The impact of methanol and iso-butanol in b20 palm oil methyl ester (POME) fuel blend toward the performance and emission of compressed ignition (CI) engine / Muhammad Aiman Hashim

Methanol and Iso-Butanol have the potential to be a clean alternative for conventional
fuel used in internal combustion engine. The issue that arises when using biodiesel is
that a high biodiesel blend ratio tends to promote more emission as it alters the
physicochemical properties which in turn delivers a poor performance. Thus, it requires
the investigation of mixing iso-butanol and methanol to study its property in terms of
engine performance, physicochemical property, and exhaust emission. This paper
aimed to investigate the effect of mixing two alcohol blends such as methanol and isobutanol
operating with palm oil methyl ester (POME) biodiesel blend and how it
affected the engine performance. Three essentials properties were measured which
included (1) density; (2) cetane number; (3) calorific value and (4) kinematic viscosity.
Using BENMA 5GF-M Diesel Generator, a single-cylinder 4 stroke diesel engine
emission was analysed using a gas analyser. The fuel property was investigated using 7
different tests which consisted of Palm Oil Methyl Ester (POME) (B20) 90 % biodiesel
fuel and 10 % iso-butanol (B90iBu10), 90 % biodiesel fuel and 5 % iso-butanol and 5
% methanol (B90M5iBu5), 90 % biodiesel fuel and 10 % methanol (B90M10), 85 %
biodiesel fuel and 8 % iso-butanol and 7 % methanol (B85iM7Bu8), 90 % biodiesel
fuel and 5 % iso-butanol and 5 % methanol (B80M10iBu10), base diesel fuel (D100)
under different load and speed range of 2000~3000 rpm. The results were tested using
the unmodified diesel engine by adding two types of alcohol as the additive which were
methanol and iso-butanol. It was shown that biodiesel blends increased the BTE by 8
% while BSFC indicated an opposite reaction by decreasing 9 % under the same
condition load and speed in comparison to diesel. Based on the results, exhaust
emissions for CO and HC decreased with each variation blend. It was shown to decrease
by 40 % and 7 % respectively under the same test condition when compared to B20.
Further expectation indicates that emission increases the estimate around 18 % on
high engine load while lower engine load shows an opposite trend; and it was shown to
be true with higher load engine being able to provide lower emission by 27 %
difference in comparison to POME. In conclusion, combining iso-butanol and methanol
in B20 with a 10 % ratio can display potential results in both exhaust emission and
engine performance during engine tests.