Numerical investigation on performance and emission characteristics of a diesel engine fired with methanol blended diesel fuel / Gurkamal Nain Singh...[et al.]

The effects of methanol and oleic acid blended diesel fuel on the performance and emissions of the diesel engine are evaluated numerically by commercial software Diesel-RK to simulate a single cylinder, naturally aspirated, direct injection, four-stroke diesel engine. The present study also resolves the problem of the immiscibility of methanol in diesel fuel, as to avoid immiscible nature an optimum percentage of oleic acid and n-butanol is added to make blends stable. The methanol blended diesel fuels are 7%, 12%, and 17% methanol in volume basis (D85M7NB1O7, D75M12NB1O12, and D65M17NB1O17). A drastic reduction in NOx emission is observed due to low combustion temperature however the PM emissions increases which can be controlled by using exhaust after-treatment techniques. The results indicate that: the brake specific fuel consumption increases and brake thermal efficiency decreases with an increase of methanol, oleic acid and n-butanol contents in the blended fuel whereas maximum heat release rate increases and exhaust temperature decreases.