Ethanol-diesel Blends Research Articles

Miscibility Analysis of Ethanol-Diesel Blends with Additives: A Comprehensive Investigation

Miscibility Analysis of Ethanol-Diesel Blends with Additives: A Comprehensive Investigation

Visualisation Testing of the Vertex Angle of the Spray Formed by Injected Diesel–Ethanol Fuel Blends

The internal combustion engine continues to be the main source of power in various modes of transport and industrial machines. This is due to its numerous advantages, such as easy adaptability, high efficiency, reliability and low fuel consumption. Despite these beneficial qualities of internal combustion engines, growing concerns are related to their negative environmental impacts. As a result, environmental protection has become a major factor determining advancements in the automotive industry in recent years, with the search for alternative fuels being one of the priorities in research and development activities. Among these, fuels of plant origin, mainly alcohols, are attracting a lot of attention due to their high oxygen content (around 35%). These fuels differ from diesel oil, for instance, in kinematic viscosity and density, which can affect the formation of the fuel spray and, consequently, the proper functioning of the compression–ignition engine, as well as the performance and purity of the exhaust gases emitted into the environment. The process of spray formation in direct injection compression–ignition engines is extremely complicated and requires detailed analysis of the fast-changing variables. This explains the need for using complicated research equipment enabling visualisation tests and making it possible to gain a more accurate understanding of the processes that take place. The present article aims to present the methodology for alternative fuel visualisation tests. To achieve this purpose, sprays formed by diesel–ethanol blends were recorded. A visualisation chamber and a high-speed camera were used for this purpose. The acquired video provided the material for the analysis of the changes in the vertex angle of the spray formed by the fuel blends. The test was carried out under reproducible conditions in line with the test methodology. The shape of the fuel spray is impacted by an increase in the proportional content of ethanol in the diesel and dodecanol blend. Based on the present findings, it is possible to note that the values of the vertex angle in the spray produced by the diesel–ethanol blend with the addition of dodecanol are most similar to those produced by diesel oil at an injection pressure of 100 MPa. The proposed methodology enables an analysis of the injection process based on the spray macrostructure parameters, and it can be applied in the testing of alternative fuels.

Experimental investigation on the effect of diesel-ethanol blends for a constant-speed diesel engine

ABSTRACT Keeping the need for energy security and the world’s transition to a thriving low-carbon economy in mind, the research, on the feasibility of diesel ethanol blends, has gained momentum. The present work is related to comparing the performance and emission characteristics of pure diesel [D100] with 4 diesel-ethanol blends [D90E10, D85E15, D80E20 and D75E25]. The single-cylinder 4-stroke un-modified diesel engine running at constant 1500 rpm was used for experimentation which ran at different loads. Experimental results showed that with the addition of ethanol in blends, the brake thermal efficiency (BTE) and exhaust gas temperature (EGT) reduced while brake-specific fuel consumption (BSFC) increased. The addition of ethanol shortened the combustion duration. Hence, D75E25 showed a rapid rise in combustion pressure and heat release rate (HRR). As the concentration of ethanol increases in blends, the oxide of nitrogen (NOx) is reduced and carbon monoxide and hydrocarbon (HC) are increased. Thus, D75E5 was good blend producing less NOx with the penalty of fuel consumption on an unmodified diesel engine. In the long run, the effect of blends on the engine should be checked to make ethanol a feasible fuel for diesel engines. Abbreviations: CA: Crank Angle; ATDC: After Top Dead Centre; BMEP: Brake Mean Effective Pressure; BSFC: Brake Specific Fuel Consumption; BTE: Brake Thermal Efficiency; BTDC: Before Top Dead Centre; CO: Carbon Monoxide; COV: Coefficient of Variation; D100: 100% Diesel + 0% Ethanol, Pure petroleum diesel; D90E10: 90% Diesel + 10% Ethanol; D85E15: 85% Diesel + 15% Ethanol; D80E20: 80% Diesel + 20% Ethanol; D75E25: 75% Diesel + 25% Ethanol; HC: Hydrocarbon; IMEP: Indicated Mean Effective Pressure; LHV: Lower Heating Value; NOx: Nitric Oxide.

The effects of E80D20 ethanol-diesel blend on combustion and exhaust emissions in SI engine

One of the renewable fuels is ethanol, which is widely used in internal combustion engines. Ethanol is produced from renewable sources such as sugar cane, corn, potato, and biomass. It has high octane number, however, lower calorific value than that of gasoline and diesel. Since ethanol is a corrosive fuel, it cannot be used completely pure, so it is used as a mixture in internal combustion engines. Therefore, ethanol was mixed with diesel fuel to both eliminate its corrosive effect and increase its calorific value and used to examine engine performance and exhaust emissions in an SI engine at partial loads in this study. Four-stroke and four-cylinder test engine was used, and the experiments were carried out at constant speed of 2000 rpm, at 25 Nm and 50 Nm load, and with different excess air ratios (λ). The fuel mixture used in experimental studies was set as 80%Ethanol+20%Diesel (E80D20). To see the effect of the E80D20 mixture more clearly, the same experiments were also repeated with pure gasoline and pure ethanol, and these three fuel conditions were presented comparatively. At 25Nm and λ= 0.9, the use of E80D20 resulted in a 15% reduction in BSFC compared to the use of pure ethanol. When emissions are considered, the use of E80D20 in lean mixture (λ=1.1) showed a decreasing trend in HC and NOx emissions.

An experimental study of the performance of a CI engine using ethanol as a fuel stabilizer

Ethanol is a promising alternative fuel owing to its renewable bio-based origin and lower carbon content, as well as its ability to significantly reduce particle emissions in diesel engines. To evaluate the particulate matter emissions and performance of ethanol-diesel blends, researchers conducted experiments using mineral blends of 5% and 10% ethanol with 95% and 90% diesel fuel, respectively, as well as biodiesel blends with 25% biodiesel and 75% diesel fuel, and 100% diesel as a baseline. These blends were tested in a CI engine with a constant RPM of 1350 and variable loads from 0.0 to 1.6 at intervals of 0.2 kg-m. The study found that biodiesel blends reduced exhaust particulate emissions compared to diesel fuel, while the brake specific fuel consumption decreased with increasing brake power, and the brake thermal efficiency increased as brake power increased. The sound pressure level was measured from different locations of the engine, and the results indicated that increasing the percentage of biodiesel led to a decrease in the sound pressure level. Overall, the study concluded that ethanol-blend fuel improved both brake and engine thermal efficiency while reducing particulate matter emissions. The engine experiments evaluated engine brake torque, braking power, brake specific fuel consumption, brake thermal efficiency, and particulate matter emissions under a variable load and a constant engine speed.

A comparative study on selected physical properties of diesel–ethanol–dodecanol blends

The article presents findings of the comparative analyses of the selected physicochemical parameters of diesel fuel and diesel-ethanol blends with addition of dodecanol, used in order to stabilise the blend Diesel fuel and the blends were tested for density, flash point and cold filter plugging point. The physicochemical propertis were assessed in seven samples with different proportional volume of ethanol contained in diesel fuel. Homogeneous blends were produced by adding 5% dodecanol to blends containining between 5% and 30% ethanol. The study was conducted to assess the selected physicochemical properties of diesel-ethanol blends with addition of dodecanol and to compare the obtained results with requirement of EN590:2022-08

Comparative experimental study on performance and emission characteristics of ethanol–diesel blends fuelled semi-adiabatic diesel engine

The cost and demand for the fossil fuel are increasing everyday. Ethanol has drawn researcher’s attention due to its renewable nature. In this investigation, the copper crown surface was insulated from the aluminium piston body with a 3 mm gap. Air has low thermal conductivity and is utilised as the protecting medium. Commercially available anhydrous ethanol with a purity of 99.7% is used for blending with diesel. Oxygenated two fuel blends consisting of ethanol and diesel in the ratio of 15:85 and 30:70 are used in conventional engine (CE) and semi-adiabatic engine (SE). During this investigation, load ranging from 0% (no load) to 100% is varied. At maximum load, E30 blend in SE shown 5.24% increase in BTE and brought down CO, NO x , HC and Smoke emissions by 17.9%, 12.8%, 13.5% and 12.9%, respectively, compared to CE with diesel. In this paper, acetaldehyde emissions were analysed at maximum load.

Poultry fat biodiesel as a fuel substitute in diesel-ethanol blends for DI-CI engine: Experimental, modeling and optimization

Poultry fat biodiesel as a fuel substitute in diesel-ethanol blends for DI-CI engine: Experimental, modeling and optimization

A study on the effect of hydrogen enriched intake air on the characteristics of a diesel engine fueled with ethanol blended diesel

This work aims to replace conventional diesel fuel with low and no carbon fuels like ethanol and hydrogen to reduce the harmful emission that causes environmental degradation. Pursuant to this objective, this study investigated the performance, combustion, and emission characteristics of the diesel engine operated on dual fuel mode by ethanol-diesel blends with H2 enriched intake air at different engine loads with a constant engine speed of 1500 rpm. The results were compared to sole diesel operation with and without H2 enrichment. The ethanol/diesel was blended in v/v ratios of 5, 10, and 15% and tested in a diesel engine along with a 9 lpm H2 flow rate at the intake manifold. The results revealed that 10% ethanol with 9 lpm H2 combination gives the maximum brake thermal efficiency, which is 1% and 4.8% higher than diesel with and without H2 enrichment, respectively. The brake specific fuel consumption of the diesel-ethanol blends with H2 flow increased with increasing ethanol ratio in the blend. When the ethanol ratio increased from 5 to 10%, in-cylinder pressure and heat release rate were increased, whereas HC, CO, and NOx emissions were decreased. At maximum load, the CO and HC emission of 10% ethanol blend with 9 lpm H2 case decreased by about 50% and 28.7% compared to sole diesel. However, NOx emission of the same blend was 11.4% higher than diesel. From the results, the study concludes that 10% ethanol blended diesel with a 9 lpm H2 flow rate at the intake port is the best dual-fuel mode combination that gives the best engine characteristics with maximum diesel replacement.

The Influence of Physio-Chemical Parameters of Castor oil (Biodiesel) as an Additive in Diesel-Ethanol (Diesohol) Blends at 303 K

The Influence of Physio-Chemical Parameters of Castor oil (Biodiesel) as an Additive in Diesel-Ethanol (Diesohol) Blends at 303 K

Comparative study of performance and emission characteristics for different blended diesel fuel

In this present work, experimental study is performed in a naturally aspirated four stroke 1-cylinder DI-CI engine. Attribute of the engine particularly performance and emission are analysed considering ethanol and butanol blended diesel as well as pure diesel as fuel feeds. Then comparative study of performance and emission, at a fixed compression ratio (CR = 18), is studied at varying loading conditions. It is noted that, experimental results inhibit good agreement with the studies reported in the literature. It is examined that, blending of 12%v/v of butanol-diesel offers 10% more brake thermal efficiency than blending of 12% v/v of ethanol with diesel at 82% loading. NOx, HC and CO emission for 12% v/v of ethanol–diesel blend is 52%,53% and 14% lesser than 12%v/v of butanol-diesel blend at 82% loading. Additionally, it isimparted that, although higher series alcohol addition to the diesel yields in better performance characteristics of the engine but at the same time leads to poor emission characteristics.

A Review of Research on Emission Characteristics of Ethanol-Diesel Blends in Diesel Engines

This paper reviews research on the emission characteristics of blended ethanol and other fuels. With the rapid development of modern industry, the extensive use of fuel engines has led to increasingly prominent contradictions between energy and the environment. In order to respond to sustainable development and reduce engine emissions in various countries, many scientific research institutions have conducted research on mixed fuels. The research of blended fuel mainly focuses on its sustainability, economy and environmental protection. Compared with gasoline engines, diesel engines have a lower fuel consumption rate and are widely used in heavy industry. But its fuel comes from refining crude oil, which is non-renewable and has poor cleanliness. As an emerging renewable fuel, ethanol is a fuel with good development prospects due to its good cleanliness, wide range of sources and renewable. If ethanol can be used as an alternative fuel for traditional internal combustion engines and diesel engines, it can save some traditional fuels and improve the emission problems of internal combustion engines to a certain extent. This paper introduces the research status of ethanol blended fuels, and the emission characteristics of engines (NOx, HC and CO) under different ethanol ratios and different operating conditions. It can be seen that with the increase of ethanol blending ratio, NOx content will increase, while CO and HC emissions will decrease.

Statement of Retraction: Niger seed oil biodiesel as an emulsifier in diesel–ethanol blends for compression ignition engine

Statement of Retraction: Niger seed oil biodiesel as an emulsifier in diesel–ethanol blends for compression ignition engine

Experimental analysis of the effect of zinc oxide nano additive diesel-ethanol blend on the performance and emission characteristics of a variable compression ratio diesel engine at various compression ratios

The two significant challenges facing the world are growing pollution issues and fossil fuel depletion. Emissions emanating and consumption of fossil fuels in diesel engines are reduced by modifying engine operating parameters and by developing more efficient alternative fuels. In view of this, the current work evaluates the effect of ZnO nanoparticles mixed with diesel-ethanol blend on the working characteristics of diesel engine at different CR’s and loads. The test fuels selected for the experimental work are pure diesel, DE10, DE10ZnO50 and DE10ZnO100, and the compression ratios are 16.5, 17.5 and 18.5. Using ultrasonic agitation, ZnO nanoparticles were incorporated in fuel blends in the presence of 2% surfactant span80. All fuel blends were tested for their physicochemical properties, and it was noted that the fuel properties improved when ZnO nanoparticles were added to the test blends. The results showed that at CR 18.5, the DE10ZnO100 fuel blend shown maximum improvement in engine working characteristics as compared to other blends. In comparison to diesel at CR 18.5 for DE10ZnO100 blend, BTE enhanced by 5.73% and BSFC was reduced by 8.31%. CO, NOx and UHC emissions are reduced by 21.96%, 6.41% and 12.07%, whereas CO2 emissions have increased by 7.44%, respectively. HIGHLIGHTS Different concentration of ZnO nanoparticles incorporated diesel-ethanol blend is prepared. The effect of ZnO nanoparticles diesel-ethanol blend at various compression ratios of diesel engine was investigated Optimal results are noted for the DE10ZnO100 blend at compression ratio 18.5. Improvements in BTE and BSFC is 5.73% and 8.31% as compared to diesel at CR 18.5 for DE10ZnO100 blend. CO, UHC and NOx reduced by 21.96%, 12.07% and 6.41%.

Emissions Characteristics and Engine Performance from the Interaction Effect of EGR and Diesel-Ethanol Blends in Diesel Engine

Recently, most of the researchers focused on provide lower greenhouse gas emissions that emitted from diesel engines by using renewable fuels to be good alternative to the conventional diesel fuel. Ethanol can be derived from renewable sources such as sugar cane, corn, timber and dates. In the current study, the ethanol fuel used in the tests was derived from the dates. The effects of using exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) diesel-ethanol blend (E10) with on engine performance and emissions characteristics have been studied in diesel engine under various engine loads. This study focused the use of oxygen in the bio-ethanol composition to compensate for the decrease occurred by the addition of EGR, which improves the engine performance and reduces its emissions. In this experiment, the ratios of EGR were 10%, 20% and 30% as well as 10% ratio of ethanol was blended into the diesel fuel blend under fixed engine speed. A traditional (without additional systems to reduce emissions) four cylinders direct injection (DI) diesel engine was used for all tests. The brake specific fuel consumption (BSFC) increased with increasing the EGR ratio by 10%, 20% and 30% by 18.7%, 22.4% and 37.4%, respectively. The thermal efficiency decreased under variable conditions of engine load for different ethanol blends. Furthermore, the emissions of NOX decreased when fuelled B10 into the engine in comparison with diesel under low engine load. Significant reduction in the NOx emissions were found when applied EGR in the tests than to the absence EGR for E10 blend and diesel. The NOx reduction rate was 12.3%, 30.6% and 43.4% when EGR rate was 10%, 20% and 30%, respectively. In addition, the concentrations of HC and CO emissions decreased more by 8.23% and 6.4%, respectively, when using E10 in comparison with the diesel for various engine loads. It is indicated that the oxygen reduction by EGR effect was compensated from ethanol blend combustion. The results showed that the combination use of E10 and EGR leads to significant reduction in engine emissions accompanied with partial reduction in the engine performance.

Prediction of the influence of castor oil–ethanol–diesel​ blends on single-cylinder diesel engine characteristics using generalized regression neural networks (GRNNs)

With some inferior fuel properties such as cetane number, flash point and calorific value, in this study the ethanol–diesel blend was improved through the use of neat castor oil. According to a preliminary study on blending stability and lubricity, a fuel blend was formulated with 10% ethanol, 10% castor oil and 80% diesel fuel (D80E10C10) which was selected to test in the diesel engine. The generalized regression neural network (GRNNs), which is one of the artificial intelligence algorithms that is suitable for a small data set, was applied to create a model for predicting the influence of castor oil on the characteristics of the diesel engine fueled with an ethanol–diesel blend. The experimental results of fuel properties were firstly analyzed and revealed that the presence of 10% castor oil can improve the defective fuel properties of ethanol–diesel to keep them under the limitations of the diesel fuel specification. A lower thermal efficiency was obtained with the combustion of the castor oil blend. A higher peak of in-cylinder pressure and the earlier start of combustion was achieved with increasing engine operating load and compression ratio. A lower peak of heat release rate was attained with the combustion of the castor oil blend. Hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide were increased with the castor oil blend, while oxides of nitrogen were decreased and no significant change in smoke emissions was found with respect to diesel fuel. Subsequently, the results of the prediction model concluded that the response surface methodology was a good method to optimize the smoothing parameter of the GRNNs model in the case of multi-output factors with different levels of importance. The GRNNs model was achieved with relatively high performance to predict BSFC, thermal efficiency, NOx, HC, CO and smoke emissions, with mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) values in the range of 1.562%–8.181% and coefficient of determination (R2) in the range of 0.708-0.993.

Investigation on the Combustion and Emission Characteristics in a Diesel Engine Fueled with Diesel-Ethanol Blends

The aim of this work is to investigate the effects of different diesel–bioethanol blended fuels on combustion, engine performance, and emission characteristics in a four-cylinder common rail direct injection (CRDI) diesel engine according to various engine loads. Combustion characteristics including in-cylinder pressure, maximum in-cylinder pressure, heat release rate (HRR), and maximum HRR; engine performance including brake specific fuel consumption (BSFC); and emission characteristics including carbon monoxide (CO), hydrocarbon (HC), nitrogen oxides (NOx), and smoke were compared and analyzed. The four test fuels were diesel (D100), 95% D100 blended with 5% ethanol by volume (D95E5), 90% D100 blended with 10% ethanol by volume (D90E10), and 85% D100 blended with 15% ethanol by volume (D85E15). The results indicated that the addition of ethanol had no great impact on the in-cylinder pressure and HRR, but it could significantly reduce CO, NOx, and smoke emissions. The only deficiency was that BSFC was increased to varying degrees with increase of ethanol due to its low heating value.

Experimental studies on ethanol solubility and nanoparticle (NP) stability in diesel fuel

The main objective of the study was to prepare the most soluble and stable diesel-ethanol-nanoparticle blend for CI engine and investigate the influence of different mixing parameters on ethanol’s solubility in diesel and the nanoparticle stability in diesel-ethanol blends. Total 22 DE10, and DE15 samples were prepared, using various stirring speeds (1500–2000, 2500–4000 rpm) and times (30, 60, 120, 180, 240, 360 min), ultrasonication times (15, 30, 60, 90, 120 min) with and without surfactants (SPAN 80, TWEEN 80). The result revealed that ultrasonication, stirring speed and time influenced the ethanol solubility in diesel fuel and ethanol solubility was better with DE10 blend (Sample G) prepared using low ultrasonication (15 min) and high stirring time (min. 60 min) and speed (min. 2500–4000 rpm) without surfactant. Increase in ultrasonication time (>15 min) resulted in negligible effect on solubility. The effect of ultrasonication, surfactant and dispersion approach on the stability of Al2O3 and ZnO nanoparticles in sample G was also studied. Stability of ZnO nanoparticles was much higher than the Al2O3 nanoparticles at same ultrasonication time (120 min) and surfactant proportion (0.5 %). It displayed lower agglomeration, and 50 %, 33 %, and 52 % reduction in sedimentation index, height and weight, respectively, compared to Al2O3 nanoparticle.

Autoignition of ethanol-diesel blends: Is it worth dehydrating ethanol?

This study analyses the impact of the concentration of water in ethanol on the autoignition characteristics of ethanol-diesel blends. A constant volume combustion chamber was used to emulate the conditions of a diesel engine. Tests were carried out modifying the water content in the alcohol, and then the concentration of hydrated ethanol in the diesel fuel, at an initial temperature of 650 °C and 535 °C and pressure of 21 bar. The results reveal that, in general, the presence of water in alcohol, at concentrations requiring no additives to assure miscibility, has little effect on autoignition times. It was found that at low hydrated ethanol contents water acts as a reactivity inhibitor, probably associated with the endothermic effect of evaporation of the injection liquid. However, at higher concentrations of hydrated ethanol, water acts as an autoignition enhancer. Simulations suggest that the chemical effect associated with water as a third-body becomes more important compared to other effects. Finally, from an autoignition standpoint, exhaustive dehydration of ethanol is perhaps not necessary, which would open a market niche to hydrated ethanol derived from industry wastes or surplus.

Waste-Based Second-Generation Bioethanol: A Solution for Future Energy Crisis

The demand for more environmentally friendly alternative renewable fuels is growing as fossil fuel resources are depleting significantly. Consequently, bioethanol has attracted interest as a potentially viable fuel. The key steps in second-generation bioethanol production include pretreatment, saccharification, and fermentation. The present study employed simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF) of cellulose through bacterial pathways to generate second-generation bioethanol utilizing corncobs and paper waste as lignocellulosic biomass. Mechanical and chemical pretreatments were applied to both biomasses. Then, two bacterial strains, Bacillus sp. and Norcadiopsis sp., hydrolysed the pretreated biomass and fermented it along with Achromobacter sp., which was isolated and characterized from a previous study. Bioethanol production followed by 72 h of biomass hydrolysis employing Bacillus sp. and Norcadiopsis sp., and then 72 h of fermentation using Achromobacter sp. Using solid phase micro extraction combined with GCMS the ethanol content was quantified. SSF of alkaline pretreated paper waste hydrolysed by Bacillus sp. following the fermentation by Achromobacter sp. showed the maximum ethanol percentage of 0.734±0.154. Alkaline pretreated corncobs hydrolyzed by Norcadiopsis sp. yielded the lowest ethanol percentage of 0.155±0.154. The results of the study revealed that paper waste is the preferred feedstock for generating second-generation bioethanol. To study the possible use of ethanol-diesel blends as an alternative biofuel E2, E5, E7, and E10 blend emulsions were prepared mixing commercially available diesel with ethanol. The evaluated physico-chemical characteristics of the ethanol-diesel emulsions fulfilled the Ceypetco requirements except for the flashpoint revealing that the lower ethanol-diesel blends are a promising alternative to transport fuels. As a result, the current study suggests that second generation bioethanol could be used as a renewable energy source to help alleviate the energy crisis..