Experimental investigation on combustion and (regulated and unregulated) emissions performance of a common-rail diesel engine using partially hydrogenated biodiesel-ethanol-diesel ternary blend

Partial hydrogenation can augment the oxidation stability for biodiesel, while its low temperature per-formance worsens and cetane number excessively increases. Blending ethanol can effectively reconcile it. Therewith partially hydrogenated biodiesel (PHB)-ethanol-diesel ternary blend was established in this study. The performances of combustion, regulated emissions and unregulated emissions of PHB-ethanol-diesel ternary blends and PHB-diesel binary blends were investigated on a turbocharged, 4-cylinder common rail diesel engine operated at various loads of 1800 rpm. It was revealed that no obvious var-iations on equivalent specific fuel consumptions (ESFCs) occurred between binary blends and ternary blends. Compared to diesel, binary blends possessed lower maximums of cylinder pressure (CP) and heat release rate (HRR) in the main combustion stage, whereas ternary blends exhibited the opposite phe-nomenon. For the regulated emissions, ternary blends generated higher hydrocarbon (HC) and carbon monoxide (CO) emissions but lower smoke emissions, compared to binary blends. For the unregulated emissions, the higher sulfur dioxide (SO2), formaldehyde (HCHO) and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, and lower ethylene (C2H4) and ammonia (NH3) emissions were exhausted from ternary blends in comparison to binary blends. Additionally, the law of nitrogen oxides (NOx) and aromatic hydrocarbon (AHC) emissions between ternary blends and binary blends depended on engine load. (c) 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

This study aimed to establish a partial hydrogenated biodiesel-ethanol-diesel ternary blend and investigate its combustion performance and emissions. The results revealed that the ternary blend exhibited different properties compared to the binary blend in certain aspects.