Emission study of alcohol–biodiesel blends propelled diesel engine

ABSTRACT

The effect of adding metal-based additives for improving the emission characteristics of biodiesel has been used of late for in unmodified diesel engine. However, analysis on the influence of adding the oxygenated additive on emission aspects has received little attention. This work examines the impact of propyl alcohol addition to mahua oil biodiesel (MOBD) in a diesel engine to view its effect on emission characteristics. Two fuel blends were prepared with different concentrations of biodiesel and oxygenated additives such as 95% mahua biodiesel + 5% propyl alcohol and 90% mahua biodiesel + 10% propyl alcohol (MOBD90P10). Results indicated that MOBD subjected to the addition of propyl alcohol (MOBD90P10 and MOBD90P10) has 11.39%, 3.81%, 7.99% and 5.3% decrease in CO, HC, NOx and smoke emission when compared to MOBD. Further, the modified fuel required no modifications in engine design while in operation.

KEYWORDS:

• Mahua oil
• diesel engine
• propyl alcohol–biofuel mixtures
• emissions

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.