Aerosol and Air Quality Research, 16: 2255–2266, 2016

Copyright © Taiwan Association for Aerosol Research

ISSN: 1680-8584 print / 2071-1409 online
doi: 10.4209/aaqr.2016.04.0144 

Effect of Butanol Blends on Nano Particle Emissions from a Stationary

Conventional Diesel Engine

Mohit Raj Saxena, Rakesh Kumar Maurya*

School of Mechanical, Materials and Energy Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Ropar, Rupnagar-140001, India

ABSTRACT

In this study, combustion characteristics and nano-size soot particle emissions from a stationary conventional diesel
engine have been experimentally investigated using butanol/diesel blends. Experiments were conducted on a single
cylinder stationary diesel engine at a constant speed of 1500 rpm for neat diesel and butanol/diesel blends (i.e., 10%, 20%
and 30% butanol on volume basis) at different engine loads. Piezoelectric pressure transducer installed in the engine
combustion chamber was used for measuring cylinder pressure data. In-cylinder pressure data for 2000 consecutive engine
cycles was recorded and averaged data was used for the analysis of combustion characteristics. Butanol/diesel blends show
higher rate of heat release in comparison to neat diesel and heat release rate increases with butanol percentage in the blend.
Opacity meter and exhaust particle sizer were used for analyzing smoke opacity, size and mass distributions of soot
particles respectively at different engine operating conditions. Soot particle distribution from 5 nm to 1000 nm was
recorded at each test condition. Results show that total particle concentration decreases with an increase in engine
operating loads. It was found that butanol/diesel blends have lower total particulate concentration and the surface area.

Keywords: Particulate matter; Smoke opacity; Combustion; Butanol; Diesel.

INTRODUCTION reduce the engine emissions (Johnson, 2010). However,

Depletion of petroleum reserves and future stringent
emission legislation limits mainly governs the development
of an efficient internal combustion engines producing lower
emissions. A study conducted by the International Transport
Forum suggests that by 2050 global transport could be
double or even quadruple (OECD/International Transport
Forum, 2013), which will increase fuel consumption leading
to higher emissions. In present scenario, mostly stationary
and automotive engines are running on fossil fuels (gasoline
and diesel). Typically, diesel engines are used in heavy-
duty vehicles and gensets due to their higher fuel efficiency
and power output. However, diesel engine emits high level
of nitrogen oxides (NOx) and particulate matter (PM) in the
exhaust due to the combustion of heterogeneous mixture in
the cylinder at higher combustion temperatures (Heywood,
2011; Pundir, 2012). NOx and PM have adverse effect on
human health (Afroz et al., 2003) and the environment. In
order to meet the stringent emission legislation limits, diesel
particulate filters, lean NOx trap, selective catalytic reduction
(advanced after-treatment devices) are typically used to
*
Corresponding author.
Tel.: +91-1881-242275; Fax: +91-1881-223395
E-mail address: rakesh.maurya@iitrpr.ac.in
after-treatment devices have penalty effect on the fuel
efficiency of the engine (Johnson, 2008; Johnson, 2009).
Utilization of alternative fuels in combustion engine is one of
the ways to improve engine fuel conversion efficiency and
reducing exhaust emissions. Alternative fuels like methanol,
ethanol, hydrogen, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) are high
octane gasoline fuels typically used in spark ignition engines.
However, these fuels are not suitable for compression ignition
(CI) engines due to their lower cetane number. Several studies
(Ramadhas et al., 2006; Raheman and Ghadge, 2008; Rounce
et al., 2012; Ye and Boehman, 2012; Raheman et al., 2013;
Dhar and Agarwal, 2014) summarized that biodiesel can be
used as alternative fuel in CI engines and it also lower the
emissions.
However, biodiesel fuel is not prominently used in
vehicles because of higher NOx emissions and durability
issues (like deposition formation, carbonization of injector
tip, fuel filter plugging). In recent decades, butanol attracted
the attention of researchers as an alternative fuel for CI
engine due to its inimitable properties. Butanol has a higher
cetane number in comparison to methanol and ethanol and
also easily miscible with diesel.
Several studies investigated the performance, combustion
and emission characteristics of diesel/butanol blends in CI
engine (Rakopoulos et al., 2010; Doğan, 2011; Imtenan et
al., 2015; Şahin and Aksu, 2015). Rakopoulos et al. (2010)
experimentally investigated the performance and gaseous
2256 Saxena and Maurya, Aerosol and Air Quality Research, 16: 2255–2266, 2016
emission characteristics of diesel/butanol blends on diesel
engine for 8%, 16% and 24% diesel/butanol blends at a
constant speed of 2000 rpm and three different load
conditions. They found that smoke density, NOx and carbon
mono oxide (CO) emission were reduced with butanol
blends while hydrocarbon (HC) emissions increase with
butanol blends as compared to neat diesel. Rakopoulos et
al. (2010) also observed that the brake thermal efficiency
increases with butanol blends with slightly lower exhaust
gas temperature. Doğan (2011) also investigated the effect
of diesel/butanol blends on the performance and emission
characteristics of diesel engine and found similar results.
Imtenan et al. (2015) investigated the performance and
emission characteristics of diesel-jatropha biodiesel blend
in addition with n-butanol and diethyl ether in a diesel engine.
They found that CO, HC and smoke opacity were reduced
with jatropha biodiesel/diesel blend while NOx increases
with biodiesel/diesel blends as compared to neat diesel.
Şahin and Aksu (2015) investigated the effect of 2%, 4%,
6% butanol/diesel blends on the turbocharged diesel engine
on combustion characteristics. However, these studies are
mainly focused on the performance and regulated gaseous
emissions. Several studies were also conducted to investigate
the concentration of particle number and its distribution for
both diesel and oxygenated fuels (Argachoy and Pimenta,
200; Chien et al., 2009; Petrović et al., 2011; Srivastava et
al., 2011; Zhang et al., 2013; Wei et al., 2014; Cho et al.,
2015). Chien et al. (2009) investigated the PAH and
particle emission from diesel engine fuelled with biodiesel-
diesel blends. This study used micro-orifice uniform deposit
impactor and nano-orifice uniform deposit impactor to
measure the particulate matter size distribution. Their results
indicate that particulate and PAH emission decreases with
an increase in the fraction of biodiesel in the blended fuel.
Study also shows that increasing the biodiesel fraction to
60%, the nano and ultra-fine particles were increased.
Srivastava et al. (2011) experimentally investigated the
concentration and distribution of nano-particle emissions
from nonroad diesel engine at different load condition at a
compression ratio (CR) of 17.5 and fuel injection pressure
of 200-205 bar. Study concluded that the size and mass
distribution of particles depend upon the engine operating
load. Liu et al. (2012) experimentally investigated the emission
characteristics of heavy duty diesel engine fuelled with waste-
cooking-oil-biodiesel/diesel blends. Study demonstrated that
lower CO, PM, PAH and HC emissions could be achieved
with waste-cooking-oil-biodiesel/diesel blends while having
higher NOx and CO2 emissions in comparison to neat
diesel. Zhang et al. (2013) experimentally investigated the
effect of fumigated methanol with diesel on the combustion
characteristics and particulate emission of diesel engine at
different engine operating load conditions in a modified
naturally aspirated, 4-cylinder, water-cooled diesel engine
with ECU controlled fumigated methanol injection system.
Experiments were performed with 10%, 20% and 30%
fumigated methanol injection with diesel at different
engine load conditions. Zhang et al. (2013) achieved lower
peak pressure for lower and medium loads with fumigated
methanol while higher peak pressure achieved for higher
 
load condition. Particulate mass and concentration decreases
with fumigated methanol from medium to higher load
condition. Zhang et al. (2013) also observed that the
concentration of nucleation size particles increases with
fumigated methanol from medium to higher load conditions.
Wei et al. (2014) experimentally investigated the effect of
diesel and di-methyl ether (DME) on PM emissions
(particle distribution and soluble organic fraction) in the
modified automotive diesel engine. The diameter of the
plunger was increased from 8.5 mm to 10.5 mm; injection
timing was retarded from 25°BTDC to 22°BTDC while
injection pressure was reduced from 19.1 MPa to 18 MPa
to run an engine efficiently with DME. The study shows that
particle numbers decrease with engine speed and increases
with engine operating load for both the fuels. They also found
that particles are larger and accumulation size particles are
higher for diesel combustion (Wei et al., 2014). Several
studies (Sukjit et al., 2012; Zhang and Balasubramanian,
2014a, b; Choi and Jiang, 2015) also investigated particulate
emission distribution for diesel/biodiesel/butanol blend.
Sukjit et al. (2012) experimentally investigated the effect
of addition of methyl esters in the blend of ethanol and
butanol/diesel on combustion and emission characteristics
of naturally aspirated diesel engine (compression ratio 15.5).
They found that 15% methyl esters are sufficient to avoid the
phase separation for ethanol and butanol/diesel blends and
butanol has lower soot, CO, and total hydrocarbon emissions
as compared to ethanol. Zhang and Balasubramanian (2014a)
experimentally investigated the effect of butanol/diesel/
biodiesel blends on particulate emission characteristics at
different load in a diesel engine. Experimental data were
recorded with neat diesel, Bu5, Bu10, Bu15, and Bu20 for
25%, 50%, and 75% engine load condition and particle size
measured in the range of 5 to 560 nm. They found that PM2.5
concentration, total volatile and non-volatile concentration,
reduce with butanol/diesel blends. Choi and Jiang (2015)
investigated the effect of butanol/diesel blend on HC, CO,
NOx, PM and un-regulated emissions at different operating
load and speed conditions on a four cylinder, turbocharged,
common rail direct injection diesel engine for butanol
blend ratio upto 20%. Their results indicated that at lower
load condition, ethylene and benzene emissions were higher
and increases with butanol fraction in the blend. Lopez et
al. (2015) experimentally investigated the effect of alcohol
fumigation (i.e., hydrous ethanol and n-butanol) on the
performance, combustion and emission characteristics of
an automotive diesel engine. Their results show that both
the alcohol fuels have faster combustion rate and a lower
peak in-cylinder temperature as compared to neat diesel.
Study also concluded that n-butanol was better alternative
fuel for fumigation as compared to hydrous ethanol on the
basis of performance characteristics. Tse et al. (2015)
experimentally investigated the trade-off between the
particle mass and total particle number concentration and
NOx emissions from an automotive diesel engine fueled
with diesel, diesel-biodiesel-ethanol blends and biodiesel.
Study shows lower particulate emission (both in terms of
particle mass and particle number) found with diesel-
biodiesel-ethanol blends. Mwangi et al. (2015) experimentally
 Saxena and Maurya, Aerosol and Air Quality Research, 16: 2255–2266, 2016  2257

investigated the effect of various fuel blends (butanol,
diesel, water and microalgae biodiesel) on the performance
and emission (both gaseous and particles) characteristics of
an automotive diesel engine. Their result shows that all the
blended fuel has higher brake thermal efficiency as
compared to conventional diesel while having lower PM
and PAH emissions. Zhang et al. (2016) experimentally
investigated the effect of butanol and pentanol addition
with diesel on the performance and particle emission
characteristics of diesel engine. Study shows that both the
blended fuels have lower solid particles, elemental carbons
emission and particle mass as compared to diesel. Results also
indicated that the concentration of total particle emissions,
reduce with both the alcohol blended fuels due to reduction
in the concentration of particles larger than 50 nm.
Formation of nano-size soot particles depends upon several
engine parameters including compression ratio, injection
pressure, injection timing, engine speed and load. Reviewed
studies show that researchers investigated the effect of
various alternative fuels on nano particle emissions (in size
ranges of 5 nm–560 nm) for mainly automotive diesel
engine. Published studies lack the detailed studies on particle
emission on relatively older mechanical fuel injection type
direct injection diesel engines. This study is focused on
reduction of particulate emission from a stationary diesel
engine (typically used for small genset/pumpset in India) at
optimized engine conditions using butanol. In the coming
future, stringent legislation from government for non
automotive engines also makes this study more relevant to
this kind of engines. Previous study (Saxena and Maurya,
2016) optimized the compression ratio (18:1) and fuel
injection pressure (200 bar) for higher efficiency and lower
particle and gaseous emissions using diesel. These optimized
conditions may be valid for similar engine with mechanical
low pressure fuel injection system. In this study, experiments
were conducted on optimized condition. This study mainly
focused on the combustion characteristics and particle
distribution (in the size range 5 nm to 1000 nm) with neat
diesel and butanol/diesel blends (i.e., 10%, 20%, 30% butanol
by vol.) at different engine operating load conditions (0%,
25%, 50%, 75% and 100% load).
EXPERIMENTAL SETUP ANDMETHODOLOGY
A four stroke, single cylinder, direct injection, variable
compression ratio diesel engine coupled with an eddy
current dynamometer was used for the present study. The
specifications of the test engine are provided in Table 1.
The schematic diagram of the experimental setup used in
this study is shown in Fig. 1. The experiments were conducted
at a compression ratio of 18 and fuel injection pressure of
200 bar. Fuel is injected at 23°BTDC (before top dead
center) into the cylinder. All the tests are conducted at
constant speed of 1500 rpm. Fuel consumption was measured
using an electronic fuel transmitter installed in the fuel line
between the fuel tank and the fuel pump of the engine.
Piezo-electric pressure transducer was mounted in the
cylinder head to measure the cylinder pressure. The crank
angle encoder (resolution 1 crank angle degree (CAD)) was
used for measuring crankshaft position. Cylinder pressure of
2000 consecutive engine cycles was measured and average
cylinder pressure was used for heat release analysis. The rate
of heat release (ROHR) is used for calculation of combustion
parameters.
The rate of heat release is calculated by using Eq. (1)
dQ  θ   1  dP  θ   γ  dV  θ 
 V  θ    P θ  (1)
dθ  γ 1  dθ  γ 1  dθ
where, Q is the heat release, γ is the ratio of specific heat,
P(θ) and V(θ) is the pressure and volume as a function of
crank angle position θ.
Volume as function of θ is calculated by using engine
geometry and presented in Eq. (2)
π 2
V  θ   Vc  B  L  R  Rcosθ  L2  R 2 sin 2θ  (2)
4  

Table 1. Test engine specifications.

Engine Characteristics Specifications
Make/Model Kirloskar TV1
Maximum Power 3.5 KW @1500RPM
Injection type Direct Injection
Number of cylinder Single
Cylinder Bore/Stroke 87.5/110 mm
Connecting rod length 234mm
Compression Ratio 18:1 to 12:1
Total displacement volume 661.45cc
Fuel Injection variation timing –27 to –7 CAD aTDC
Piston Bowl Shape Hemisphere
Inlet and Exhaust valve diameter 34mm
Inlet valve open/close –364.5/–144.5 CAD aTDC
Exhaust valve open/close 144.5/364.5 CAD aTDC
Fuel injection pressure range 170–250 bar
Number of nozzle hole 3
Nozzle hole diameter 0.288 mm
2258 Saxena and Maurya, Aerosol and Air Quality Research, 16: 2255–2266, 2016
Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of Experimental Setup.
where, Vc is the clearance volume, L is the length of the
connecting rod, R is the radius of the crank and B is the
bore of the engine cylinder.
Smoke Opacity was measured by using an opacity meter
(Manufacturer: AVL Dismoke 480 BT).Engine exhaust
particle size and particle number distribution were measured
by a fast response, particle spectrometer (Manufacturer:
Cambustion, UK; Model: DMS 500). Particles of 38 different
sizes in the range of 5 nm to 1000 nm can be measured by
the instrument (DMS 500). It is real time, equipment, which
measures particulates on the basis of electric mobility
diameter (Cambustion Ltd., 2015; Gonzalez-Oropeza, 2009).
Exhaust gas samples from the engine exhaust tail pipe passing
through the cyclone in primary dilution stage (exhaust
gases diluted with hot/warm air). Diluted gases from cyclone
orifices pass through heating line towards the high ratio
diluting rotating disc for the second stage of dilution. The
optimal dilution ratio controlled by PC-based user interface
and measured particulate concentration are corrected for
the total applied dilution. Diluted exhaust gas samples
passes through the unipolar corona charger and soot particles
are charged (proportional to surface area). Charged soot
particles then passed through strong electrified field classifier
column. Soot particles are deflected towards downward
direction electrometer rings by repulsion from a central
high voltage rod. On the basis of electric mobility particles
are detected at different distances during downward motion
in the column. The charge is induced on the soot particles
from electrometer rings and the resulting currents (output
signals) are processed in real time by the user-interface
into particle number (Cambustion Ltd., 2015).
Typically, soot particles having size lower than 50 nm
are considered as nucleation mode particles and particles
having size between 50 nm to 1000 nm are considered as
accumulation mode particles (Price et al., 2006). In this study,
nucleation and accumulation mode particles are calculated
by fitting lognormal curve (Cambustion DMS06). Total
particulate numbers and mass of the particles is calculated by
using following Eqs. (3) and (4) (Cambustion Ltd., 2015a, b):
 
d
1 p2 dn
TotalPN   (3)
16 d dlog d p
p1
 
Mass (μg)  2.20 1015  d 2p.65 (nm) (4)
where, ݀௣ is the diameter of the particle.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
In this section, combustion and particulate emission
characteristics of diesel and butanol/diesel blends are
presented and discussed. Experiments are conducted at
constant speed of 1500 rpm and five different engine
operating load conditions, i.e., 0%, 25%, 50%, 75% and
100% load. For each test condition, average in-cylinder
pressure data of 2000 cycles were used to reduce cyclic
variability. Comparative experimental investigation of
performance and gaseous emission characteristics of diesel
and butanol/diesel blends at different load conditions were
analyzed in previous study (Saxena and Maurya, 2016).
Combustion Characteristics
Combustion characteristics of engines are often explained
using heat release curve estimated from direct measurement
of cylinder pressure. To reduce the effect of cyclic variability,
average of 2000 consecutive engine cycles is used for heat
release calculation. Fig. 2 shows the variation of averaged
cylinder pressure and rate of heat release (ROHR) curves
for diesel and butanol/diesel blends. It can be observed
from the Fig. 2 that cylinder pressure and ROHR increases
with engine load for all test fuels because of a higher
amount of fuel burnt at a higher engine load. It can also be
noticed from Fig. 2 that higher ROHR obtained with
butanol/diesel blends as compared to diesel and ROHR
increases with butanol percentage in the blend. The higher
heat release rate in butanol blends is due to increase in delay
period, which increases the fraction of fuel burned during
 Saxena and Maurya, Aerosol and Air Quality Research, 16: 2255–2266, 2016  2259

    
 

    
 

 
Fig. 2. Variation of cylinder pressure and ROHR for diesel and butanol blends at different engine loads.

premixed combustion phase. Ignition delay is comparatively
higher in butanol blends due to lower cetane number of
butanol. Fig. 2 also confirms that the lower heat release
rate for butanol blends during mixing control phase at the
same load conditions.
Fig. 3 shows the variation of start of combustion (SOC)
and combustion duration with engine loads for diesel and
butanol diesel blends. SOC and combustion duration is
calculated from the heat release rate. SOC is defined as a
crank angle position for 10% heat release and combustion
duration as difference of crank angle position between 90%
and 10% heat release. It is observed from Fig. 3(a) that
2260 Saxena and Maurya, Aerosol and Air Quality Research, 16: 2255–2266, 2016 

SOC advances with the increase in engine loads. It can also
be observed from Fig. 3(a) that SOC is delayed for But20
and But30 at all operating load conditions as compared to
But10 blend, which is possibly because of the high heat of
vaporization of But20 and But30 blends as compared to
But10 blend. Moreover, at the higher engine load condition
SOC delayed for But30 blend as compared to neat diesel,
But10 and But20 blends. It might be due to the lower cetane
number and higher latent heat of vaporization is dominated
for But30 blend as compared to neat diesel. Fig. 3(b) shows
that combustion duration reduced with butanol/diesel blends
as compared to diesel fuel and shorter combustion duration
achieved as an increase in the fraction of butanol in the blend.
Shorter combustion duration shows that the combustion rate
increased with butanol fraction in neat diesel due to the
higher oxygen content in the fuel. During mixing controlled
combustion phase, fuel-oxygen mixing rate dominates the
combustion (Chen et al., 2013). Therefore higher oxygen
content in the butanol blends will dominate and lead to
shorter combustion duration.
Smoke Opacity and Density
Compression ignition engine emits soot/particulate
emissions in the form of black smoke. Soot formation
depends on the overall fuel-air ratio. Typically, smoke opacity
represents the fraction of transmitting light blocked in the
sample of smoke emitted from an engine. Smoke density
determines the ability of smoke to conceal the light. Smoke
density is a function of the total smoke particle numbers
per unit gas volume and the distribution of different size
particles. Variations in smoke opacity and density are
shown in Fig. 4. It can be observed from Fig. 4 that smoke
opacity and smoke density increases with engine operating
load. Lower smoke opacity and density obtained with
butanol/diesel blends as compared to neat diesel fuel and
higher reduction obtained as fraction of butanol increases
in the fuel blend. This fact is attributed to lower carbon and
higher oxygen content in butanol/diesel blends. Similar
trends were also observed by few researchers (Rakopoulos
et al., 2010; Doğan, 2011; Chen et al., 2013).

Fig. 3. Variation of (a) start of combustion and (b) combustion duration with engine load for diesel and butanol/diesel blends.

Fig. 4. Variation of (a) smoke opacity (b) smoke density with engine load for diesel and butanol/diesel blends.
 Saxena and Maurya, Aerosol and Air Quality Research, 16: 2255–2266, 2016  2261
Particulate Emission Characteristics
Fig. 5 shows the variation of size and number distribution
for diesel and diesel butanol blends at different engine
loads. It can be observed from Fig. 5. that at lower load
conditions, smaller size particles (range 10–60 nm) are
higher in concentration, while larger size particles are higher
in concentration at full load operation. It can also be noticed
that higher reduction in particulate concentration obtained
with butanol/diesel blend at lower load in comparison to
full load conditions. Particle size-number distribution follows
the bimodal log-normal distribution curve (Fig. 5). First peak
typically represents the nucleation mode particles while the
second peak represents accumulation mode particles. Peak
number concentration is observed at a mobility diameter of
20 nm. Fig. 5 shows that nucleation size particles decreases
with engine load and accumulation size particle concentration
increases with increase in engine operating load. With the
increase in engine load the overall temperature of the
combustion chamber increases (higher amount of fuel burned)
leading to increase in the rate of agglomeration and decrease
in nucleation mode particles. Most of the particles are in the
size range of 5–300 nm for all the test fuels. Particles larger
than 500 nm size are also emitted in significant number for
Fig. 5. Particle size and number distribution for diesel/butanol blends at different engine loads.
this engine (Fig. 5) and these particles are not typically
measured by instruments/researcher (Srivastava et al., 2011).
Significant concentrations of particles larger than 500 nm
size are possibly due to mechanical fuel injection system
(fuel injection at lower injection pressure) which results in
poor atomization (larger size fuel droplets). Larger fuel
droplet leads to poor evaporation and mixing, which results
pyrolysis of richer mixture and larger particles are formed
in significant number at higher engine load. High fuel
injection pressure technologies (such as common rail direct
injection) in modern engines lead to better atomization
(smaller sauter mean diameter droplets) and efficient
combustion resulting typically smaller soot particles.
Fig. 6 shows the variations of total particle concentration
with engine load for different butanol blends. Concentration
of total particle number decreases with an increase in
engine operating loads due to higher combustion temperature
at higher loads. Moreover, lower particle concentration
obtained with butanol/diesel blends in comparison to diesel
fuel and reduction increases with increase in the fraction of
butanol due to the higher percentage of oxygen content in
fuel and better combustion. It can also be observed from
contour plot that butanol blending is more effective in
2262 Saxena and Maurya, Aerosol and Air Quality Research, 16: 2255–2266, 2016 

Fig. 6. Variation of total particulate concentration with engine load for diesel and butanol/diesel blends.

Fig. 7. Variation of (a) nucleation mode (b) accumulation mode particles with engine loads.

reduction of particle concentration at lower loads (upto
70% loads). After 25% engine loads, blending of more
than 10% butanol is not very effective in particle reduction
as contour lines are almost vertical (after But10).
To further explore the reduction in total particle number
emissions, nucleation and accumulation mode particles are
estimated and discussed (Fig. 7). Fig. 7 shows the variations
of the concentration of the nucleation and accumulation
mode particles with engine load for butanol/diesel blends.
It is observed from Fig. 7 that concentration of nucleation
mode particles are higher in comparison to accumulation
mode particles at all engine load except full load condition.
This trend is similar for both diesel and butanol blends.
Fig. 7 also show that concentration of nucleation mode
particles reduces with engine load while the concentration
of accumulation mode particles increases with engine load.
Characteristics of the particle size and their dependence on
operating conditions of the engine found in the present
study are consistent with previously reported study (Zhang
and Balasubramanian, 2014). Fig. 7 show the significant
reduction in the concentration of nucleation and accumulation
size particulates for diesel/butanol blends. It can also be
noticed that the concentration of nucleation and accumulation
size particles reduces with butanol/diesel blends at all load
conditions.
Mass of total particulate matter emitted from diesel engine
is the key factor for stringent emission legislations. Figs. 8
and 9 show the variations of the particle surface area and
the mass with different load conditions, respectively for
diesel and butanol/diesel blend. Particle surface area and
particle mass is dependent on the diameter of the particle
and aggregate number of particles of that diameter. The
mass of particles is calculated using Eq. (4).
It is observed from Fig. 8(a) that at idle load condition,
nucleation size particles have a higher peak surface area
while on increasing the load accumulation size particles
have higher peak surface area distribution. At lower load
nucleation mode particles are in higher number concentration,
therefore although nucleation mode particles are in smaller
diameter they show higher surface area. At higher loads
peak surface area concentration shift towards higher
mobility diameter particles (Fig. 8). A similar trend is also
 Saxena and Maurya, Aerosol and Air Quality Research, 16: 2255–2266, 2016  2263
observed for other butanol/diesel blends (Fig. 8). Moreover, it
can be observed that the surface area of particle reduces with
increase in the fraction of butanol in the blended fuel due to
lower number concentration. Concentration of nucleation
mode particle drastically decreases for butanol blends (Fig. 7).
Smaller particles contribute more towards the surface area
and large reduction in nucleation mode particle leads to
reduction in surface area also. Lower surface area of particles
can be related to lower toxicity of particulates. Lower the
surface area, lower will be possibility of surface adsorption
of the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), aldehydes,
ketones (which form soluble organic fraction (SOF) for
smaller sized particles) and thus lower will be the toxic
potential. Smaller particles tend to have significantly higher
surface area for the same particle mass compared to larger
particle, offering larger surface area for condensation of
toxic VOC’s and PAH’s. Therefore, smaller particles tend
to become more hazardous for human health compared to
larger particles.
It is observed from Fig. 9 that the mass of the particles
depends upon the engine load and mass of the particles
increases with an increase in engine load. Furthermore, large
reduction in the mass of particles is found with increasing
Fig. 8. Particle size and surface area distribution for diesel/butanol blends at different engine loads.
the fraction of a butanol fraction in butanol/diesel blend as
compared to diesel due to reduction in particle number
concentration (Figs. 6 and 7). The maximum reduction in
particle mass is obtained with But30 Blend. It can also be
noticed from Fig. 9 that mass of particles in the size range
of 700 nm–1000 nm is significant for this kind of engine,
which is typically ignored even in some of measuring
instruments/studies. Number of particles in this size (700
nm–1000 nm) is significant enough so that they can have
mass comparable to higher concentration particles.
CONCLUSIONS
The effect of butanol blends (But10, But20 and But30)
on combustion characteristics and particulate emissions has
been investigated on a conventional stationary diesel
engine at 1500 rpm for different engine loads. Higher rate
of heat release was found for butanol/diesel blends in
comparison to diesel and heat release rate increases with an
increase in butanol percentage in the blend. Start of
combustion advances with butanol blends in comparison to
diesel. Shorter combustion duration was found for butanol/
diesel blends and combustion duration decreases with the
2264 Saxena and Maurya, Aerosol and Air Quality Research, 16: 2255–2266, 2016
Fig. 9. Particle size and mass distribution for diesel/butanol blends at different engine loads.
increase of butanol fraction in the blend. Smoke opacity
and smoke density increase with engine load for all test
fuels. Total particle number concentration was found to
decrease with increase in engine load and lower particle
concentration was obtained with butanol/diesel blends in
comparison to diesel. It was found that concentration of
nucleation mode particulates reduces with engine operating
load and the concentration of accumulation mode particles
increase with engine load. Concentrations of nucleation and
accumulation mode particles are lower for butanol/diesel
blends at all engine loads. Higher reduction in particle number
concentration was found using butanol blends at lower load
in comparison to full load. Nucleation mode particles have
higher peak surface area distribution at idle load conditions
and accumulation mode particles have peak surface area at
higher engine load. It was found that mass of particles
increases with an increase in engine load. Larger reduction in
mass of particles was found at higher butanol blends. Number
of particles in the size range 700 nm–1000 nm is significant
and particle mass comparable to higher concentration particles
for this type of engine. In summary butanol blending is better
alternative for partial replacement of diesel in conventional
engine for particulate reduction.
 
 
REFERENCES
Afroz, R., Hassan, M.N. and Ibrahim, N.A. (2003). Review
of air pollution and health impacts in Malaysia. Environ.
Res. 92: 71–77.
Argachoy, C. and Pimenta, A.P. (2005). Phenomenological
model of particulate matter emission from direct injection
diesel engines. J. Braz. Soc. Mech. Sci. Eng. 27: 266–
273.
Cambustion DMS06.Real-time Mode Finding & Lognormal
Fitting with DMS Series Fast Particulate Spectrometers.
http://www.cambustion.com/sites/default/files/applicatio
ns/DMS/dms06v03.pdf.
Cambustion Ltd. (2015a). DMS 500 User Manual, Version
4.04.
Cambustion Ltd. (2015b). Number: Size Spectrum Correlation
with particulate mass measurements-Application notes.
http://www.cambustion.com/sites/default/files/applicatio
ns/DMS/dms01v05.pdf.
Chen, Z., Liu, J., Han, Z., Du, B., Liu, Y, and Lee, C.
(2013). Study on performance and emissions of a
passenger-car diesel engine fueled with butanol–diesel
blends. Energy 55: 638–646.
Chien, S.M., Huang, Y.J., Chuang, S.C. and Yang, H.H.
 Saxena and Maurya, Aerosol and Air Quality Research, 16: 2255–2266, 2016  2265
(2009). Effects of biodiesel blending on particulate and
polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon emissions in
nano/ultrafine/fine/coarse ranges from diesel engine.
Aerosol Air Qual. Res. 9: 18–31.
Cho, J., Si, W., Jang, W., Jin, D., Myung, C.L. and Park, S.
(2015). Impact of intermediate ethanol blends on
particulate matter emission from a spark ignition direct
injection (SIDI) engine. Appl. Energy 160: 592–602.
Choi, B. and Jiang, X. (2015). Individual hydrocarbons and
particulate matter emission from a turbocharged CRDI
diesel engine fueled with n-butanol/diesel blends. Fuel
154: 188–195.
Dhar, A. and Agarwal, A.K. (2014). Experimental
investigations of effect of Karanja biodiesel on tribological
properties of lubricating oil in a compression ignition
engine. Fuel 130: 112–119.
Doğan, O. (2011). The influence of n-butanol/diesel fuel
blends utilization on a small diesel engine performance
and emissions. Fuel 90: 2467–2472.
Gonzalez-Oropeza, R., Hill, B.J., Hassaneen, A.E., Samuel,
S. and Morrey, D. (2009). Gasoline engine particulate
emission and exhaust gas speciation. SAE Technical
Paper No. 2009-01-2670.
Heywood J.B. (2011). Internal Combustion Engine
Fundamentals. TMH Publications, ISBN:1-25-900207-1.
Imtenan, S., Masjuki, H.H., Varman, M., Fattah, I.R., Sajjad,
H. and Arbab, M.I. (2015). Effect of n-butanol and
diethyl ether as oxygenated additives on combustion–
emission-performance characteristics of a multiple cylinder
diesel engine fuelled with diesel–jatropha biodiesel blend.
Energy Convers. Manage. 94: 84–94.
Johnson, T. (2008). Diesel engine emissions and their
control. Platinum Met. Rev. 52: 23–37.
Johnson, T.V. (2009). Review of diesel emissions and
control. Int. J. Engine Res. 10: 275–285.
Johnson, T.V. (2010). Review of diesel emissions and
control. SAE Technical Paper No. 2010-01-0301.
Liu, S.H., Lin, Y.C. and Hsu, K.H. (2012). Emissions of
regulated pollutants and PAHs from waste-cooking-oil
biodiesel-fuelled heavy-duty diesel engine with catalyzer.
Aerosol Air Qual. Res. 12: 218–227.
López, A.F., Cadrazco, M., Agudelo, A.F., Corredor, L.A.,
Vélez, J.A. and Agudelo, J.R. (2015). Impact of n-butanol
and hydrous ethanol fumigation on the performance and
pollutant emissions of an automotive diesel engine. Fuel
153: 483–491.
Maurya, R.K. and Agarwal, A.K. (2009). Experimental
investigation of the effect of the intake air temperature
and mixture quality on the combustion of a methanol-
and gasoline-fuelled homogeneous charge compression
ignition engine. Proc. Inst. Mech. Eng., Part D 223:
1445–1458.
Mwangi, J.K., Lee, W.J., Tsai, J.H. and Wu, T.S. (2015).
Emission reductions of nitrogen oxides, particulate
matter and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons by using
microalgae biodiesel, butanol and water in diesel engine.
Aerosol Air Qual. Res. 15: 901–914.
OECD/International Transport Forum (2013). ITF
Transport Outlook 2013: Funding Transport. OECD
Publishing/ITF, doi: 10.1787/9789282103937-en.
Petrović, V.S., Janković, S.S., Tomić, M.V., Jovanović,
Z.S. and Knežević, D. (2011). The possibilities for
measurement and characterization of diesel engine fine
particles: A review. Therm. Sci. 15: 915–938.
Price, P., Stone, R., Collier, T., Davies, M. and Scheer, V.
(2006). Dynamic particulate measurements from a DISI
vehicle: A comparison of DMS500, ELPI, CPC and
PASS. SAE Technical Paper No. 2006-01-1077.
Pundir, B.P. (2012). Engine Emissions Pollutant Formation
and Advances in Control Technology. Narosa Publication,
ISBN: 978-81-7319-819-9.
Raheman, H. and Ghadge, S.V. (2008). Performance of
diesel engine with biodiesel at varying compression ratio
and ignition timing. Fuel 87: 2659–2666.
Raheman, H., Jena, P.C. and Jadav, S.S. (2013).
Performance of a diesel engine with blends of biodiesel
(from a mixture of oils) and high-speed diesel. Int. J.
Energy Environ. Eng. 4: 1–9.
Rakopoulos, D.C., Rakopoulos, C.D., Giakoumis, E.G.,
Dimaratos, A.M. and Kyritsis, D.C. (2010). Effects of
butanol–diesel fuel blends on the performance and
emissions of a high-speed DI diesel engine. Energy
Convers. Manage. 51: 1989–1997.
Ramadhas, A.S., Jayaraj, S. and Muraleedharan, C. (2006).
Theoretical modeling and experimental studies on
biodiesel-fueled engine. Renewable Energy 31: 1813–1826.
Rounce, P., Tsolakis, A. and York, A.P.E. (2012). Speciation
of particulate matter and hydrocarbon emissions from
biodiesel combustion and its reduction by after treatment.
Fuel 96: 90–99.
Şahin, Z. and Aksu, O.N. (2015). Experimental investigation
of the effects of using low ratio n-butanol/diesel fuel
blends on engine performance and exhaust emissions in
a turbocharged DI diesel engine. Renewable Energy 77:
279–290.
Saxena, M.R. and Maurya, R.K. (2016). Comparative
experimental investigation of performance and emissions
characteristics of diesel/butanol blends at optimal diesel
operating conditions. Particuology (Under Review).
Srivastava, D.K., Agarwal, A.K. and Gupta, T. (2011).
Effect of engine load on size and number distribution of
particulate matter emitted from a direct injection
compression ignition engine. Aerosol Air Qual. Res. 11:
915–920.
Sukjit, E., Herreros, J.M., Dearn, K D., García-Contreras,
R. and Tsolakis, A. (2012). The effect of the addition of
individual methyl esters on the combustion and emissions
of ethanol and butanol-diesel blends. Energy 42: 364–
374.
Tse, H., Leung, C.W. and Cheung, C.S. (2015). Investigation
on the combustion characteristics and particulate emissions
from a diesel engine fueled with diesel-biodiesel-ethanol
blends. Energy 83: 343–350.
Wei, Y., Wang, K., Wang, W., Liu, S., Chen, X., Yang, Y.
and Bai, S. (2014). Comparison study on the emission
characteristics of diesel-and dimethyl ether-originated
particulate matters. Appl. Energy 130: 357–369.
Ye, P. and Boehman, A.L. (2012). An investigation of the
2266 Saxena and Maurya, Aerosol and Air Quality Research, 16: 2255–2266, 2016
impact of injection strategy and biodiesel on engine NOx
and particulate matter emissions with a common-rail
turbocharged DI diesel engine. Fuel 97: 476–488.
Zhang, Z.H., Cheung, C.S. and Yao, C.D. (2013). Influence
of fumigation methanol on the combustion and particulate
emissions of a diesel engine. Fuel 111: 442–448.
Zhang, Z.H. and Balasubramanian, R. (2014a). Influence
of butanol addition to diesel–biodiesel blend on engine
performance and particulate emissions of a stationary
diesel engine. Appl. Energy 119: 530–536.
Zhang, Z.H. and Balasubramanian, R. (2014b). Influence
of butanol–diesel blends on particulate emissions of a
 
non-road diesel engine. Fuel 118: 130–136.
Zhang, Z.H., Chua, S.M. and Balasubramanian, R. (2016).
Comparative evaluation of the effect of butanol–diesel
and pentanol–diesel blends on carbonaceous particulate
composition and particle number emissions from a diesel
engine. Fuel 176: 40–47.
Received for review, April 9, 2016
Revised, July 12, 2016
Accepted, August 2, 2016