Temperature Dependence of Density and Viscosity of Biobutanol-Gasoline Blends

Featured Application The results are applicable in industrial practice. The models with the coefficients could be used to set a car control unit, which would be able to evaluate the exact amount of fuel needed for injection into the combustion chamber according to the current concentration of the biobutanol in the gasoline and current temperature of the fuel, because, as this paper stated, these can affect the fuel volumetric mass density and the dynamic/kinematic viscosity. Butanol seems to be an eligible fuel for compensating for the increasing fuel consumption. Biobutanol could be produced from local sources in the place of use. Its properties show similar results to gasoline, so biobutanol could be added as a biocomponent into fuels. Important properties, in the case of blending biobutanol into gasoline, are its fluid properties and their dependence on the temperature. Therefore, in this paper, the volumetric mass density and viscosity of the selected ratios between biobutanol and gasoline (0, 5, 10, 85, 100 vol.%) were tested over the temperature range from -10 degrees C up to 40 degrees C. Gasolines with a 95 Research Octane Number (RON 95) and with a 98 Research Octane Number (RON 98) were used. It was observed that as the temperature increased, the viscosity and volumetric mass density of the samples decreased nonlinearly. Four mathematical models were used for modelling the viscosity. The accuracy of models was evaluated and compared according to the coefficient of determination R-2 and sum of squared estimate of errors (SSE). The results show that blends with 5 vol.% and 10 vol.% of biobutanol promise very similar fluid properties to pure gasoline. In contrast, a blend with 85 vol.% of biobutanol shows different fluid properties from gasoline, especially in negative temperatures, a lot. For practical applications, mathematical polynomial multivariate models were created. Using these models, three-dimensional graphs were constructed.

Automated summary

The study investigates the effects of blending biobutanol into gasoline and finds that blends with 5% and 10% biobutanol exhibit very similar fluid properties to pure gasoline, while blends with 85% biobutanol show distinct fluid properties from gasoline, especially in negative temperatures. Mathematical polynomial multivariate models were created for practical applications, and three-dimensional graphs were constructed based on these models.