Effect of 1-butanol on the characteristics of diesel engine powered with novel tamarind biodiesel for the future sustainable energy source

ABSTRACT

The depletion of petroleum resources, rise in fuel prices and stringent emission norms over diesel engines play a vital role in economic development of country like India, which attracts the researchers to search for novel alternate fuel for diesel. The present experimental work explores the effect of 1-butanol with rich potential of tamarind seed biodiesel for diesel engine applications. This investigation focuses on the effect of butanol as an oxygenated fuel additive to tamarind biodiesel at different concentrations like 5%, 10%, and 15% on volume basis to examine engine characteristics. The test results indicate the addition of 5% butanol to biodiesel blend had shown considerable enhancement in brake thermal efficiency, which is 3.21% over the tamarind biodiesel blend. It is also found marginal reductions in exhaust emissions such as carbon monoxide, hydrocarbon, and smoke opacity by 7.25%, 6.52%, and 6.2% respectively when contrasted with tamarind biodiesel blend at peak load operation. However, marginal increment found for nitrogen oxide emissions at all load conditions. Hence, the use of oxygenate additive to tamarind biodiesel blend could be critically considered as a prospective renewable fuel source.

KEYWORDS:

• Fuel additive
• Tamarind seed methyl ester
• butanol
• performance
• combustion
• emissions

Additional information

Notes on contributors

D.L.S.V.N. Swamy

D.L.S.V.N. Swamy pursuing graduation program in Mechanical Engineering from Lakireddy Bali reddy College of Engineering, Mylavaram, India. His research interests includes internal combustion engines, Alternative fuels and  fuels additives.

Y. Kowsik

Y. Kowsik pursuing graduation program in Mechanical Engineering from Lakireddy Bali reddy College of Engineering, Mylavaram, India. His research interests include internal combustion engines, Alternative fuels and fuels additives.

V. Dhana Raju

V. Dhana Raju received his Bachelors (B.Tech) and Masters degrees (M.Tech) in Mechanical engineering from Lakireddy Bali Reddy Collegeof Engineering and JNTUH, Hyderabad in 2005 and 2009 respectively. He completed his Ph.D in Thermal engineering area from Andhra University, Vizag, Andhra Pradesh, India in the year 2018. He is currently working as Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering Department, Lakireddy Bali reddy College of Engineering, Mylavaram, India. His research interests includes solar Energy, Fuel cells, internal combustion engines,  Alternative fuels, fuels additives and sustainable energy resources.

K. Appa Rao

K. Appa Rao received his Ph.D degree in Mechanical Engineering from JNTUH, Hyderabad in the year 2013. He is currently working as Principal and Professor of Mechanical Engineering Department, Lakireddy Bali reddy College of Engineering, Mylavaram, India. His research interests includes internal combustion engines, Alternative fuels and HCCI engines.

Harish Venu

Harish Venu received his Ph.D degree in Mechanical Engineering from Anna University, Chennai in 2018. He is currently working as Asst.Professor of Mechanical Engineering Department, Vel Tech Rangarajan Dr.Sagunthala R&D  Institute of Science and Technology, Chennai, India. His research interests include, internal combustion engines, fuels additives and alternate fuels.

L. Subramani

L. Subramani received his Ph.D degree in Mechanical Engineering from Anna University, Chennai in 2019. His research interests include, internal combustion engines, Biodiesels and nanoparticles.

K. Bala Prasad

K. Bala Prasad received his Ph.D degree in Mechanical Engineering from Andhra University, Vizag, Andhra Pradesh, in 2018. He is currently working as professor of Mechanical Engineering Department, RVRJC College of Engineering, Guntur, India. His research interests include Augmentation Heat transfer, Heat transfer, Thermal engineering, internal combustion engines and alternate fuels.