A numerical investigation on enhancing the performance of a diesel engine fuelled with diesel-biodiesel blend using a diethyl ether as an additive

Globally, the encouragement of using renewable fuels like biodiesel for diesel engines is driven by concerns over the fossil fuel depletion and harmful emissions. Additionally, the utilization of renewable fuel additives like diethyl ether has the potential to enhance fuel properties and boost engine performance. The aim of this paper was to construct a computer simulation using Ricardo Wave program in order to predict the performance and nitrogen oxides (NOx) emission of a diesel engine fuelled by a diesel-biodiesel blend and a diethyl ether (DEE) as a fuel additive. The computer model was validated by comparing the simulation engine performance and NOx emission results against the corresponding experimental data for diesel, diesel-biodiesel blend with 30% biodiesel proportion (B30), and two blends of diesel-biodiesel-DEE with DEE proportions of 5% and 10% on a volume basis. Also, the effect of varying the inlet air pressure on engine performance and NOx emission was compared for all investigated fuels. It was numerically demonstrated that using the DEE with an optimum proportion of 5% enhanced engine performance as it decreased engine fuel consumption by 5.9% and increased engine thermal efficiency by 9.6% compared to diesel fuel at engine full load condition. Also, a significant reduction of 20.5% in NOx emission resulted from the addition of DEE. Increasing the inlet air pressure increased engine power and decreased engine fuel consumption for all investigated fuels. Increasing the inlet air pressure from 1 to 3 bar increased engine brake thermal efficiency by almost 20% for all tested fuels. However, NOx emission increased slightly within a range from 1.7% to 7% for the different investigated fuels.