Experimental investigation on physicochemical properties of Iso-Butanol additive in methanol-gasoline blends / Hazim Sharudin ...[et al.]

Alcohol fuels such as methanol are popular as an alternative fuel for internal combustion engine because of its economic and environmental advantages over fossil fuel. Blended methanol-gasoline fuels can be improved further by adding higher carbon number such as iso-butanol as they have higher energy content and are able to displace more gasoline fuel. However, the research on the addition of lower ratio iso-butanol in methanol-gasoline fuel properties is not investigated thoroughly. Therefore, this study will focus on investigating the physical and chemical properties of iso-butanol additive in methanol-gasoline blends. Different methanol-gasoline fuel blends were obtained with the addition of 5 vol%, 10 vol%, and 15 vol% iso-butanol into a lower ratio of 5 vol% methanol-gasoline blended fuel. The blended fuel properties determined are density, kinematic viscosity, lower heating value, latent heat of vaporization and Reid of vapour pressure. Characterization of the blends with iso-butanol additive was tested according to specific test standards. From the test results, improvement was recorded at density, kinematic viscosity, and latent heat of vaporization for iso-butanol additive of 5%, 10%, and 15% with 5% of the methanol-gasoline fuel blends. On the other hand, a reduction was recorded for both lower heating value and Reid vapour pressure for all blended fuels with iso-butanol additive in comparison to that of base fuel. No phase separation occurred and the blends were successfully blended in lower ratio volume at specific temperatures. Overall, a lower ratio of the iso-butanol additive on methanol-gasoline blends was found to improve the current existing methanol-gasoline blends.