the diesel would tend to a decrement in pour point and viscosity as well as an increase in the flash point and density. Accordingly, the BDF comprised of 2 vol. % of isobutanol (80 vol. %) + nitromethane (20 vol. %) and 0.02 vol. % of EHN was found to be the optimum composition of final BDF. The addition of isobutanol + nitromethane + EHN (INE) led to increase CCI and significant decline volatility, flash and pour points, density, and viscosity of the diesel fuel, significantly.

Effect of ternary blends on the noise, vibration, and emission characteristics of an automotive spark ignition engine

ABSTRACT The type of fuel, engine speed, and load are some of the parameters, which influence engine noise, vibrations, and exhaust emissions of an internal combustion engine. The present investigation is carried out to study the effect of isobutanol addition to methanol-gasoline blends on engine’s noise, vibration, and emission characteristics of an unmodified automotive SI engine operated at various engine speeds. The engine was fueled with 10 and 15% (v/v) blended fuels of methanol-gasoline (M10, M15) and methanol-isobutanol-gasoline (iBM10, iBM15). The blended fuels produced relatively high noise levels and less vibration in the vertical and longitudinal direction when compared with gasoline operation. The maximum noise level of 64.43dBA observed with the M15 blend and which is 4 dBA higher than gasoline. Only a slight variation in the total fuel consumption observed for all the test fuels at higher engine speeds. The emissions from the test fuels iBM10 and iBM15 showed a reduction in HC by 25 and 10% and CO emissions by 65 and 87%, respectively. The methanol-gasoline blends produced slightly higher CO2 and NOx emissions than gasoline.

Isothermal Vapor-Liquid Equilibrium Measurement of Isobutanol + Isooctane/N-Heptane Binary Mixtures at Temperatures Range of 303.15-323.15 K

The addition of alcohol as an oxygenated compound in gasoline blends may increase the vapor pressure of gasoline mixture. As a result, the study of vapor-liquid equilibrium for gasoline component and alcohol is necessary. In this study, the vapor-liquid equilibrium of isobutanol – isooctane/n-heptane blends were obtained experimentally at temperatures in the range 303.15 to 323.15 K using modified simple quasi-static ebulliometer. The apparatus was validated by comparing the vapor pressure of pure isobutanol, isooctane, and n-heptane with the published data and giving average absolute deviation (AAD) between experimental and calculated ones with magnitude less than 1.0%. The addition of isobutanol with the mole fraction range from 0.2 to 0.6 would increase the vapor pressure of the isooctane and n-heptane up to 12% and 14% respectively. The vapor pressure of binary mixtures was correlated with the Wilson, Non-random two-liquid (NRTL), and Universal quasi-chemical (UNIQUAC) equations with AAD 1.6%, 1.5%, and 1.7%, respectively for isobutanol + isooctane system and 1.8%, 1.7%, and 2.0%, respectively for isobutanol + n-heptane system. The systems studied show positive deviation from Raoult’s Law.

Effects of gasoline and iso-butanol addition on combustion and pollutant emissions of a common-rail diesel engine at different injection timing

Combustion and pollutant emissions from a high pressure common-rail diesel engine using ternary diesel/gasoline/iso-butanol blends were investigated experimentally in order to improve combustion process and farther decrease emissions of diesel/gasoline blends. The experiments were carried out at five injection timings under medium engine load. Four fuels were tested in this work, D100 (pure diesel) was tested for baseline comparison, the other three fuels were DG (30% gasoline in diesel fuel by mass), DGB (15% gasoline and 15% iso-butanol in diesel fuel) and DB (30% iso-butanol in diesel fuel). Experimental results indicate that DG, DGB and DB delayed the ignition timing periods and shortened the combustion durations, resulting in higher levels of premixed combustion and maximum pressure rise rates (MPRRs). Meanwhile, DGB and DB showed higher brake thermal efficiencies (BTEs) than DG and D100. It was also found that adding gasoline and iso-butanol, substantial decrease in carbon monoxide (CO) emissions, particulate diameters, nucleation mode (NM) and accumulation mode (AM) particle numbers were achieved, but the emissions of unburned hydrocarbons (HC) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) were increased slightly. DGB and DB produced better NOx-particulate matter (PM) trade-off than DG and D100 in combination with retarded injection timing. Furthermore, PM emitted from blend fuels showed higher ratios of sub-10 nm particle number concentrations, the sequence is D100 < DG < DGB < DB, which may be more harmful to human health.

Study on isobutanol and Calophyllum inophyllum biodiesel as a partial replacement in CI engine applications

Calophyllum inophyllum biodiesel is seems to be a potential alternative fuel for diesel engine applications due to its non-edible form, easily cultivable nature and abundant availability everywhere in the world. Isobutanol is the next generation biofuel which can be used as partial substitute to petroleum diesel or biodiesel due to its better solvency character. In the present study, a comparative assessment on diesel engine characteristics is carried out using isobutanol as an additive with diesel and biodiesel in the form of binary and ternary blends. Five blends are prepared by 20% of isobutanol with diesel and biodiesel as D80IB20 and B80IB20 along with three ternary blends of diesel-biodiesel-isobutanol using 10%, 15% and 20% concentrations of isobutanol. Experimental study in a diesel engine revealed that the brake thermal efficiency is improved by 3.19% for 10% isobutanol addition in diesel-biodiesel blends with significant improvement in brake specific fuel consumption when compared to biodiesel. All binary and ternary blends of isobutanol reduce CO emission by 13–59% than that of diesel fuel with substantial penalty in HC emission. Meanwhile, when compared to biodiesel, the oxides of nitrogen emission is decreased by 8.16% for isobutanol addition with diesel and biodiesel in terms of binary and ternary blends but higher than that of conventional diesel fuel. Furthermore, momentous improvement is observed in heat release rate during isobutanol addition for B80IB20, D70B10IB20, D70B15IB15 and D70B20IB10 fuel blends when compared to pure biodiesel. Finally, it is noted that isobutanol would be a feasible additive for the partial replacement of diesel and biodiesel in the blends for diesel engine applications.

Exhaust emissions and performance of ternary iso-butanol–bio-methanol–gasoline and n-butanol–bio-ethanol–gasoline fuel blends in spark-ignition engines: Assessment and comparison

For the past few years, the energy-intensive renewable fuels are introduced to solve our depleted fossil fuels, power and/or clean air requirements. In view of that, in the current study a couple of new ternary blended fuels in renewable bases is examined, for the first time in the internal combustion engines, as possible alternatives of fossil fuels. Bio-methanol was mixed with iso-butanol and gasoline in one blended fuel (iBM), and bio-ethanol was mixed with n-butanol and gasoline in the other one (nBE) at rates 3–10 vol% biofuels. The two ternary blended fuels were compared with each others as well as with the neat gasoline for the fuel energy efficiencies and pollutant emissions in a gasoline-fueled engine. The fuel energy efficiencies include output torque (Torq), brake power (BP), volumetric efficiency (VE), in-cylinder pressure (ICP) and exhaust gas temperature (EGT), while the pollutant emissions include CO, CO2 and UHC (unburned hydrocarbons). Experimental results indicated that the two tested fuel blends can achieve the goal of more green sustainability, as compared to conventional neat gasoline fuel. The superior engine emissions were presented by iBM fuel blends, which imply 31%, 19% and 32% lower than the CO, CO2 and UHC emissions of neat gasoline. However, there are slight advantages on engine performance at using neat gasoline than the iBM and nBM ternary fuel blends. The study also indicated that the addition of iso-butanol–bio-methanol to gasoline results a higher engine performance than the addition of n-butanol–bio-ethanol to gasoline by about 0.9%, 6.2%, 2.6 and 1.47%, for EGT, ICP, BP and Torq, respectively. The nBE blended fuel showed a small descend in engine performance, compared to neat gasoline, by about 2.4%, 3.4%, 5%, 5.2% and 1.9% for VE, EGT, ICP, BP and Torq, respectively.

Comparative assessment of ethanol and isobutanol addition in gasoline on engine performance and exhaust emissions

The depletion of fossil fuels is causing great concern and it is important to search for alternatives. Ethanol and isobutanol are suitable for spark ignition engine due to their favorable physicochemical properties that can be blended with pure gasoline to reduce the dependency on petroleum fuels. Six types of fuel blends consisting of ethanol and isobutanol were mixed with gasoline at different volume rates and were tested on a four-cylinder spark ignition engine by varying the engine speeds and engine torques to evaluate their engine performance and exhaust emissions characteristics. The results indicate that the binary blend of E20 gives an increase in torque, brake power and brake thermal efficiency, while the ternary blend of E10iB10 gives an increase in brake specific fuel consumption, compared to that of pure gasoline. In terms of exhaust emissions, E20 and E10iB10 blend show the lowest carbon monoxide and hydrocarbon emissions, respectively, for both conditions. However, all the fuel blends show higher carbon dioxide emissions as compared to pure gasoline. There are no significant differences in nitrogen oxides emissions for all fuel blends with respect to pure gasoline. However, the fuel blends show higher nitrogen oxides emissions at higher engine speeds and torques.

Experimental investigation of the influence of isobutanol addition on engine performance and emissions of a direct ignition diesel engine fuelled by biodiesel blends derived from waste vegetable oil

ABSTRACTBiodiesel has become one of the potential alternative sources to replace diesel. Some of the limitations of biodiesel include high NOx, poor atomization, poor oxidation stability, cold-flow problems, long-term storage problems, etc. Various strategies were discussed to overcome the limitations of biodiesels. Recent research is on effects of fuel additives or fuel composition modification to reformulate the fuel properties. This article is aimed at presenting the experimental investigation of the effects of isobutanol additive on the engine performance and emission characteristics of biodiesel blends derived from waste vegetable oils. The experimental investigation was conducted on a direct injection four-stroke diesel engine with different blends, B10, B20, B30, B10 (10% ISB), B20 (10% ISB), B30 (10% ISB), B10 (20% ISB), B20 (20% ISB) and B30 (20% ISB), and engine performance and emission characteristics are evaluated and discussed.

Production of gasohol from isobutanol

Butanol is a four carbon chain alcohol compound of a non-polar used as a solvent and as an intermediate in several consumer products. It can be produced from petrochemical process route as well as biochemical process. A common petrochemical route to produce butanol is hydroformylation of propylene as primary feedstock followed by hydrogenation. The increasing demand for butanol and the scarcity of petrochemical basestock has put the urgent need for a renewable resource of butanol production. Biobutanol is butanol produced from renewable, biological feedstock through fermentation of plant materials types of food, non-food and biomass. One isomer of butanol which is more similar with gasoline property is isobutanol. The use of isobutanol is commonly as solvent in coatings industry, as lacquers, melamine or phenolic resin. Isobutanol can be potentially used as a gasoline blending component, and it is better than ethanol due to its higher heating value, lower volatility and less corrosive. A brief review of process technology for butanol production is outlined in this paper. The benefit of isobutanol over ethanol was also overviewed. In order to prove the compatibility on fuel application, the production of gasohol was carried out by mixing isobutanol and base gasoline, then evaluated according to commercial fuel specification. From the research work, it has been shown that the addition of isobutanol in base gasoline by certain volum fraction has met the typical fuel specifications used for spark-ignition engine. The physical and chemical properties of the mixture was quite similar to gasoline 88 and gasoline 92 specifications.

Soot reduction effects of the addition of four butanol isomers on partially premixed flames of diesel surrogates

The four alcoholic isomers of butanol were added into T20 diesel surrogate (80% n-heptane and 20% toluene in volume) in co-flow partially premixed flames at volumetric fractions of 20% and 40% in order to investigate the effect of butanol addition on polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and soot formation. For excluding the influence of toluene, the flame of T16 (84% n-heptane and 16% toluene in volume) and T12 (88% n-heptane and 12% toluene in volume) were also investigated to compare 20% and 40% butanol blend-flames in the same content of toluene. Laser-induced fluorescence and laser-induced incandescence were used to probe the distributions and concentrations of PAHs and soot volume fraction. A detailed n-heptane-toluene-butanols-PAH kinetic model was constructed in order to clarify the chemical effects of the different butanol-blended fuels on PAH formation. The results show that the reduced toluene content (due to butanol addition) is the dominant factor for PAH and soot reduction, compared with the base fuel of T20. The different PAH formation for the tested butanol-blended fuels is attributed to the different reaction pathways of butanol isomers. The branched-carbon-chain butanols (tertiary butanol and isobutanol) tend to produce more propargyl radicals than those of straight-carbon-chain butanols (normal butanol and secondary butanol), thus the PAH formation is higher for the branched butanols. The soot volume fractions with tertiary butanol and isobutanol addition are even higher than that without an additive in the fuel, while the addition of normal butanol and second butanol can reduce soot volume fractions further caused by its oxygenated molecular structure compared with T16 and T12. The soot formation tendency can actually be sequenced by tertiary butanol>isobutanol>secondary butanol>normal butanol at both 20% and 40% blending ratios. The concentration of four-ring PAHs is proportional to soot volume fraction, which means that four-ring PAHs can be used as the indicator of soot formation.

Effect of iso-butanol addition to diesel fuel on performance and emissions of a DI diesel engine with exhaust gas recirculation

Iso-butanol is a second generation biofuel that has the potential to improve energy security and mitigate harmful pollutants in reciprocating engines. The present study investigates the effect of iso-butanol addition to diesel fuel on performance and emissions of a single cylinder direct-injection diesel engine with exhaust gas recirculation (EGR). For this objective, four iso-butanol/diesel blends containing 10%, 20%, 30%, and 40% were prepared by volume basis and tested in the engine under three EGR rates: 10% to 30% (at increments of 10%) with the combination of two injection timings: 23° and 21° crank angle (CA) before top dead center (bTDC). Experimental results showed that the combination of 30% EGR rate, 40% iso-butanol addition (ISB40) and retarded injection timing by 2° CA bTDC simultaneously reduced NOx emissions from 1284 to 749 ppm and smoke opacity from 20.7% to 1.9% with a slight drop in performance. It was found that higher iso-butanol/diesel blends require higher EGR levels to attain optimum levels of smoke and NOx emissions. Both hydrocarbon (HC) and carbon-monoxide (CO) emissions presented an increasing trend at escalating EGR rates. At retarded injection timing, ISB40 blend presented decreased HC emissions, increased CO emissions with a slight drop in performance compared to its injection at original timing.

The effect of the potential fuel additive isobutanol on benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and p-xylene degradation in aerobic soil microcosms

Isobutanol is being considered as a fuel additive; however, the effect of this chemical on gasoline degradation (following a spill) has yet to be fully explored. To address this, the current study investigated the effect of isobutanol on benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and p-xylene (BTEX) degradation in 14 sets of experiments in saturated soils. This involved four hydrocarbons for three soils (12 experiments) and two extra experiments with a lower level of isobutanol (for toluene only). Each soil and hydrocarbon combination involved four abiotic control microcosms and 12 sample microcosms (six with and six without isobutanol). The time for complete degradation of each hydrocarbon varied between treatments. Both toluene and ethylbenzene were rapidly degraded (5–13 days for toluene and 3–13 days for ethylbenzene). In contrast, the time for complete degradation for benzene ranged from 5 to 47 days. The hydrocarbon p-xylene was the most recalcitrant chemical (time for removal ranged from 14 to 86 days) and, in several microcosms, no p-xylene degradation was observed. The effect of isobutanol on hydrocarbon degradation was determined by comparing degradation lag times with and without isobutanol addition. From the 14 treatments, isobutanol only affected degradation lag times in three cases. In two cases (benzene and p-xylene), an enhancement of degradation (reduced lag times) was observed in the presence of isobutanol. In contrast, toluene degradation in one soil was inhibited (increased lag time). These results indicate that co-contamination with isobutanol should not inhibit aerobic BTEX degradation rates.

EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATIONS OF DIESEL ENGINE USING FISH OIL BIODIESEL AND ITS BLENDS WITH ISOBUTANOL AS AN ADDITIVE

Biodiesel with fuel additives has been gaining increased attention from engine researchers in view of the energy crisis and increasing environmental problems. The present work is aimed at experimental investigation of Isobutanol as an additive to the diesel- biodiesel blends. Experiments were done on a 4-Stroke single cylinder diesel engine by varying percentage by volume of Isobutanol in dieselbiodiesel blends. The effect of Isobutanol on brake thermal efficiency, brake specific fuel consumption, cylinder pressure, heat release and exhaust emissions were studied. It was Ghose M K found that brake thermal efficiency is increased with increase in blend percentage both with 5% and 10% Isobutanol. Addition of Isobutanol shows negative impact on Brake specific fuel consumption (BSFC) which decreased with blend percentage while it increases with Isobutanol percentage. CO emissions and smoke capacity decreased significantly while NOx emissions decreased marginally with the increase in Isobutanol percentage.

Effect of isobutanol on toluene biodegradation in nitrate amended, sulfate amended and methanogenic enrichment microcosms

Isobutanol is an alternate fuel additive that is being considered because of economic and lower emission benefits. However, future gasoline spills could result in co-contamination of isobutanol with gasoline components such as benzene, toluene, ethyl-benzene and xylene. Hence, isobutanol could affect the degradability of gasoline components thereby having an effect on contaminant plume length and half-life. In this study, the effect of isobutanol on the biodegradation of a model gasoline component (toluene) was examined in laboratory microcosms. For this, toluene and isobutanol were added to six different toluene degrading laboratory microcosms under sulfate amended, nitrate amended or methanogenic conditions. While toluene biodegradation was not greatly affected in the presence of isobutanol in five out of the six different experimental sets, toluene degradation was completely inhibited in one set of microcosms. This inhibition occurred in sulfate amended microcosms constructed with inocula from wastewater treatment plant activated sludge. Our data suggest that toluene degrading consortia are affected differently by isobutanol addition. These results indicate that, if co-contamination occurs, in some cases the in situ half-life of toluene could be significantly extended.

Enhanced production of ansamitocin P-3 by addition of isobutanol in fermentation of Actinosynnema pretiosum

Supply of isobutanol to enhance the production of anti-tumor agent ansamitocin P-3 (AP-3) in medium containing agro-industrial residues was investigated with analysis of gene transcription, enzyme activity, and intermediate accumulation. Under the optimal addition of isobutanol, about 4-fold improvement of AP-3 production was obtained, and the consumption of isobutanol and accumulation of isobutyrate, malonyl-CoA, and acetyl-CoA were observed. Compared to the control without isobutanol addition, activities of both isobutanol dehydrogenase and valine dehydrogenase were enhanced in isobutanol supplemented culture. Transcription level of genes in AP-3 biosynthetic and isobutyryl-CoA catabolic pathways responded to isobutanol addition in a similar way as AP-3 biosynthesis. It is concluded that isobutanol addition was an effective strategy for increasing AP-3 production via regulation of gene transcription and pools of precursors, and the information obtained might be helpful to the fermentation productivity improvement on large scale.

Synergistic interactions during thermosensitive chitosan-β-glycerophosphate hydrogel formation

Time-evolved gelation behavior of a chitosan-β-glycerophosphate (CS/β-GP) system was elucidated from rheological investigation, NMR analysis, fluorescence measurement, and morphology observation. Urea and isobutanol were selected to assess the interactions between the two components during the gelation process of the CS/β-GP system. Urea was found to be detrimental to the gelation process by both disrupting hydrogen bonding and retarding the formation of hydrophobic domains. On the contrary, the addition of isobutanol accelerated the sol–gel transition by strengthening the hydrophobic interactions. These results reveal that both hydrogen bonding and hydrophobic interactions within chitosan or between chitosan and β-glycerophosphate molecules are the main reasons for gel formation. The results also indicate that firstly the formation of hydrogen bonds makes the hydrophobic sites more accessible, and then the synergistic hydrogen bonding and hydrophobic interactions lead to the final formation of CS/β-GP gel network. This work demonstrates the possibility of tuning the gelling ability as well as the mechanical properties of CS/β-GP hydrogels. Thus, it gives the opportunities to optimize the performance of this promising natural thermosensitive material for practical applications in the future.