Experimental analysis of a mini truck CRDI diesel engine fueled with n-Amyl alcohol/diesel blends with selective catalytic reduction (SCR) as a DeNOx technique under the influence of EGR

Abstract

The current work aims to investigate the compatibility of n-Amyl alcohol in a mini-truck common rail direct injection (CRDI) compression ignition (CI) engine with exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) and selective catalytic reduction (SCR) as a DeNO<inf>x</inf> technique. The n-Amyl alcohol is a renewable biofuel it effectively mitigates the demand for fossil fuels and reduces greenhouse gas emission. Palladium and Rhodium coated SCR catalyst was used to reduce the nitrogen oxides (NO<inf>x</inf>) emission. For SCR of NO<inf>x</inf> ammonia was used as a reductant. From the experimental results, it was noted that with an increase in the percentage of alcohol in the blends, a slight drop in brake thermal efficiency (BTE) and higher brake specific energy consumption (BSEC) was observed. Both NO<inf>x</inf> and hydrocarbon (HC) emissions could be reduced with the use of n-Amyl alcohol and a combination of SCR and EGR techniques. The maximum reduction of NO<inf>x</inf> can be successfully achieved with the use of 40N60D (40% n-Amyl alcohol & 60% Diesel v/v) blend with SCR and 20% EGR at the slight cost of BTE. The engine can be successfully worked up to 40% of n-Amyl alcohol/diesel blends without causing any visible damage to the engine, with less NO<inf>x</inf> emissions. It is concluded that n-Amyl alcohol will be a sustainable next-generation biofuel for commercial vehicles. © 2020 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.