Spray and Engine Performance Characteristics of Biodiesel and Its Blends with Diesel and Ethanol Fuels

Abstract

The authors aimed to investigate the fuel-atomization, combustion, and exhaust emissions characteristics of dual component fuels. The analysis revealed that the blending of diesel or bioethanol fuel slightly affected the reduction of the spray tip penetration and had little influence on the variation of the spray cone angle. The droplet size of biodiesel fuel was reduced by blending with diesel or bioethanol fuel with low kinematic viscosity and surface tension. Regarding the combustion characteristics, B80D20 fuel had the same combustion characteristics as B100. However, the blending of bioethanol fuel with biodiesel fuel caused an extension of the ignition delay and a decrease of the peak combustion pressure. There was little difference in the exhaust emissions characteristics caused by the blending of diesel fuel. However, EI-NO_x emissions were reduced significantly by the blending of bioethanol fuel. However, EI-HC and EI-CO emissions were increased by blending the bioethanol fuel.

Keywords:

• Atomization performance
• Combustion pressure
• Emission index
• Nanosize particles
• Phase Doppler particle analyzer

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This work was supported, in part, by the Center for Environmentally Friendly Vehicle (CEFV) of the Eco-STAR project of the Ministry of the Environment (MOE), Seoul, Republic of Korea, and supported by the Second Brain Korea 21 Project. Additionally, this work is the outcome of a Manpower Development Program for Energy & Resources, supported by the Ministry of Knowledge and Economy (MKE), Republic of Korea.