Comparative Experimental Study on the Effects of Biodiesel Mixture with Ethanol and Butanol Blends on Performance and Emission Characteristics of a Diesel Engine Generator

Abstract The depletion of fossil fuels, increasing gas emissions and fuel consumption have created a massive need for alternative fuels. Biodiesel is known to have high density and viscosity, which makes it challenging to use in diesel engine generators. One of the methods that can be used to decrease the density, viscosity and emission characteristics is to blend with percentage alcohols. A biodiesel mixture (BDM100) made from waste vegetable oil (WVO) and soybean oil (SBO) has shown some potential in this study. The biodiesel mixture was formed by blending with 15 % ethanol and 15 % butanol, resulting in a biodiesel mixture-ethanol blend (BMET15) and biodiesel mixture-butanol blend (BMBT15). The purpose of this study is to thoroughly evaluate and compare a diesel engine generator’s performance and emission characteristics powered by diesel fuel (D100), BDM100, BMET15, and BMBT15. The experiments were carried out on a single-cylinder diesel engine generator at different speeds. The results indicated that the brake power (BP) of BDM100, BMET15, and BMBT15 decreased by 1.9 %, 17.8 %, and 16.0 % compared to D100. The brake-specific fuel consumption (BSFC) of BDM100, BMET15, and BMBT15 increased by 2.0 %, 17.8 %, and 19.1 % compared to D100. The BDM100 and BMET15 offer 0.4 % and 2.9 % more brake thermal efficiency (BTE) than D100 at maximum speed. The BDM100, BMET15 and BMBT15 decreased hydrocarbon (HC) by 4 %, 26.4 % and 28.8 %, whereas carbon dioxide (CO2) decreased by 9.7 %, 32.4 %, and 28.5 %; Bosch Smoke Number decreased by 21.2 %, 38.1 %, and 29.9 % compared to D100.