Combustion Characteristics of a Diesel Engine Using Propanol Diesel Fuel Blends

The objective of the work is to study the use of propanol diesel blends as alternative fuel in a single cylinder diesel engine. In this work, four different propanol diesel blends containing 10, 15, 20 and 25 % propanol in diesel by volume were used as fuels. Load tests were conducted on the diesel engine and the combustion parameters such as cylinder gas pressure, ignition delay, rate of heat release and rate of pressure rise were investigated. The engine performance and emission characteristics were also studied. The propanol diesel blends showed longer ignition delay, higher rates of heat release and pressure rise. The thermal efficiency of the engine decreased marginally with the use of fuel blends. The propanol diesel blends decreased the CO, NOX and smoke emissions of the engine considerably. © 2016, The Institution of Engineers (India).