Performance Characteristics of n-Butanol-Diesel Fuel Blend Fired in a Turbo-Charged Compression Ignition Engine

Lennox Siwale, Lukács Kristóf, Torok Adam, Akos Bereczky, Antal Penninger, Makame Mbarawa, Kolesnikov Andrei

Department of Mechanical Engineering, Tshwane University of Technology, Private Bag X680, Pretoria, South Africa; 2Department of Energy Engineering, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Budapest, Hungary; 3Ministry of Communication, Science and Technology, United Republic of Tanzania Department of Energy, Dar-es-Salaam, United Republic of Tanzania..
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Tshwane University of Technology, Private Bag X680, Pretoria, South Africa; 2Department of Energy Engineering, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Budapest, Hungary; 3Ministry of Communication, Science and Technology, United Republic of Tanzania Department of Energy, Dares-Salaam, United Republic of Tanzania..

DOI: 10.4236/jpee.2013.15013                

Abstract

In this study, n-butanol-diesel blends were burned in a turbo-charged, direct injection diesel engine where the brake thermal efficiency, (BTE) or brake specific fuel consumption, (BSFC) was compared with that of ethanol-diesel or methanol-diesel blends in another study by other authors. The test blends used were B5, B10 and B20 (where B5 is 5% n-butanol by volume and 95% diesel fuel-DF). In this study, the BTE was higher and the BSFC improved more than in the other study. Because of improved BTE with increasing brake mean effective pressure, BMEP, the BSFC reduced, however the increased shared volume of n-butanol in DF increased BSFC. Adding n-butanol in DF slightly derated the torque, brake power output with increasing speed, and caused a fall in exhaust gas temperatures, (EGT) which improves the volumetric efficiency and reduces compression work. Therefore, a small-shared volume of n-butanol in DF fired in a turbo-charged diesel engine performs better in terms of BTE and BSFC than that of ethanol or methanol blending in DF.

Keywords

Brake Specific Fuel Consumption; Brake Thermal Efficiency; Exhaust Gas Temperature; n-Butanol/Diesel

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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