Experimental Investigation of Methanol-Diesel Blends as Alternate Fuels for Compression Ignition Engines

Abstract

The rapid industrialization and the rise in the population of the world as led to a sharp increase in the demand for conventional sources of energy. The use of fossil fuels has led to rapid environmental degradation due to excessive pollutant emissions. Fossil fuel resources are getting depleted at a rapid rate. Hence importance has to be given towards the research of alternate fuels. Methanol and various other alcohols can behave as suitable alternate fuels. Methanol can be widely manufactured from feedstock sources which makes it advantageous. In the present work methanol-diesel blends are proposed as alternate fuels. The blends chosen are M10 (10% methanol+90% diesel), M20 (20% methanol+80% diesel) and M30 (30% methanol+70%diesel).The creation of methanol-diesel emulsion is carried out by means of a mechanical stirrer. The performance and emission characteristics of methanol-diesel blends are tested on a four stroke, single cylinder, water cooled diesel engine and the results are analyzed.