Experimental investigation of fuel consumption and emissions of diesel engine fueled with ternary fuel blends of diesel, biodiesel and bioethanol

Biodiesel and bioethanol are two popular biofuels that commonly are used in combination with diesel and gasoline fuels respectively in diesel engines and gasoline engines. Diesel and biodiesel fuels have similar characteristics. However, they have different characteristics compared to bioethanol. Also high proportions of bio-ethanol cannot be solved in diesel fuel. Then using bioethanol and diesel fuel blends and the effects on diesel engine performance needs further investigation. Biodiesel as a co-solvent is used in bioethanol and diesel fuel mixtures to increase lubricity and cetane number of the blends. In this study, a 4-stroke, 4-cylinder diesel engine coupled with a dynamometer was used for the investigation of diesel engine emission and fuel consumption. Fuels B10E10D80, B10E15D75, B10E20D70, and D100 were used in this study at different speeds (from 1200 to 2400 rpm with 200 rpm increment) on 50% and 100% engine loads were measured. Here, B, E, and D respectively represent biodiesel, bioethanol, and diesel fuel and numbers indicate the percentage of those fuels. Fuel consumption and emissions (CO, CO2, NOx, and C6H14) were measured. Average changes of emissions of CO, CO2, NO, NO2 and C6H14 on different loads and speeds were decreased respectively by 20-38%, 1-6%, 11-14%, 9%, and 3-24%, respectively The average diesel engine fuel consumption using B10E10D80 and B10E20D70 fuels was only higher by 2% and 3% than that of using pure diesel fuel and with using B10E15D75 fuel it was equal to that of using pure diesel fuel. In conclusion, using ternary fuel blends instead of pure diesel fuel significantly decreases diesel engine emissions for CO, CO2, and NO. Fuel consumption negligibly increased by using ternary fuel blends instead of pure diesel fuel. As a result, ternary fuel blends could be considered as alternatives to diesel fuel.