Investigations on the effect of ethanol blend on the combustion parameters of dual fuel diesel engine

Abstract

An experimental investigation has been performed on a 4 cylinder (turbocharged and intercooled) 62.5 kW gen-set duel fuel diesel engine. Maximum rate of pressure rise, peak cylinder pressure and heat release rate were observed at various load conditions with varying ethanol substitutions. Ignition delay at 20% substitution of ethanol at 10, 20 and 40% load conditions was 16, 14 and 10 °CA respectively. The rise in maximum rate of pressure was 16.79, 11.46 and 22.55% at 10, 20 and 40% load conditions as compared to diesel operation. The minimum and maximum net heat release was 37.44 kJ and 92.7 kJ at 20 and 40% ethanol substitution at 10 and 40% load conditions respectively. The peak pressure increases by 19% by 20-60% ethanol substitution at 10-40% load condition. A two factor, three-level full factorial design was employed, and the experimental results are in accordance with the results obtained.