Evaluation of Performance and Emission Characteristics of an Unmodified Naturally Aspirated Compression Ignition Engine on Blends of Diethyl Ether and Diesel

The world today is majorly dependent upon fossil fuels for power generation, of which diesel forms an integral part. Diesel engines, having the highest thermal efficiency of any regular internal or external combustion engine, are widely used in almost all walks of life and cannot be dispensed with in the near future. However, the limited availability of diesel and the adverse effects of diesel engine emissions like nitrogen oxide (NO_x) and soot particles raise serious concerns. Hence, their performance and emission improvement continues to be an avenue of great research activity. In this research work, the effects of blending Diethyl Ether with diesel in various proportions (5%, 10%, 15% and 20% by volume) were evaluated on engine performance and emissions of an industrial internal combustion engine. Several properties of DEE such as its low viscosity, high volatility, high cetane number, low auto ignition temperature and high solubility in diesel make it favorable for use in compression ignition engines. The data obtained from experimentation were carefully studied and a detailed theoretical analysis was carried out for each of the blends by comparing with baseline diesel performance data. The results were promising. The DEE blends showed a simultaneous decrease in carbon monoxide, unburned hydrocarbon, smoke emissions and brake thermal efficiency whereas the brake specific fuel consumption and the NO_x emissions showed an increase. It was concluded that the 5% DEE-Diesel blend is the most effective combination from the performance and emission point of view.