SOME STUDIES ON THE EFFECT OF ALCOHOLIC FUEL BLENDS ON VCR DIESEL ENGINE CHARACTERISTICS

Abstract

The alcoholic fuel used in this study is ethanol, which is also known as ethyl alcohol (C2H5OH). Ethanol is used as an alternative fuel because it is renewable and produced from biomass. Different experiments are conducted to observe the effect of ethanol diesel blended fuels and pure diesel on Variable Compression Ratio Diesel engines. In this study, experiments have been carried out to find out the outperformance, combustion, vibration, and emission characteristics of various blends such as E0 (diesel 100%), E5 (diesel 95%, ethanol 5%), E10 (diesel 90%, ethanol 10%), E15 (diesel 85%, ethanol 15%), and E20 (diesel 80%, ethanol 20%). The experiments were on single cylinder, four-stroke, variable compression ratio, compression ignition engines. Engine tests are carried out at a constant rated speed of 1500 rpm for different loading conditions at different compression ratios (15, 16, 17, and 17.5) for various fuel blends. When fully loaded, brake thermal efficiency is higher by 13.33% for E20 blend over E0 fuel at CR 17.5. The maximum rate of pressure rise is higher for the E15 blend compared to other blends and pure diesel at CR 17.5 full load conditions. At CR 15, the maximum net heat release rate is higher for E15 blends compared to other blends and pure diesel. The E10 blend's smoke density (HSU) at CR16 with a 25% load is lower compared to other blends. E5 has lower vibrations under full load conditions compared to other blends. Therefore, from this study, E5 and E10 are recommended for a diesel engine as an alternative fuel from the perspective of reduced engine vibrations and emissions.