Physical and Chemical Properties of 1-Butanol-Diesel Fuel Blends

One of the methods to improve the emission parameters of diesel engines is the use of fuels containing an increased fraction of oxygen compounds. This can be achieved by adding oxygen compounds, in the form of alcohols (e.g., ethanol, methanol, and 1-butanol), to a standard diesel fuel. Due to a number of advantages over ethanol and methanol, 1-butanol is of particular interest. It is important to determine the physical and chemical properties of the diesel fuel to which alcohol has been added, in order to study the engine efficiency. From a legislative point of view, it is also necessary to compare these parameters with those of a typical diesel fuel. In this study, the physical and chemical properties of blends of standard diesel fuel and 1-butanol were tested, with 1-butanol volume fractions of up to 25%. Density, kinematic viscosity, distillation characteristics, heating values, water content, flash point, cold filter plugging point, lubricity, autoignition properties, and corrosiveness to copper were tested. The obtained results were compared with the standard requirements specified in the EN 590 standard. Studies have shown that for fuel blends with an increasing volume fraction of 1-butanol, autoignition properties deteriorate and lower and higher heating values decrease significantly. The distillation curves also change, and the mass fraction of water increases. For a higher fraction of 1-butanol, deterioration of lubricity was observed, while for the smaller fractions, an improvement in lubricity was noted. Even when higher volume fractions of 1-butanol were used, the values of some tested parameters were within the limits specified in the standard requirements for typical diesel fuel.