Effect of diethyl ether and ethanol additives on the combustion and emission characteristics of biodiesel-diesel blended fuel engine

An experimental investigation is conducted to evaluate the effects of using diethyl ether and ethanol as additives to biodiesel/diesel blends on the performance, emissions and combustion characteristics of a direct injection diesel engine. The test fuels are denoted as B30 (30% biodiesel and 70% diesel in vol.), BE-1 (5% diethyl ether, 25% biodiesel and 70% diesel in vol.) and BE-2 (5% ethanol, 25% biodiesel and 70% diesel in vol.) respectively. The results indicate that, compared with B30, there is slightly lower brake specific fuel consumption (BSFC) for BE-1. Drastic reduction in smoke is observed with BE-1 and BE-2 at higher engine loads. Nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions are found slightly higher for BE-2. Hydrocarbon (HC) emissions are slightly higher for BE-1 and BE-2, but carbon monoxide (CO) are slightly lower. The peak pressure, peak pressure rise rate and peak heat release rate of BE-1 are almost similar to those of B30, and higher than those of BE-2 at lower engine loads. At higher engine loads the peak pressure, peak pressure rise rate and peak heat release rate of BE-1 are the highest and those of B30 are the lowest. BE-1 reflects better engine performance and combustion characteristics than BE-2 and B30. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.