An investigation on performance and combustion characteristics of pure n-butanol and a blend of n-butanol/ethanol as fuels in a spark ignition engine

J.L.S. Fagundez, D. Golke, M.E.S. Martins and N.P.G. Salau

Energy, 2019, vol. 176, issue C, 521-530

Abstract: The n-butanol, an alcohol with chemical characteristics similar to gasoline, was evaluated experimentally in a spark ignition (SI) engine and through two-zone computer modelling. To do so, n-butanol was burned as a pure fuel and compared to hydrous ethanol, and a blend of n-butanol/ethanol was compared to a blend of gasoline/ethanol in order to evaluate combustion characteristics and engine performance. Experimental results have shown that n-butanol performed worse than hydrous ethanol, especially due to its lower octane number, which at 13.5:1 compression ratio and 7 bar BMEP tested gave advantage to the second alcohol fuel properties due to knock limitation. At the same test conditions, n-butanol blend showed similar engine efficiency parameters, such as indicated power, when compared to the gasoline blend, indicating that n-butanol is a potential surrogate for gasoline when blended with ethanol. In order to evaluate auto-ignition occurrence, an ignition sweep was done at a 9.5:1 compression ratio and 6 bar BMEP, showing that pure n-butanol had its performance rather limited by knocking combustion and cyclic variability, while its blend with ethanol was able to avoid sporadic knock, achieving a desired performance with stable combustion.

Keywords: n-Butanol; Hydrous ethanol; Indolene; Brazilian gasoline; Spark ignition engine; Two-zone thermodynamic model (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:energy:v:176:y:2019:i:c:p:521-530

DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2019.04.010

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