Technical Analysis of Blending Fusel to Reduce Carbon Emission and Pollution Emission of Diesel Engine

Abstract

Replacing fossil energy with renewable resources is an important means of reducing carbon emissions. As a by-product of fermentation to produce ethanol, fusel oil is a renewable organic liquid with a wide range of sources, and its use to partially replace diesel has high environmental benefits. The main component of fusel oil has strong water absorption, so this paper studies the stability and combustion performance of diesel blended with fusel oil after absorbing a small amount of water in the air. The characteristics of fusel alcohols were studied by analyzing the water-holding capacity of the main components in the fusel alcohols mixed with diesel. Three kinds of fuels (containing 20% fusel, no water; containing 20% fusel, and 6% water in the fusel; diesel) were selected for combustion experiments and analyzed the exhaust gas composition. The results demonstrate that the absorption of moisture from the air has no visible effect on the stability of the fuel and the fuel continues to remain single phase. Adding 20% fusel oil with water will increase break thermal efficiency by about 0.7%. The soot emission can be reduced by up to 47.5% and the NOx emitted by the water-containing fuel can be reduced by about 6.4%. At the same time, due to the significantly lower cost of fusel alcohol, under the same energy output from the engine, adding 20% fusel oil will reduce the cost by ~15%. Taken together, the incorporation of fusel oil into diesel at a ratio of 20% will not adversely affect the fuel, and it can be directly used in existing diesel engines.

Keywords: fusel oil, diesel alternative, water holding capacity, engine test, fuel cost