Experimental Investigation of the Effects of N-Butanol Fumigation on Engine Performance and Exhaust Emissions in a Turbocharged Diesel Engine

In the present study, the effects of n-butanol injection into intake air (n-butanol fumigation, nBF) on the performance and exhaust emissions were experimentally investigated in a Renault K9K 700 type turbocharged common-rail DI automotive diesel engine. Experiments were performed under five different loads such (140 Nm, 125 Nm, 110 Nm, 95 Nm and 80 Nm) and at 3000 rpm engine speed, for various n-butanol ratios. Here, n-butanol was injected into intake air by using an adapted carburetor, which main nozzle section is adjustable to give approximately 2 %, 4 %, 6 %, 8 % and 10 % (by vol.) n-butanol ratios. The test results showed that effective power values for selected nBF ratios are nearly equal to neat diesel fuel (NDF). However, break specific fuel consumption increases and effective efficiency decreases considerably for all of the operating conditions. NOx emissions decrease, whereas THC and CO increase significantly for all of the selected nBF ratios. Opacity increases for high loads (140 Nm, 125 Nm and 110 Nm) and increment ratios of opacity for high nBF ratios are higher than that of lower nBF ratios. Although opacity decreases under selected low loads (95 Nm and 80 Nm) for low nBF ratios, it starts to increase after 6 % nBF ratio. Also, total fuel cost for selected nBF ratios is higher than NDF. In the present study, the nBF results were also compared with the results of the n-butanol-diesel fuel blends (nBDFBs), which previously investigated experimentally by authors, for three different loads and three n-butanol percentages.

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