A novel alternative fuel mixture (diesel–biodiesel–pentanol) for the existing unmodified direct injection diesel engine: performance and emission characteristics

The present study investigated the performance and emission characteristics of a single cylinder direct injection diesel engine fuelled with diesel – jatropha biodiesel – pentanol blends. The test fuels used for the experiment include diesel fuel (Diesel), 80% diesel (v/v) – 20% jatropha biodiesel (v/v) (D80J20), 70% diesel (v/v) – 20% jatropha biodiesel (v/v) – 10% pentanol (v/v) (D70J20P10), and 60% diesel (v/v) – 20% jatropha biodiesel (v/v) – 20% pentanol (v/v) (D60J20P20). Studied performance characteristics include brake specific fuel consumption and torque, while emission characteristics include carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, and smoke opacity. Experimental results revealed that the addition of pentanol influenced a reduction in brake power and torque with a noticeable improvement in engine exhaust emissions. To conclude, the addition of pentanol (20%, v/v) to diesel–jatropha blends resulted in lowered CO, NOx, and smoke opacity by 41.76%, 27.6%, and 32.4%, respectively, because of improved oxygen content of the resulting ternary mixture and improved combustion efficiency.