An exploratory experimental study of a single-cylinder diesel engine run on diesel–Mesua ferrea Linn oil–diethyl ether ternary blends

ABSTRACT A small compression ignition (CI) diesel engine was run with different concentrations of diethyl ether (DEE) in Mesua ferrea Linn oil (MLO, 80% by volume)-diesel (20% by volume) blend (M20). DEE was mixed volumetrically by 5 and 10% with M20 to form ternary fuel blends M20D05 and M20D10 respectively. The results revealed an enhancement of 4.4% brake thermal efficiency (BTE) with a 5% DEE ternary blend when compared to M20 fuel at lower loads. At maximum output condition, the BTE of ternary blends M20D05 and M20D10 were found lowered by 5.1% and 6.8% respectively to the diesel mode. Brake specific fuel consumption increased with an increase in the amount of DEE in the M20 as compared to the neat M20. An elongated ignition delay period and decelerated combustion process were attained by DEE ternary blends. A maximum reduction of 13.6% CO and 25.6% NOx emissions was achieved with 10% DEE ternary blend as compared to M20 fuel. The HC emissions were increased with the increase of DEE in the blend to the neat M20 fuel. The study suggests that the ternary blends can replace the fossil diesel fuel by 25–30% in CI engines without making any engine modification. Highlights The engine was run with ternary blends of diesel/Mesua ferrea Linn vegetable oil/ DEE. Thermal efficiency increased by 4.4% with a 5% DEE ternary blend than the M20 blend. DEE blended fuels produce lower CO and NOx than the M20 blend. The 5% DEE blend shows better engine thermal efficiency than the 10% DEE blend. Lower NOx was achieved with both ternary fuel blends when compared to diesel fuel. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT