Performance and emissions of a DI diesel engine operating on diesel/methanol blends

A stabilized diesel/methanol blend was realized and the study on the performance and emissions of the diesel/methanol blend was conducted in a DI engine. The study showed that the thermal efficiency of engine increased and the diesel equivalent brake specific fuel consumption (bsfc) decreased with the increase in methanol mass fraction for diesel/methanol blends due to an increased fraction of premixed combustion phase, an oxygen enrichment and an improvement in diffusive combustion phase. Further advancement of fuel delivery advance angle would achieve a better engine thermal efficiency when operating on the diesel/methanol blends. Remarkable reduction in the exhaust CO and smoke could be achieved when operating on the diesel/methanol blend. Exhaust HC gave less variation with the addition of methanol in diesel fuel. NO_x increased with the increase of methanol mass addition and methanol addition in diesel fuel was found to have a strong influence on NO_x concentration at the high engine load rather than at the low engine load, and a flat NO_x/Smoke trade-off curve is observed in the combustion of diesel/methanol blends.