Comparison of volatility characteristics and temperature-dependent density, surface tension, and kinematic viscosity of n-butanol-diesel and ABE-diesel fuel blends
Dávid Csemány, Osama DarAli, Syed Ali Hamza Rizvi, Viktor Józsa
Abstract
Climate strategies and targets are impossible to meet with the continuously expanding energy and transportation sectors without renewable liquid fuels. Butanol is a potential alternative fuel, however, its production cost is currently high. Therefore, acetone-butanol-ethanol (ABE), an intermediate fermentation product, can also be used as fuel, which is economically more competitive. This paper provides temperature-dependent measurement data of material properties of various n-butanol and ABE blends with EN 590 diesel fuel. The key findings are the following. Distillation curves and initial boiling points match up to 25% volume fraction of biofuel for n-butanol and ABE blends. Initial boiling point decreases exponentially with biofuel content and has no considerable change above 25% and 50% biofuel volume fraction for n-butanol and ABE blends, respectively. Curve fitting was performed for initial boiling point, density, surface tension, and kinematic viscosity data to provide an empirical model for simulations. The simple mixing rule was applicable to density and surface tension. Nissan-Grunberg equation for viscosity is only recommended with the binary interaction parameter that is negative for n-butanol and positive for ABE blends. Ohnesorge number has a minimum at 25% n-butanol volume fraction, showing a minimum in average droplet size, which is optimal for clean operation.