Impact of Oxygenated Additives on Performance Characteristics of Methyl Ester in IC Engine

In this present work, the impact of blending n-butyl alcohol, a next generation biofuel with jatropha biodiesel on the performance of a diesel engine are examined. Tests were performed on a constant speed compression ignition engine using n-butyl alcohol / jatropha biodiesel blends. N-butyl alcohol was added to jatropha biodiesel by 10, 20 and 30% by volume. Performance parameters namely break thermal efficiency (BTE), Brake specific fuel consumption (BSFC) and Exhaust gas temperature (EGT) were analyzed in this work. It was experimentally found that by adding n-butyl alcohol to neat jatropha biodiesel, significant reduction in viscosity was observed. In addition, break thermal efficiency was increased by 0.8 % due to improved atomization of the blends. Further, brake specific fuel and exhaust gas temperature was further reduced due to lower viscosity and improved combustion rate with addition of n-butyl alcohol to jatropha biodiesel.