Low temperature spray combustion of acetone–butanol–ethanol (ABE) and diesel blends

• Published in: Applied energy Vol. 117; pp. 104 - 115
• Main Authors: Zhou, Nan, Huo, Ming, Wu, Han, Nithyanandan, Karthik, Lee, Chia-fon F., Wang, Qingnian
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Kidlington Elsevier Ltd 15.03.2014; Elsevier
• Subjects: ABE fuel; Applied sciences; Crude oil, natural gas and petroleum products; Energy; Exact sciences and technology; Flame lift-off; Fuels; Natural luminosity; Petroleum products, gas and fuels. Motor fuels, lubricants and asphalts; Natural luminosity; Flame lift-off; ABE fuel; Spray combustion; Ethanol; Diesel fuel; Fuel; Butanol; Biofuel; Acetone; Low temperature; Flame
• ISSN: 0306-2619; 1872-9118
• DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2013.11.035

•Combustion characteristics of acetone–butanol–ethanol (ABE) and diesel blends.•Feasibility of ABE to be blended directly with diesel in engine.•Conventional and low temperature combustion in constant volume chamber.•ABE–diesel blends can suppress the soot formation and achieve better combustion. The combustion characteristics of acetone–butanol–ethanol (ABE) and diesel blends were studied in a constant volume chamber under both conventional diesel combustion and low temperature combustion (LTC) conditions. In this work, 20vol.% ABE without water (ABE20) was mixed with diesel and the vol.% of acetone, butanol and ethanol were kept at 30%, 60% and 10% respectively. The advantageous combustion characteristics of ABE-diesel include higher oxygen content which promotes soot oxidation compared to pure diesel; longer ignition delay and soot lift-off length allowing more air entrainment upstream of the spray jet thus providing better air–fuel mixing. Based on the analysis, it is found that at low ambient temperature of 800K and ambient oxygen of 11%, ABE20 presented close-to-zero soot luminosity with better combustion efficiency compared to D100 suggesting that ABE, an intermediate product during ABE fermentation, is a very promising alternative fuel to be directly used in diesel engines especially under LTC conditions. Meanwhile, ABE–diesel blends contain multiple components possessing drastically different volatilities, which greatly favor the occurrence of micro-explosion. This feature may result in better atomization and air–fuel mixing enhancement, which all contribute to the better combustion performance of ABE20 at LTC conditions.