Effect of butanol additive on the performance and emission of Australian macadamia biodiesel fuel in a diesel engine

The aim of this paper is to investigate the effect of 5% butanol with biodiesel-diesel blends on the performance, emission, and combustion of a naturally aspirated multi-cylinder diesel engine at different engine speeds and full load conditions. Three types of local Australian biodiesel namely macadamia biodiesel (MB) were used for this study, and the data was compared with conventional diesel fuel (B0). Performance results showed that the addition of butanol with diesel-biodiesel blends slightly lowers the brake power (BP), increases brake specific fuel consumption (BSFC) and brake specific energy consumption (BSEC). The emission study revealed that the addition of butanol additive with diesel-biodiesel blends reduces carbon monoxides (CO), nitrogen oxides (NOx), particulate matter (PM) emission than macadamia-diesel blends and diesel (B0) fuel. Finally, 5% butanol can be added to local Australian biodiesel-diesel blends to lower the NOx and PM emission.