Evaluation of the environmental and cost impact of a small diesel engine with ethanol-diesel and isopropanol-diesel fuel at varying engine loads and speeds

Abstract

Nowadays, alcohol additives such as ethanol and isopropanol are used to minimize emissionsresulting from combustion in diesel engines. While these blends contribute to reducing emission values, itis also important to consider their environmental and cost implications. Therefore, this experimental studyfocuses on the emission characteristics and the environmental and cost impact of alcohol additives in dieselfuel. The experiments were conducted at low and medium engine torques (3 Nm and 6 Nm) and variousengine speeds (1000, 1500, 2000, and 2500 rpm). Additionally, three different test fuels were used in theexperiments, including standard diesel fuel, as well as diesel fuel with volumetric additions of 7% ethanol(E7) and 7% isopropanol (IP7) alcohol additives. The emission values of all test fuels were measured, andan analysis of environmental influence and cost was conducted. Upon examining the results, it is evidentthat the addition of alcohol to diesel fuel significantly increased the environmental influence and cost atlow engine speeds, while it led to a decrease at high engine speeds. Furthermore, the increase in engineload contributed to emission reduction due to higher combustion temperatures, thereby contributing to adecrease in both cost and environmental influence.