Effect of butanol on fuel consumption and smoke emission of direct injection diesel engine fueled by jatropha oil and diesel fuel blends with cold EGR system

Diesel engines are widely used in industry, automotive, power generation due to better reliability and higher efficiency. However, diesel engines produce high smoke emissions. The main problem of diesel engine is actually the use of fossil fuels as a source of energy whose availability is diminishing. Therefore alternative fuels for diesel fuels such as jatropha and butanol are needed to reduce dependence on fossil fuels. In this study, the effect of butanol usage on fuel consumption and smoke emissions of direct injection diesel engine fueled by jatropha oil and diesel fuel with cold EGR system was investigated. The percentage of butanol was in the range of 5 to 15%, jatropha oil was in the range of 10 to 30% and the balance was diesel fuel. Cold EGR was varied through valve openings from 0 to 100% with 25% intervals. The experimental data shows that the BSFC value increases with increasing percentage of butanol. In addition, the use of EGR results in a higher increase of BSFC than that without EGR. While the addition of butanol into a blend of jatropha oil and diesel fuel causes a decrease in smoke emissions. The results also informed that the use of EGR in the same fuel blend led to increased smoke emissions.