Experimental Study of Combustion Characteristics of a Diesel Engine Fueled with Diesel/1-Decanol Blends

There have been many studies on the combustion characteristics of lower alcohols in diesel engines, but information on higher alcohols is relatively scarce. In this study, diesel/1-decanol blends were prepared to investigate the combustion and emission characteristics of a single-cylinder 4-stroke diesel engine. The concentration of 1-decanol in the fuel blends was 10%, 15%, and 20% by volume. Experiments were conducted by varying the engine torque from 4 Nm to 12 Nm at the same engine speed of 2000 rpm. Results show that the thermal efficiency and smoke opacity decreased while the brake specific fuel consumption increased with blended fuels. The concentration of NOx in the exhaust gas generally reduced, while it increased for some conditions with 20% 1-decanol as the load increased. CO emissions increased for relatively high loads when the 1-decanol ratio is 15% and 20% due to the reduction in the air-fuel ratio.