Experimental Studies on RCCI Engine Powered with n-Butanol and Thevetia Peruviana Methyl Ester

Abstract

In the present work, an attempt is made to study the effect of n-butanol as primary fuel along with diesel and thevetia peruviana methyl ester (TPME) as secondary fuels under reactivity controlled compression ignition (RCCI) mode of combustion. Experiments have been conducted on single cylinder compression ignition (CI) engine runs at 1500 rpm at 50% load for RCCI mode of operation by varying percentage of n-butanol in injected fuels. The results show that RCCI engine operated with 10% of n-butanol mixed with diesel exhibits higher brake thermal efficiency (BTE) as compared with other percentages of n-butanol in injected fuels. Nitric oxide (NOx) and smoke emissions were reduced significantly for RCCI combustion mode. Beyond 10% n-butanol in injected fuels there is penalty of lower BTE and higher emissions.