Reducing Emissions of Persistent Organic Pollutants from a Diesel Engine by Fueling with Water-Containing Butanol Diesel Blends

The manufacture of water-containing butanol diesel blends requires no excess dehydration and surfactant addition. Therefore, compared with the manufacture of conventional bio-alcohols, the energy consumption for the manufacture of water-containing butanol diesel blends is reduced, and the costs are lowered. In this study, we verified that using water-containing butanol diesel blends not only solves the tradeoff problem between nitrogen oxides (NO x ) and particulate matter emissions from diesel engines, but it also reduces the emissions of persistent organic pollutants (POPs), including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans, polychlorinated biphenyls, polychlorinated diphenyl ethers, polybrominated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans, polybrominated biphenyls and polybrominated diphenyl ethers. After using blends of B2 with 10% and 20% water-containing butanol, the POP emission factors were decreased by amounts in the range of 22.6%–42.3% and 38.0%–65.5% on a mass basis, as well as 18.7%–78.1% and 51.0%–84.9% on a toxicity basis. The addition of water-containing butanol introduced a lower content of aromatic compounds and most importantly, lead to more complete combustion, thus resulting in a great reduction in the POP emissions. Not only did the self-provided oxygen of butanol promote complete oxidation but also the water content in butanol diesel blends could cause a microexplosion mechanism, which provided a better turbulence and well-mixed environment for complete combustion.