Fuel 124 (2014) 168172

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Fuel
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/fuel

Potential use of a blend of diesel, biodiesel, alcohols and vegetable oil

in compression ignition engines
Nadir Yilmaz , Francisco M. Vigil
Department of Mechanical Engineering, New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, Socorro, NM, USA

h i g h l i g h t s
 Dieselbiodieselalcohols (ethanol, methanol and butanol)vegetable oil blends are tested.
 Exhaust gas emissions are reported.
 Advantages and disadvantages of alcohols and vegetable oil as additives are discussed.

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Article history:
Received 24 September 2013
Received in revised form 15 December 2013
Accepted 24 January 2014
Available online 6 February 2014
Keywords:
Blended fuels
Simple alcohols
Ethanol
Methanol
Butanol

a b s t r a c t
In this work, diesel fuel was mixed with biodiesel, biodieselalcohol, and biodieselalcoholvegetable oil
blends using the basic alcohols of ethanol, methanol and butanol. The exhaust gas emissions of a small
diesel generator running on different fuel blends were compared and the combined effects of alcohol
vegetable oil fuel blends were studied. Blend ratios used in this study were dieselbiodiesel (7030%),
dieselbiodieselalcohol (702010%) and dieselbiodieselalcoholvegetable oil (702055%). As
compared to dieselbiodiesel blends, dieselbiodieselalcohol and dieselbiodieselalcoholvegetable
oil blends increase CO and HC emissions while reducing NOx emission. It was also shown that adding
vegetable oil to dieselbiodieselalcohol blends improved emissions All the tested fuel blends produced
the highest difference in CO and HC emissions at no-load and the smallest difference at full-load.
2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Implementation of alternative fuels in internal combustion
engines has been an important research area in recent years
because of the high demands to lower dependency on fossil fuels.
Vegetable oils, simple alcohols such as methanol and ethanol, as
well as biodiesel fuels of different origins have been widely investigated and used in compression ignition engines with a focus on
performance and emission characteristics.
Vegetable oils have been evaluated in compression ignition engines as alternatives to substitute petroleum fuels. However, they
cause potential problems without engine modication and have
several disadvantages. Some of these disadvantages include poor
atomization due to high viscosity, incomplete combustion, and
carbon deposit build-up on several engine parts such as injectors,
piston rings, cylinder walls, and valve seats. However, the problem
of high viscosity can be solved by preheating the vegetable oils [1].
It has been reported that a diesel engine can operate without any
Corresponding author. Tel.: +1 575 8355304; fax: +1 575 8355209.
E-mail address: yilmaznadir@yahoo.com (N. Yilmaz).
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.fuel.2014.01.075
0016-2361/ 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

engine modication if the fuel mixture contains 20% vegetable oil

and 80% diesel [2].
Ethanol, and alcohols in general, are used as additives for diesel
and blended fuels in compression ignition engines. The main disadvantages of ethanol are the high auto-ignition temperature, high
heat of vaporization, and low lubricity. These problems can be
overcome by preheating the intake air and adding 2% of castor
oil [3]. In fact, one of the purposes of this work is to balance the
high lubricity of vegetable oil with the low lubricity of alcohols
by mixing these additives to diesel/biodiesel mixtures. Another
disadvantage of most simple alcohols is their immiscibility with
diesel fuel. However, biodiesel is miscible with alcohols and can
also serve as an emulsier for diesel/alcohol mixtures. Thus, it is
possible to create biodieselalcohol [49] and biodieselalcohol
diesel [1013] blends without miscibility problems, within certain
limits of alcohol concentration. It has been shown that biodiesel
ethanol and biodieselmethanol blends reduce NOx and PM emissions while methanol is more effective than ethanol to reduce
those emissions. Also, the literature shows some mixed results
for CO and HC emissions with regards to alcoholbiodiesel blends.
While there is an increase in CO and HC emissions for high

N. Yilmaz, F.M. Vigil / Fuel 124 (2014) 168172

concentrations of methanol and ethanol in biodieselalcohol

blends, there is evidence of reduction of those emissions with
low concentrations of methanol and ethanol. The reason for higher
emissions is that ethanol has a high vaporization energy requirement, which causes incomplete combustion. However, there is no
signicant change in emissions near or at full-load. Preheating
the intake air enhances vaporization and thus leads to more complete combustion, higher NOx and reduced CO and HC emissions
[14]. Biodieselethanoldiesel blends show a similar behavior, in
that increasing ethanol concentration leads to lower NOx and higher HC and CO emissions, especially at low loads [10].
Although there is some available work in the literature regarding ethanol and methanol blended biodiesel and biodieseldiesel
fuels, there is very limited research towards the use of butanol in
compression ignition engines. Key advantages of butanol are better
miscibility and longer stability with diesel, higher heating value,
and lower heat of vaporization as compared to ethanol and methanol. In fact, butanol has a very close latent heat of vaporization to
that of diesel which reduces the ignition delay as compared to ethanol and methanol. It has been found that 20% of isobutanol can be
mixed with diesel although the optimum blend ratio is reported to
be 10% isobutanol [15]. Several experimental studies showed that
HC emission increased while NOx, CO and smoke emissions decreased with the use of isobutanoldiesel blends as compared to
diesel [1517].
In this work, simple alcohols such as ethanol, methanol and
butanol were used in conjunction with vegetable oil as additives
to dieselbiodiesel blends to produce dieselbiodieselalcohol
and dieselbiodieselalcoholvegetable oil mixtures. These blends
were compared to a biodieseldiesel blend as a baseline. Biodiesel
is used as an emulsier between diesel and ethanol. Alcohols are
used as an oxygen enhancer and vegetable oil is added to the
dieselbiodieselethanol blend in order to balance the low
lubricity of alcohols.
2. Experimental procedure and specications
Experiments were carried out using a two-cylinder, 4-cycle,
indirect injected, liquid-cooled Kubota GL7000 diesel engine generator. Specications of the engine are shown in Table 1. Resistive
heaters were used to load the generator that utilizes a Z482
liquid-cooled twin cylinder engine. Engine loads were varied between 0% (no load) and 90% (6 kW). At no load, the engine runs to
sufciently overcome viscous resistances. CO, NOx, and unburned
HC emissions were measured using EMS 5002 5-gas analyzer.
Exhaust gas temperature was measured with a type-K thermocouple. Uncertainty for temperature measurements was within 2%. A
schematic of the experimental setup is shown in Fig. 1. Alcohols
(ethanol, methanol and butanol), vegetable oil, biodiesel and diesel

Table 1
Specications for diesel engine generator.
Manufacturer

Kubota

Generator type
Rated output (kW)
Engine cooling
Combustion system
Intake system
Cooling system
No. of cycles
Engine model
Bore  stroke (mm)
Displacement (cm3)
No. of cylinders
Combustion system
Compression ratio

GL-7000
6.5
Horizontal liquid-cooled
E-TVCS
Natural aspirated
Radiator cooling
4-Cycle
Z482
67  68
479
2
Indirect injection
23.5:1

169

fuels were blended to create dieselbiodiesel (7030%), diesel

biodieselalcohol (702010%) and dieselbiodieselalcoholvegetable oil (702055%). It should be noted that these mixtures
were extensively tested for separation at rst. As a result of the
tests, certain mixture ratios were used to keep blends stable in
the fuel tank before injection/combustion stage. In general,
dieselalcohol mixtures are not miscible but biodiesel serves as a
binder. However, if alcohol content is over a certain limit, some
separation will be seen after some time if not immediately. Thus,
mixing ratio is a critical factor. The biodiesel was made from used
cooking oil following the standard transesterication process based
on ASTM D6751. Table 2 shows the basic fuel properties of biodiesel, diesel, ethanol, methanol and butanol.
3. Analysis of engine performance and emission characteristics
3.1. Brake specic fuel consumption
The brake specic fuel consumption of the fuel blends show
similar behavior and magnitude, as can seen in Fig. 2. Overall,
the addition of ethanol, methanol, butanol or alcoholvegetable
oil to fuel mixtures decreases the brake specic fuel consumption.
The methanolvegetable oil mixture does not make any difference,
but the butanolvegetable oil mixture slightly increases brake specic fuel consumption as compared to dieselbiodiesel blends.
These results indicate that simple alcohols, or their mixtures with
vegetable oil, serve as viable replacement fuels with respect to fuel
economy.
3.2. Exhaust gas temperature
Exhaust gas temperature of all the fuel mixtures increases as the
load increases as seen in Fig. 3. An important nding is that diesel
biodieselethanol increases exhaust gas temperature as compared
to the dieselbiodiesel blend and dieselbiodieselethanol
vegetable oil blends. Although this observation may be interpreted
as that adding ethanol to biodieseldiesel mixtures increases the
combustion temperature, and perhaps, increases NOx while forming less CO and HC emissions, quantitative data shows the opposite
effect as discussed below. Thus, one explanation for higher exhaust
gas temperatures may be that the addition of ethanol to biodiesel
diesel mixtures decreases the combustion temperature and causes
incomplete combustion. Incomplete combustion likely occurs due
to insufcient time to allow for vaporization, but during the
exhaust process ethanol reacts and increases the exhaust gas
temperature. Because the temperature is relatively lower, it no
longer has an effect on NOx formation. Another interesting comparison exists between D70-B20-E10 and D70-B20-M10 blends. The
reason E10 blend shows a higher exhaust gas temperature than
M10 blend is perhaps because ethanol has slightly higher heat of
vaporization and combustion characteristics and 10% of alcohol
content or over could make signicant changes.
3.3. CO emissions
Fig. 4 shows the trends of CO emissions as a function of load for
the fuel blends. CO emissions are reduced as the load increases for
all the cases. At full-load there is no signicant difference between
CO emissions with respect to the fuel blend type. Overall,
dieselbiodieselalcohol and dieselbiodieselalcoholvegetable
oil blends show higher CO emissions than dieselbiodiesel mixtures, especially at low loads. As the load increases, the difference
decreases, and eventually no signicant difference is seen at full
load between the fuel mixtures in terms of CO emissions. Moreover, adding alcohol (10%) instead of alcohol (5%)vegetable oil

170

N. Yilmaz, F.M. Vigil / Fuel 124 (2014) 168172

Data Acquisition System

Thermocouple
Fuel
Mixture

Fuel

Diesel Engine Generator

Gas Analyzer

Exhaust Gas

Scale
Fig. 1. A schematic of the experimental set-up.

Table 2
Properties of biodiesel, diesel, butanol, methanol, ethanol, and vegetable oil [14,18,19].
Fuels

Heating value (MJ kg

Biodiesel
Diesel
Butanol
Methanol
Ethanol
Vegetable oil

40.5
44.8
33.1
19.8
28.6
40.4

Density @20 C (kg m

855
815
808
792
790
916

1,000

1,000

D70-B30
D70-B20-E10
D70-B20-E5-V5

900

BSFC (g/kW-hr)

Viscosity @40 C (mPa s)

Flash point (C)

Cetane number

4.57
2.95
2.63
0.59
1.1
34.2

126
70
35
11
13
274

52
52
25
<5
6
37

1,000

D70-B30
D70-B20-M10
D70-B20-M5-V5

900

800

800

800

700

700

700

600

600

600

500

500

500

400

400

400

300
0%

20%

40%

60%

80% 100%

300
0%

20%

40%

60%

D70-B30
D70-B20-Bu10
D70-B20-Bu5-V5

900

80% 100%

300
0%

20%

40%

60%

80% 100%

Load

Load

Load

Fig. 2. Brake specic fuel consumption as a function of load for combinations of biodiesel, alcohol (ethanol, methanol, butanol), diesel and vegetable oil.

Exhaust Gas Temperature (0C)

350
300

D70-B30

D70-B30

D70-B30

D70-B20-E10

D70-B20-M10

D70-B20-Bu10

D70-B20-E5-V5

D70-B20-M5-V5

D70-B20-Bu5-V5

250
200
150
100
50
0
0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

0%

20%

Load

40%

60%

80%

100%

0%

20%

Load

40%

60%

80%

100%

Load

Fig. 3. Exhaust gas temperature as a function of load for combinations of biodiesel, alcohol (ethanol, methanol, butanol), diesel and vegetable oil.

(5%) to dieselbiodiesel leads to higher CO emissions. This is,

perhaps, because the 5% vegetable oil increases the overall heating
value and cetane number of the blend since vegetable oil has a
higher heating value and cetane number than ethanol. Thus,
improvement of such properties leads to better vaporization and
combustion, hence the lower CO emissions.

3.4. Unburned HC emissions

As with CO emissions, unburned HC emissions are caused
because of incomplete combustion. As combustion improves, less
unburned HC emissions are expected. Fig. 5 shows the unburned
HC emissions as a function of load. As the load increases, better

171

N. Yilmaz, F.M. Vigil / Fuel 124 (2014) 168172

0.18

0.14

D70-B30
D70-B20-Bu10
D70-B20-Bu5-V5

D70-B30
D70-B20-M10
D70-B20-M5-V5

D70-B30
D70-B20-E10
D70-B20-E5-V5

0.16

CO (%)

0.12
0.10
0.08
0.06
0.04
0.02
0.00
0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Load

Load

Load

Fig. 4. CO emissions as a function of load for combinations of biodiesel, alcohol (ethanol, methanol, butanol), diesel and vegetable oil.

60

HC (ppm)

50

D70-B30

D70-B30

D70-B30

D70-B20-E10

D70-B20-M10

D70-B20-Bu10

D70-B20-E5-V5

D70-B20-M5-V5

D70-B20-Bu5-V5

40
30
20
10
0
0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

0%

20%

40%

Load

60%

80%

100%

0%

20%

40%

Load

60%

80%

100%

Load

Fig. 5. HC as a function of load for combinations of biodiesel, alcohol (ethanol, methanol, butanol), diesel and vegetable oil.

350
300

D70-B30

D70-B30

D70-B30

D70-B20-E10

D70-B20-M10

D70-B20-Bu10

D70-B20-E5-V5

D70-B20-M5-V5

D70-B20-Bu5-V5

NOx (ppm)

250
200
150
100
50
0
0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

0%

20%

Load

40%

60%

Load

80%

100%

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Load

Fig. 6. NOx as a function of load for combinations of biodiesel, alcohol (ethanol, methanol, butanol), diesel and vegetable oil.

combustion occurs and, thus, less unburned HC is produced, as

seen in the gure. Also, the difference between the emissions based
on the fuel type gets smaller at full-load. Overall, a 10% alcohol
content in dieselbiodieselalcohol blends leads to higher unburned HC emissions than a combination of 5% alcohol and 5% vegetable oil in dieselbiodieselalcoholvegetable oil blends. This is
because alcoholvegetable oil, as compared to simple alcohols as
additives, leads to better vaporization and combustion due to the

higher heating value and cetane number of vegetable oil compared

to those of ethanol. Also, the vegetable oil perhaps helps the low
lubricity characteristics of the alcohols. Overall, butanoldiesel
biodiesel produces lower HC emissions than ethanol and methanol
blended dieselbiodiesel mixtures possibly due to the lower heat
of vaporization requirement of butanol. But, this observation is
not true if butanol and ethanol blended dieselbiodieselvegetable
oil mixtures are compared at no load. Overall, butanol shows

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N. Yilmaz, F.M. Vigil / Fuel 124 (2014) 168172

promise, but if vegetable oil and ethanol are used together in biodieseldiesel, such blends could be used as alternatives.

shows that biodieselalcoholvegetable oil blends can be used as

an alternative to lower the dependency on diesel fuel.

3.5. NOx emissions

References

NOx emissions increased as the load increased for all the cases,
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compared to 5% methanol and 5% vegetable oil creates lower incylinder temperatures and thus lower NOx emissions, while causing more incomplete combustion. Unburned fuel may react during
the exhaust process causing higher exhaust gas temperatures
which are relatively low enough and do not affect NOx formation
furthermore. Thus, exhaust gas temperature may not necessarily
correlate to the in-cylinder combustion temperature which affects
NOx formation.

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4. Conclusions
In this work, alcohols (ethanol, methanol and butanol) and alcoholvegetable oil mixtures as additives to biodieseldiesel blends
were investigated in terms of performance and emission characteristics of a small diesel engine running on several fuel blends. Vegetable oil is used to improve low lubricity characteristics. In
addition, vegetable oil has a higher heat of combustion and cetane
number which contribute to better combustion. Overall, adding
alcohols or alcoholvegetable oil mixtures to biodieseldiesel
blends increases CO and unburned HC emissions while reducing
NOx emissions. But, although this may lead to the expectation of
lower combustion temperatures, exhaust gas temperatures shows
higher values for blends that contain alcohols or alcoholvegetable
oils mixtures. One possible explanation is that unburned fuels with
alcohols do not vaporize until the exhaust process due to insufcient time. During the exhaust process, alcohol blended fuels nally react while increasing the exhaust gas temperature, which is
relatively lower and may not affect NOx formation. However, this
possibility may need to be checked with a chemical kinetics study.
When comparing alcohols to alcoholvegetable oil mixtures as
additives, the data shows that adding alcohols alone increases CO
and HC emissions and decreases NOx emission more than the alcoholvegetable oil mixture does. This is perhaps due to the higher
heat of vaporization requirements of alcohols than that of vegetable oil, leading to less complete combustion. However, this work