Investigation on the combustion, performance and emissions of a diesel engine fuelled by biodiesel and its blends with different oxygenated organic compounds

An experimental investigation is carried out to evaluate the effects of biodiesel–ethanol (BE) blends, biodiesel–dimethyl carbonate (BC) blends and biodiesel–diglyme (BG) blends on the combustion, performance and emission characteristics of a diesel engine operated at different loads and constant engine speed. Compared with biodiesel, for a specific engine load, the BE and BC blends have lower peak cylinder pressure at full load, while the BG blends show a slight variation in the peak cylinder pressure. In comparison with biodiesel, the BE, BC and BG blends have slightly higher brake thermal efficiency. Drastic reduction in smoke is observed with BE, BC and BG blends at higher engine loads. The BSNOx emissions are found slightly lower for BE, BC and BG blends almost at all loads. The BE and BC blends have a slight variation in the BSCO and BSHC emissions, while the BG blends have lower BSCO and BSHC emissions.