Applied Energy 87 (2010) 16791686

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Applied Energy
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/apenergy

Performance and combustion characteristics of biodieseldieselmethanol blend fuelled engine

D.H. Qi *, H. Chen, L.M. Geng, Y.ZH. Bian, X.CH. Ren
School of Automobile, Changan University, Xian 710064, China

a r t i c l e

i n f o

a b s t r a c t
An experimental investigation was conducted to evaluate the effects of using methanol as additive to biodieseldiesel blends on the engine performance, emissions and combustion characteristics of a direct injection diesel engine under variable operating conditions. BD50 (50% biodiesel and 50% diesel in vol.) was prepared as the baseline fuel. Methanol was added to BD50 as an additive by volume percent of 5% and 10% (denoted as BDM5 and BDM10). The results indicate that the combustion starts later for BDM5 and BDM10 than for BD50 at low engine load, but is almost identical at high engine load. At low engine load of 1500 r/min, BDM5 and BDM10 show the similar peak cylinder pressure and peak of pressure rise rate to BD50, and higher peak of heat release rate than that of BD50. At low engine load of 1800 r/min, the peak cylinder pressure and the peak of pressure rise rate of BDM5 and BDM10 are lower than those of BD50, and the peak of heat release rate is similar to that of BD50. The crank angles at which the peak values occur are later for BDM5 and BDM10 than for BD50. At high engine load, the peak cylinder pressure, the peak of pressure rise rate and peak of heat release rate of BDM5 and BDM10 are higher than those of BD50, and the crank angle of peak values for all tested fuels are almost same. The power and torque outputs of BDM5 and BDM10 are slightly lower than those of BD50. BDM5 and BDM10 show dramatic reduction of smoke emissions. CO emissions are slightly lower, and NOx and HC emissions are almost similar to those of BD50 at speed characteristic of full engine load. 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Article history: Received 31 March 2009 Received in revised form 11 October 2009 Accepted 20 October 2009 Available online 10 November 2009 Keywords: Biodiesel Methanol Combustion characteristics Emissions Performance

1. Introduction Biofuels such as alcohols and biodiesel have been proposed as alternatives for internal combustion engines [1,2]. In particular, biodiesel has received wide attention as a replacement for diesel fuel because it is biodegradable, nontoxic and can signicantly reduce exhaust emissions and overall life cycle emission of carbon oxides (CO2) from the engine when burned as a fuel. Many investigations have shown that using biodiesel in diesel engines can reduce hydrocarbon (HC), carbon monoxide (CO) and particulate matter (PM) emissions, but nitrogen oxide (NOx) emission may increase [36]. The oxygen content of biodiesel is an important factor in the NOx formation, because it causes to high local temperatures due to excess hydrocarbon oxidation. The increased oxygen levels increases the maximum temperature during the combustion, and increases NOx formation [7,8]. Although the little higher cetane number (shorter ignition delay and so lower temperatures during the premixed combustion phase) and the absence of aromatics tend to contribute to less NOx production, these factors do not seem to offset the increase caused by the presence of the fuelbound oxygen even in locally rich zones [9]. On the other hand,
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +86 29 82334784; fax: +86 29 82334476. E-mail address: donghuiqi@gmail.com (D.H. Qi). 0306-2619/$ - see front matter 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.apenergy.2009.10.016

biodiesel has some disadvantages, such as higher viscosity and pour point, and lower volatility compared with diesel. The poor cold ow property of biodiesel is a barrier to the use of biodieseldiesel blends in cold weather. Methanol might be expected to improve low temperature ow properties. Additionally previous studies have suggested that the weight percent of oxygen content in the fuel is the most important factor for PM reduction, and it is more important than other properties such as chemical structure or volatility. Including methanol in biodieseldiesel blends can increase the oxygen contents, which may further improve the PM emissions. Investigations have been carried out on different approaches for reducing NOx emission when biodiesel is used. Fernando et al. [10] reviewed the NOx reduction methods for biodiesel fuels. They concluded that the thermal NOx mechanism is the major contributor to NOx emission, thus NOx can be reduced through the application of water injection, water emulsied biodiesel, ignition timing retardation or exhaust gas recirculation which can lead to reduction in ame temperature. Kumar et al. [11,12] applied methanol in jatropha oil and ethanol in animal fat to a diesel engine. The results showed that drastic reduction in smoke, NOx, HC and CO emissions were observed with the emulsion as compared to neat fat and neat diesel at high power outputs. Prommes et al. [13] studied the phase diagram of dieselbiodieselethanol blends at different purities of

1680

D.H. Qi et al. / Applied Energy 87 (2010) 16791686

Nomenclature A B cp cv
dQ B du dQ n du dQ W du

wall area (m2) cylinder bore (m) constant pressure specic heat (kJ/kg K) constant volume specic heat (kJ/kg K) heat release rate with crank angle net heat release rate with crank angle heat transfer rate with crank angle heat transfer correlation (J/m2 s K) mass of cylinder gases (kg) cylinder pressure (MPa) specic gas constant (J/kg K) absolute temperature (K) wall temperature (K)

cylinder volume (m3) crank angle ()

hc m p R T Tw

Abbreviations BMEP brake mean effective pressure (MPa) BSFC brake specic fuel consumption (g/kW h) CO carbon monoxide (%) carbon oxides (%) CO2 DI direct injection HC hydrocarbon (ppm) k coefcient of light absorption of the smoke (1/m) nitrogen oxide (ppm) NOx PM particulate matter TDC top dead center

ethanol and different temperatures, examined the fuel properties of the selected blends and their emissions performance in a diesel engine and compared to those of base diesel. They concluded that a blend of 80% diesel, 15% biodiesel and 5% ethanol was the most suitable ratio because of the acceptable fuel properties and the reduction of emissions. Shi et al. [14] studied the emission characteristics of BE-diesel blend (the blend ratio of 5% ethanol, 20% methyl soyate and 75% diesel fuel by volume) on a Cummins-4B diesel engine. The results showed a signicant reduction in PM emissions and 214% increase of NOx emissions from BE-diesel. Total hydrocarbon (THC) from BE-diesel was lower than that from diesel fuel under most operating conditions. Jha et al. [15] studied the emission characteristics of dieselbiodieselethanol (DBE) fuel blends on one used engine and two new engines. The results with DBE showed a signicant reduction in NOx emissions in new engines with increased ethanol concentration, whereas with the used engine under similar conditions, an increased NOx emissions prole was observed. Ali et al. [16,17] used 12 different blends of methyl tallowate, methyl soyate, ethanol, and diesel fuel in a Cummins N14-410 diesel engine and found that engine performance with these fuel blends did not differ to a great extent from that with diesel fuel. In their study, the same engine fuelled by a blend of 80% diesel, 13% methyl tallowate and 7% ethanol emitted minimum emissions. Methanol is completely miscible with water in all proportions, which may cause the blended fuel to contain water, and further result in corrosion problems on the mechanical components, especially on the components made of copper, brass or aluminum. To minimize this problem on fuel delivery system, such materials mentioned above must be avoided. Methanol can react with most rubber and cause a jam in the fuel pipe. Therefore, it is advised to use uorocarbon rubber as a replacement for rubber. Methanol contains lesser energy than that for diesel fuel on a mass basis. Blending methanol with diesel lowers the volumetric energy density of the fuel. Since the cetane number of methanol is extremely low, the cetane number of the biodieseldieselmethanol blend fuel will be reduced. Fernando and Hanna [18] determined the relative compatibilities of ethanol, biodiesel, and diesel fuel. They revealed that ethanolbiodieseldiesel (EB-diesel) fuel blend microemulsions are stable well below sub-zero temperatures and have shown equal or superior fuel properties to regular diesel fuel. Despite ethanol having a considerably lower energy value, cetane number, and lubricity value than biodiesel or diesel fuel alone, the heat of combustion and cetane numbers of the EB-diesel blends remained steady, without signicant reduction. Barabs and Todorut [19] studied the key fuel properties of the biodieseldieselethanol blends and investigated that blends have the same or very

close density and viscosity to standardized diesel fuel. The surface tensions of the blends are only 20% higher than that of diesel fuels. In general, the blends containing 5% ethanol had very close fuel properties compared to diesel fuel. Methanol can be produced from coal or petrol based fuels with low cost production, but it has very limited solubility in the diesel fuel. On the other hand, ethanol is a biomass based renewable fuel, which can be produced from vegetable materials, such as corn, sugar cane, sugar beets, sorghum, barley and cassava, and it has higher miscibility with diesel fuel. China has large production of methanol due to the abundant coal resource. Therefore, the use of methanol in compression ignition (CI) engines has received considerable attention in recent years. The present study aims to investigate the performance, emissions and combustion characteristics of a single cylinder diesel engine operating on biodieseldieselmethanol blends, and to compare these results with those operating on biodieseldiesel blend. 2. Equipment and experiments 2.1. Experimental fuels The commercial diesel fuel employed in the tests was obtained locally. The biodiesel produced from soybean was prepared by a method of alkaline-catalyzed transesterication. The methanol was an analysis-grade anhydrous ethanol (99.7% purity). Due to diesel and methanol have poor miscibility, when the volume fraction of methanol in blend was more than 5%, a few of oleic acid was necessary as a solvent additive to maintain the blend stable and uniform at room temperature for more than one month. Table 1 shows the main properties of the blending stocks. It can be seen that the latent heat value of methanol is 1109 kJ/kg, which is much higher than that of other fuels. The lower caloric value of biodiesel is approximately 9.1% lower, and that of methanol is 53.7% lower than that of diesel. The viscosity of biodiesel is evidently higher than that of methanol. The oxygen contents of methanol is 50% and, higher than that of biodiesel. In the study, three fuels are prepared and the composition and main properties are shown in Table 2. 2.2. Experimental setup and procedure The engine used was a single cylinder, naturally aspirated, fourstroke, and direct injection diesel engine with a bowl combustion chamber in piston. The basic data of the engine used are given in Table 3. A high pressure fuel pump was used, having a plunger

D.H. Qi et al. / Applied Energy 87 (2010) 16791686 Table 1 Main properties of blending stocks. Properties Density (g ml1) Latent heat of evaporation (kJ kg1) Lower caloric value (kJ kg1) Kinematic viscosity at 40 C (mm2 s1) Stoichiotric airfuel ratio (kg kg1) Flash point (C) Self-ignition temperature (C) Oxygen content (wt.%) Carbon content (wt.%) Hydrogen content (wt.%) Diesel 0.84 250 42500 3.11 14.5 78 250 0 87 13 Biodiesel 0.87 200 38812 7.8 12.5 166 363 10 78 12 Methanol 0.79 1109 19674 0.59 6.47 11 470 50.0 37.5 12.5 Oleic acid 0.89 200 38650 11 76.6 12.4

1681

Table 2 Composition of the test fuels and main properties. Fuels Diesel, %(v/v) Methyl Soyate, %(v/v) Methanol, %(v/v) Oleic acid, %(v/v) Density (g ml1) Latent heat of evaporation (kJ kg1) Lower caloric value(kJ kg1) Oxygen content (wt.%) BD50 50 50 0 0 0.845 224 40602 5.15 BDM5 47.5 47.5 5 0 0.842 264 39687 7.13 BDM10 43.2 43.2 9.6 4 0.843 294 38840 9.08

diameter of 8 mm connected to a four-hole injector nozzle (a diameter of 0.32 mm). The injector nozzle was located in the center of the combustion chamber and had an opening pressure of 18 MPa. A high precision ow meter was used to measure the fuel ow per 30 s. A Kistler piezoelectric transducer was installed for monitoring the cylinder pressure coupled with Kistler charge amplier. CB566 combustion analyzer was used to record the measured data. Gaseous emissions were measured by AVL Digas 4000. Smoke was measured by a part-ow smoke opacimeter (AVL Dismoke 4000). The test installation is shown in Fig. 1. The main specication and the resolution of the measurement devices are given in Table 4. To insure that the accuracy of the measured values was high, the gas analyzer was calibrated before each measurement using reference gases. The smoke meter was also allowed to adjust its zero point before each measurement. The experiments were carried out by three test fuels at various engine operating conditions. Before running the engine to a new fuel, it was allowed to run for sufcient time to consume the remaining fuel from the previous experiment. To evaluate the performance, important operating parameters such as engine speed, power output, fuel consumption and cylinder pressure were measured. Signicant engine performance parameters such as brake specic fuel consumption (BSFC) and brake mean effective pressure (BMEP) for the tested fuels were calculated.

2.3. Estimation of the experimental heat release rate For each operating condition, 100 engine pressure cycles were recorded, and the mean cylinder pressure trace was estimated. Using the mean measured cylinder pressure diagram and the TDC pickup signal, the heat release rate and cylinder pressure rise rate were calculated to evaluate the combustion characteristics. The heat release rate is determined by applying the rst thermodynamic law using the following expression [20]:

Table 3 Specication of test diesel engine. Engine type Bore Stroke Connecting rod Compression ratio Displacement Rated power Rated speed Fuel injection timing Injector holes Injector opening pressure Single cylinder, 4-stroke, DI 105 mm 115 mm 185 mm 16.5:1 996 cc 11.03 kW 2000 r/min 22 BTDC(static) 4 0.32 mm diameter 180 bar

dQ B dQ n dQ w du du du

dQ B =du is the gross heat release rate, dQ n =du is net heat release rate, and dQ w =du is the heat transfer rate to the walls. dQ n =du equals the rate at which work is done on the piston plus the rate of change of sensible internal energy of the cylinder

Fuel Tank

Air Filter Air Flow Meter

Kistler 5019 Charge Amplifier Kistler 6051B1 Transducer for Cylinder Pressure

CB566 Combustion Analyzer Crank Angle Generator

Fuel Flow Meter

Photoelectric Sensor Hydraulic Dynamometer

Fuel Pump

CI Engine

AVL Disgas 4000 Emission Analyzer AVL Dissmoke 4000 Smoke Meter

Fig. 1. Schematic layout of the test installation.

1682

D.H. Qi et al. / Applied Energy 87 (2010) 16791686

Table 4 The main specication and the resolution of the measurement devices. Instrumentation AVL Digas 4000 HC/ppm CO/% NOx/ppm CO2/% K value/m1 Opacity/% Bar ml Measuring range 020000 010 04000 020 099.99 0100 0250 0100 Resolution 1 0.01 1 0.1 0.01 0.1 1 104 0.01 Operating temperature (C) 535, max. 40

AVL Dismoke 4000 Kistler 6051B1 Transducer for Cylinder Pressure Fuel ow meter

545 50 to 350, max. 400 545

contents, assuming that the contents of the cylinder can be modeled as an ideal gas, it follows that:

Then

dQ n dV dU s dV dT p p mcv du du du du du

dQ n c dV 1 dp p V c 1 du c 1 du du

For the ideal gas law, pv mRT, with R assumed constant, it follows that:

Here c is the ratio of specic heats, cp/cv. An appropriate range for c for diesel heat release analysis is 1.3 1.35.

dp dV dT p V T
Eq. (3) can be used to eliminate T from Eq. (2) to give

dQ w hc AT T w du

Heat transfer coefcient hc uses the Woschnis heat transfer coefcient,

dQ n  cv  dV cv dp 1 V p du R du R du

hc 3:26B0:2 p0:8 T 0:55 w0:8

Here w is the average cylinder gas velocity.
9

a
Cylinder pressure (MPa)

7 6 5 4 3 2 BDM10 1 0 -20 -10 0 10 20 Crank angle (CA) 30 40 BD50 BDM5

Cylinder pressure (MPa)

n=1500r/min Pme=0.531MPa

n=1500r/min Pme=0.177MPa

7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 -20 -10 0 10 20 Crank angle (CA) 30 40 BD50 BDM5 BDM10

b
Cylinder pressure (MPa)

7 6 5 4 3 2 BDM10 1 BD50 BDM5 n=1800r/min Pme=0.177MPa

Cylinder pressure (MPa)

9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 BD50 BDM5 BDM10 n=1800r/min Pme=0.531MPa

-20

-10

10

20

30

40

0 -20

-10

Crank angle (CA)

Fig. 2. Pressurecrank angle diagram for Pme = 0.177 MPa at 1500 r/min and 1800 r/min.

0 10 20 Crank angle (CA)

30

40

Fig. 3. Pressurecrank angle diagram for Pme = 0.531 MPa at 1500 r/min and 1800 r/min.

D.H. Qi et al. / Applied Energy 87 (2010) 16791686

1683

3. Results and discussion 3.1. Combustion characteristics The cylinder pressure of the BDM5 and BDM10, in comparison with BD50 at different engine operating conditions, are shown in Figs. 2 and 3. From these gures, it is clear that the peak cylinder pressure is increased with the increase of engine load. The peak cylinder pressure does not vary signicantly with the increase of engine speed. The combustion process of the test fuels is similar, consisting of a phase of premixed combustion following by a phase of diffusion combustion. For the same engine power output, a larger volume of BDM5 and BDM10 was injected due to the lower caloric value of methanol, leading to a longer period of fuel injection. At low engine load (Pme = 0.177 MPa), only a small amount of fuel is burned and the fuel is burned mainly in the premixed burning phase. For the BDM5 and BDM10, the peak cylinder pressure is almost similar to that of BD50 at engine speed of 1500 r/min, but at 1800 r/min the peak cylinder pressure of BDM5 and BDM10 is evidently lower than that of BD50, and the peak cylinder pressure occurs later in terms of the crank angle. As the engine load decreases, the residual gas temperature and wall temperature decrease which leads to lower charge temperature at injection timing, and lengthens the ignition delay. In addition, the addition of methanol leads to lower cetane number of the blended fuel and higher latent heat of evaporation, which further increases the ignition delay. At low engine load of 1500 r/min, the increase in ignition delay of BDM5 and BDM10 results in a strong premixed burning phase and gives rise to the peak cylinder pressure. Ignition delay represents the

time taken in physical and chemical reactions and does not change much on a time scale of milliseconds. However, it will increase in terms of crank angle degrees with engine speed increase as a high engine speed will correspond to a larger crank angle for the same time duration. At engine speed of 1800 r/min the ignition delay in terms of crank angle degrees increase and the peak pressure attains a lower value for BDM5 and BDM10 as it is further away from the top dead center (TDC) in the expansion stroke and the crank angle of peak cylinder pressure occurs later. At high engine load (Pme = 0.531 MPa), with an increasing amount of fuel injected into the engine, the gas temperature inside the cylinder is higher, which reduces the physical ignition delay period. From the Fig. 3 it can be seen that the peak cylinder pressure of BDM5 and BDM10 is evidently higher than that of BD50 and the combustion starts at almost the same crank angle. This means that the inuence of lower cetane number of methanol on the ignition delay is inferior at high engine load. On the other hand, the addition of methanol leads to decrease in the viscosity of the blended fuel which is positive to form more airfuel mixture and result in a larger percentage of fuel burned in the premixed burning phase. The peak cylinder pressure occurs at nearly the same crank angle for all tested fuels at high engine loads. Figs. 4 and 5 show the pressure rise rate of the tested fuels at different engine operating conditions. It is clear that the peak of pressure rise rate increases with the increase of engine load, and does not vary signicantly with the increase of engine speed. The peak of pressure rise rate of BD50 is similar to that of BDM5 and BDM10 at low engine load of 1500 r/min, but evidently higher at 1800 r/min (Fig. 4). At high engine load, the peak of pressure rise

a
Pressure rise rate (MPa/CA)

0.6 0.5 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.1 0 -0.1 -0.2 -0.3 -20 -10 0 10 20 Crank angle (CA) 30 40 n=1500r/min Pme=0.177MPa BD50 BDM5 BDM10

a
Pressure rise rate (MPa/CA)

1.2 1 0.8 0.6 0.4 0.2 0 -0.2 -0.4 -20 -10 0 10 20 Crank angle (CA) 30 40 n=1500r/min Pme=0.531MPa

BD50 BDM5 BDM10

b
Pressure rise rate (MPa/CA)

0.6 0.5 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.1 0 -0.1 -0.2 -0.3 -20 -10 0 10 20 Crank angle (CA) 30 40 n=1800r/min Pme=0.177MPa BD50 BDM5 BDM10

b
Pressure rise rate (MPa/CA )

1.2 1 0.8 0.6 0.4 0.2 0 -0.2 -0.4 -20 -10 0 10 20 Crank angle (CA) 30 40 n=1800r/min Pme=0.531MPa BD50 BDM5 BDM10

Fig. 4. Pressure rise rate for Pme = 0.177 MPa at 1500 r/min and 1800 r/min.

Fig. 5. Pressure rise rate for Pme = 0.531 MPa at 1500 r/min and 1800 r/min.

1684

D.H. Qi et al. / Applied Energy 87 (2010) 16791686

rate of BD50 is lower at both engine speeds. There is no evident variation of the peak of pressure rise rate with the methanol addition in the blended fuel. The variation of heat release rate at different engine operating conditions is shown in Figs. 6 and 7. Because of the evaporation of the fuel accumulated during ignition delay period, at the beginning a negative heat release rate is observed. After combustion is initiated, this becomes positive. BDM5 and BDM10 experience identical combustion stages to BD50. After the ignition delay, premixed fuelair mixture burns rapidly, follow by diffusion combustion, where the burn rate is controlled by fuelair mixing velocity. It can be observed that combustion starts earlier for BD50 at low engine load. The peak of heat release rate of BDM5 is slightly higher than that of BD50 and BDM10 at engine speed of 1500 r/min, the peak of heat release rate is almost identical for all fuels at engine speed of 1800 r/min, and the crank angle of the peak of heat release rate for BD50 is clearly earlier than those for BDM5 and BDM10. At low engine load, although the combustion start later for the BDM5 and BDM10, the longer ignition delay, the better volatility and lower viscosity of methanol lead to a larger amount of fuel accumulation in the combustion chamber at the time of the premixed burning phase, leading to a high heat release rate. At high engine load, the peak of heat release rates of BDM5 and BDM10 are evidently higher than that of BD50, and the crank angle of the peak of heat release rate is almost the same. The reason may be that the premixed burning heat release is higher for BDM5 and BDM10 owing to the better volatility of methanol, which promotes to form more airfuel mixture in premixed burning phase.

a
Heat release rate (kJ/CA)

0.25 0.2 0.15 0.1 0.05 0 -0.05 -20 n=1500r/min Pme=0.531MPa

BD50 BDM5 BDM10

-10

10 Crank angle (CA)

20

30

40

b
Heat release rate (kJ/CA)

0.25 0.2 0.15 0.1 0.05 0 -0.05 -20

n=1800r/min Pme=0.531MPa

BD50 BDM5 BDM10

-10

10

20

30

40

Crank angle (CA)

a
Heat release rate (kJ/CA)

0.12 n=1500r/min 0.1 Pme=0.177MPa 0.08 0.06 0.04 0.02 0 -0.02 -20 -10 0 10 20 Crank angle (CA) 30 40 BD50 BDM5 BDM10

Fig. 7. Heat release rate for Pme = 0.531 MPa at 1500 r/min and 1800 r/min.

3.2. Performance and emissions characteristics The power and torque output variation of the tested fuels at speed characteristic of full load is shown in Fig. 8. It can be seen that the power and torque of BDM5 and BDM10 are lower than that of BD50, and decrease with the increase of methanol addition in the blends. The differences of power and torque reected the differences in some of the physical properties of the fuel such as density and lower caloric values. The densities of BDM5 and BDM10 are slightly lower, and the low caloric values are lower by 2.25%

b
Heat release rate (kJ/CA)

16
0.12 n=1800r/min 0.1 Pme=0.177MPa 0.08 0.06 0.04 0.02 0 -0.02 -20 -10 0 10 20 Crank angle (CA) 30 40 BD50 BDM5 BDM10

60 55 50 45 40 BD50 BDM5 BDM10 35 30 25 1500 1700 1900 Engine speed (r/min) 20 2100 Torque (Nm)

14 12 Power (kW) 10 8 6 4 2 0 1300

Fig. 6. Heat release rate for Pme = 0.177 MPa at 1500 r/min and 1800 r/min.

Fig. 8. Comparison of power and torque at speed characteristic of full load.

D.H. Qi et al. / Applied Energy 87 (2010) 16791686

1685

and 4.34% than that of BD50 respectively. The power and torque should be decreased because of the reduced energy content in every cycle. The smoke emission of the tested fuels at speed characteristic of full load is shown in Fig. 9. The smoke is denoted by the ratio of light absorb coefcient (k) and power output to eliminate the inuence of power output. It is obvious that the smoke emissions are evidently reduced with the addition of methanol and decreases most with BDM10 under operating conditions. Soot formation mainly takes place in the fuel-rich zone at high temperature and pressures, specically within the core region of each fuel spray. It is commonly assumed that oxygenates blended with diesel fuel effectively deliver oxygen to the pyrolysis zone of the burning diesel spray resulting in reduced smoke emission [21]. The oxygen weight content of methanol is higher than that of biodiesel and diesel. Therefore, adding methanol to biodieseldiesel blend had a remarkable effect on the reduction of smoke emission. The NOx emission (ppm/kW h) of the tested fuels at speed characteristic of full load is shown in Fig. 10. In a DI natural aspirated 4-stroke diesel engine, NOx emissions are sensitive to oxygen content, adiabatic ame temperature and spray characteristics. It can be seen that, under all engine speed operating conditions, the NOx emissions of BDM5 and BDM10 are almost similar to that of BD50. This may be explained that when methanol blended with fuel, the cooling effect of methanol can lead to reduction of NOx emission. On the other hand, the higher oxygen content of methanol and more fuel burned in premixed burning phase (seen in Fig. 7) might result in high temperatures and high NOx formation. The adversary reasons result in the same NOx emissions for all tested fuels.

0.05 0.04

CO (%/kWh)

0.03 0.02 0.01 0 1300

BD50 BDM5 BDM10

1500

1700 1900 Engine speed (r/min)

2100

Fig. 11. Comparison of CO emission at speed characteristic of full load.

3 2.5 HC (ppm/kWh) 2 1.5 1 0.5 0 1300 1500 1700 1900 Engine speed (r/min) 2100 BD50 BDM5 BDM10

0.2

BD50
0.16

Fig. 12. Comparison of HC emission at speed characteristic of full load.

BDM5 BDM10
The CO emission (%/kW h) of the tested fuels at speed characteristic of full load is shown in Fig. 11. Emissions of CO from a DI diesel engine mainly depend upon the physical and chemical properties of the fuel. The overall test results indicate that BDM5 and BDM10 reduce CO emissions, compared with BD50, especially at low engine speeds. This is understandable because BDM5 and BDM10 have higher oxygen content leading to possible complete combustion. The variation of CO is not clear with the addition of methanol in the blends. The HC emission (ppm/kW h) of the tested fuels at speed characteristic of full load is shown in Fig. 12. In any case, HC level is in absolute terms small for diesel engine. As known, the formation of unburned HC originates from various sources in the engine cylinder. It can be observed that HC emissions of BDM5 and BDM10 are almost similar to that of BD50. On the one hand, methanol dispersion region in the combustion chamber may result in higher HC emissions. On the other hand, the high oxygen content of methanol is positive to reduce HC emissions. So there is little difference of HC emissions among all tested fuels. 4. Conclusions The application of ethanolbiodieseldiesel blend in diesel engine has been studied by other researchers. The paper experimentally studies the addition of methanol on engine performance, emissions and combustion characteristics of a biodieseldiesel blend fuelled engine. The following conclusions can be drawn: 1. It is found that 5% by volume of methanol can be mixed uniformly with biodieseldiesel blend without using additives,

k (1/mkW)

0.12 0.08 0.04 0 1300

1500

1700 1900 Engine speed (r/min)

2100

Fig. 9. Comparison of smoke emission at speed characteristic of full load.

300

BD50 NOx (ppm/kWh)

250 200 150 100 1300

BDM5 BDM10

1500

1700 1900 Engine speed (r/min)

2100

Fig. 10. Comparison of NOx emission at speed characteristic of full load.

1686

D.H. Qi et al. / Applied Energy 87 (2010) 16791686 [3] Zheng M, Mulenga MC, Reader GT, Wang M, Ting DSK. Inuence of biodiesel fuel on diesel engine performance and emissions in low temperature combustion. SAE 2006-01-3281; 2006. [4] Qi DH, Geng LM, Chen H, Bian YZH, Liu J, Ren XCH. Combustion and performance evaluation of a diesel engine fuelled biodiesel produced from soybean crude oil. Renew Energy 2009;34:270613. [5] Avinash Kumar Agarwal, Rajamanoharan K. Experimental investigation of performance and emissions of Karanja oil and its blends in a single cylinder agricultural diesel engine. Appl Energy 2009;86:10612. [6] Cengiz Oner, Sehmus Altun. Biodiesel production from inedible animal tallow and an experimental investigation of its use as alternative fuel in a direct injection diesel engine. Appl Energy 2009;86:211420. [7] Ahmet NO, Mustafa C, Ali T, Cenk S. Performance and combustion characteristics of a DI diesel engine fueled with waste palm oil and canola oil methyl esters. Fuel 2009;88:62936. [8] Raheman H, Ghadge SV. Performance of compression ignition engine with mahua (Madhuca indica) biodiesel. Fuel 2007;86:256873. [9] Rakopoulos CD, Rakopoulos DC, Hountalas DT, Giakoumis EG, Andritsakis EC. Performance and emissions of bus engine using blends of diesel fuel with biodiesel of sunower or cottonseed oils derived from Greek feedstock. Fuel 2008;87:14757. [10] Fernando S, Hall C, Jha S. NOx reduction from biodiesel fuels. Energy Fuel 2006;20:37682. [11] Kumar MS, Ramesh A, Nagalingam B. An experimental comparison of methods to use methanol and jatropha oil in a compression ignition engine. Biomass Bioenergy 2003;25:30918. [12] Kumar MS, Kerihuel A, Bellttre J, Tazerout M. Ethanol animal fat emulsions as a diesel engine fuel part 2: engine test analysis. Fuel 2006;85:264652. [13] Prommes Kwanchareon, Apanee Luengnaruemitchai, Samai Jai-In. Solubility of a dieselbiodieselethanol blend, its fuel properties, and its emission characteristics from diesel engine. Fuel 2007;86:105361. [14] Shi Xiaoyan, Pang Xiaobing, Mu Yujing, He Hong, Shuai Shijin, Wang Jianxin, et al. Emission reduction potential of using ethanolbiodieseldiesel fuel blend on a heavy-duty diesel engine. Atmos Environ 2006;40:256774. [15] Jha SK, Fernando S, Columbus E, Willcutt H. A comparative study of exhaust emissions using dieselbiodieselethanol blends in new and used engines. Trans ASABE 2009;52(2):37581. [16] Ali Y, Eskridge KM, Hanna MA. Testing of alternative diesel fuel from tallow and soybean oil in Cummins N14-410 diesel engine. Bioresource Technol 1995;53:24354. [17] Ali Y, Hanna MA, Borg JE. Optimization of diesel, methyl tallowate and ethanol blend for reducing emissions from diesel engine. Bioresource Technol 1995;52:23743. [18] Fernando S, Hanna M. Development of a novel biofuel blend using ethanol biodieseldiesel microemulsions: EB-diesel. Energy Fuels 2004;18:1695703. [19] Barabs Istvn, Todorut Adrian I. Key fuel properties of biodieseldiesel fuel ethanol blends. SAE 2009-01-1810; 2009. [20] Heywood JB. Internal combustion engine fundamentals. New York: McGraw Hill; 1988. 491514, 676682. [21] McCormick RL, Graboski Michael S, Alleman Teresa L, Herring Andrew M. Impact of biodiesel source material and chemical structure on emissions of criteria pollutants from a heavy-duty engine. Environ Sci Technol 2001;35:17427.

but when methanol content is more than 5%, it is necessary to add oleic acid as additive to prevent phase separation of blended fuel. 2. The combustion starts later for BDM5 and BDM10 than for BD50 at low engine loads, but is almost identical at high engine loads. At low engine load of 1500 r/min, BDM5 and BDM10 show the similar peak cylinder pressure and peak of pressure rise rate to BD50, and higher peak of heat release rate than that of BD50. At low engine load of 1800 r/min, the peak cylinder pressure and peak of pressure rise rate of BDM5 and BDM10 are lower than those of BD50, and the peak of heat release rate is similar to that of BD50. The crank angle of peak values for BDM5 and BDM10 are later than those for BD50. At higher engine loads, the peak cylinder pressure, peak of pressure rise rate and peak of heat release rate of BDM5 and BDM10 are higher than those of BD50, and the crank angle of peak values for all tested fuels are almost identical. 3. The power and torque outputs of BDM5 and BDM10 are slightly lower than those of BD50. BDM5 and BDM10 show excellent ability to eliminate smoke emissions. CO emissions of BDM5 and BDM10 are lower than that of B50, especially at low engine speeds. NOx and HC emissions are almost similar to those of BD50 at speed characteristic of full load. The addition of higher oxygen content and high volatility methanol can be a promising technique for using biodieseldiesel blend efciently in diesel engines without any modications in the engine. Acknowledgement The authors wish to express their deep thanks to the West Transport Construction Foundation from Ministry of Transport of Peoples Republic of China No. 200631826253. References
[1] Agarwal AK. Biofuels (alcohols and biodiesel) applications as fuels for internal combustion engines. Prog Energy Combust Sci 2007;33:23371. [2] Demirbas A. Progress and recent trends in biofuels. Prog Energy Combust Sci 2007;33:118.