Control of aldehyde emissions in the diesel engines with alcoholic fuels

The major pollutants emitted from compression ignition (CI) engine with diesel as fuel are smoke and nitrogen oxides (NOx). When the diesel engine is run with alternate fuels, there is need to check alcohols (methanol or ethanol) and aldehydes also. Alcohols cannot be used directly in diesel engine and hence engine modification is essential as alcohols have low cetane number and high latent hear of vaporization. Hence, for use of alcohol in diesel engine, it needs hot combustion chamber, which is provided by low heat rejection (LHR) diesel engine with an air gap insulated piston with superni crown and air gap insulated liner with superni insert. In the present study, the pollution levels of aldehydes are reported with the use of methanol and ethanol as alternate fuels in LHR diesel engine with varying injection pressure, injection timings with different percentage of alcohol induction. The aldehydes (formaldehyde and acetaldehyde) in the exhaust were estimated by wet chemical technique with high performance liquid chromatograph (HPLC). Aldehyde emissions increased with an increase in alcohol induction. The LHR engine showed a decrease in aldehyde emissions when compared to conventional engine. However, the variation of injection pressure showed a marginal effect in reducing aldehydes, while advancing the injection timing reduced aldehyde emissions.