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This study uses cyclohexanol – a high-carbon, cyclic bio-alcohol which is a derivative of lignocellulosic biomass – in blended form with diesel to power a direct-injection single-cylinder diesel en...

n-Octanol is a promising biofuel synthesized from biomass with several properties closer to diesel than the more popularly researched n-butanol. This study investigates the effects of injection tim...

n-Octanol (C8H17OH) is an advanced biofuel derived from ligno-cellulosic biomass that is suitable for compression ignition technology with several properties closer to fossil diesel. This study analyses the performance and emissions of a direct-injection (DI) diesel engine fueled with n-octanol/diesel blends containing 10% (OCT10), 20% (OCT20) and 30%(OCT30) by volume of n-octanol using a 3 × 3 full-factorial experimental design matrix that considers blend composition of n-octanol in diesel, exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) rates of 10%, 15% and 20% and injection timings of 19°, 21° and 23° crank angle (CA) before top dead centre (bTDC) as factors. Models for oxides of nitrogen (NOx), smoke, brake thermal efficiency (BTE) and brake specific fuel consumption (BSFC) were developed using response surface methodology (RSM) and were found to be significant statistically. The variation of EGR had a considerable effect on both BTE and BSFC of the engine followed by blend composition and injection timing. Best performance (BTE = 37.06%, BSFC = 0.23kg/kWh) was delivered by OCT10 at 10% EGR and 23°CA while the lowest performance (BTE = 30.95%, BSFC = 0.28kg/kWh) was by OCT30 at 20% EGR and 19°CA. Injection timing was found to have the highest effect on NOx emissions while EGR affected smoke opacity to the maximum. NOx was found to decrease from 1790 ppm (for OCT10 at 10% EGR and 23°CA) to as low as 410 ppm (for OCT30 at 20% EGR and 19°CA). Smoke opacity was found to decrease from 94.2% (for OCT10 at 20% EGR and 19°CA) to as low as 43% (for OCT30 at 10% EGR and 23°CA). Desirability approach was used to determine the best combination of blend composition of n-octanol, EGR and injection timing for minimising smoke, NOx and BSFC simultaneously. 17% by volume of n-octanol/diesel blend injected at 20° CA bTDC and 10% EGR was predicted to be optimum which delivered a simultaneous reduction of NOx (−47.4%), smoke (−21.08%) and BSFC (−8%) during confirmatory tests with a reasonable accuracy of within 4%. This method is robust and could be employed to other small engines for developing models that can predict engine characteristics with reasonable accuracy.

Iso-butanol is a naturally occurring 4-carbon alcohol that can be obtained by processing organic crops like corn and sugarcane. An experimental and statistical investigation is carried out to analyze the effects of injection-pressure, timing and exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) on performance and emissions of a DI diesel engine fuelled with 40% by vol. of iso-butanol/diesel blend. Response surface methodology was used to model all measured responses like nitrogen oxides (NOx), smoke opacity, brake thermal efficiency (BTE) and brake specific fuel consumption (BSFC). Analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed that all developed models were statistically significant. Interactive effects between injection pressure, injection timing and EGR for all blends were analyzed using response surface plots that were plotted using developed regression models. Optimization was performed using desirability approach of the RSM with an objective to minimize NOx and smoke emissions simultaneously with maximum BTE and minimum BSFC. Iso-butanol/diesel blend injected at 240bar pressure, 23°CA bTDC under 30% EGR was predicted to be optimum for this particular engine. The predicted combination was validated by confirmatory tests and the error in prediction was found to be within 4%.

This study proposes the use of Grey-Taguchi based multi-response optimization to screen suitable diesel-oxygenate blends for achieving simultaneous reduction of smoke and NOx emissions with maximum performance in a DI diesel engine with minimum number of trials. The effects of factors such as oxygenate type, its blend proportion with diesel and retarded injection timing on emission and performance variables were considered. Three popular oxygenates viz., Diethyl ether (DEE), Dimethyl carbonate (DMC) and Diglyme (DGM) were screened. Response surface models (RSM) were developed using experimental data. Taguchi’s signal-to-noise ratio approach was applied to predict optimal factor settings for all individual responses. RSM and predicted optimum factor levels were later validated by rigorous experimentation. It was found that DEE blends delivered best performance. Lowest smoke opacity was realized with DMC blends. NOx emissions were least for DEE blends. Higher DMC and DGM blends generated low HC emissions while lower DGM blends gave out low HC emissions at lower retarded injection timing. CO emissions were generally low for higher DMC blends. Smoke and NOx reducing capabilities of DGM are in between DEE and DMC. Finally it was experimentally validated that, Grey-Taguchi predicted combination of 10% DGM blend injected at 21°CA, simultaneously reduced smoke opacity(▾29.17%) and NOx emissions(▾17.4%) with best performance(▴7%) when compared to baseline diesel operation. The results indicated that Grey-Taguchi method can be effectively used to screen oxygenates suitable to achieve the set objective with minimum number of trials saving cost and time.

In the Indian agricultural sector, millions of diesel-driven pump-sets were used for irrigation purposes. These engines produce carcinogenic diesel particulates, toxic nitrogen oxides (NOx), and carbon monoxide (CO) emissions which threaten the livelihood of large population of farmers in India. The present study investigates the use of n-propanol, a less-explored high carbon bio-alcohol that can be produced by sustainable pathways from industrial and crop wastes that has an attractive opportunity for powering stationary diesel engines meant for irrigation and rural electrification. This study evaluates the use of n-propanol addition in fossil diesel by up to 30% by vol. and concurrently reports the effects of exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) on emissions of an agricultural DI diesel engine. Three blends PR10, PR20, and PR30 were prepared by mixing 10, 20, and 30% by vol. of n-propanol with fossil diesel. Results when compared to baseline diesel case indicated that smoke density reduced with increasing n-propanol fraction in the blends. PR10, PR20, and PR30 reduced smoke density by 13.33, 33.33, and 60%, respectively. NOx emissions increased with increasing n-propanol fraction in the blends. Later, three EGR rates (10, 20, and 30%) were employed. At any particular EGR rate, smoke density remained lower with increasing n-propanol content in the blends under increasing EGR rates. NOx reduced gradually with EGR. At 30% EGR, the blends PR10, PR20, and PR30 reduced NOx emissions by 43.04, 37.98, and 34.86%, respectively when compared to baseline diesel. CO emissions remained low but hydrocarbon (HC) emissions were high for n-propanol/diesel blends under EGR. Study confirmed that n-propanol could be used by up to 30% by vol. with diesel and the blends delivered lower soot density, NOx, and CO emissions under EGR.