Evaluación del N-Butanol como componente de combustibles para motores diésel con sistemas de postratamiento Euro 6

Nowadays, the transport sector is trying to face the climate change and running through a sustainable world by introducing modern aftertreatment sytems or by fueling biofuels. Biofuels are receiving increasing attention driven by factors such as the oil-price fluctuation, the stringent emission regulations and the need for increasing the energy diversity. Among the renewable options for diesel engines, alcohols produced from waste or lignocellulosic materials with advanced production techniques constitute a sustainable alternative. Diesel fuels can be blended with bioalcohols as a means to introduce a renewable fraction and to provide certain oxygen content. The particulate matter reduction when oxygenated fuels are used cause a decrease in the diesel particle filter regeneration frequency, and therefore, lower oil dilution, lower fuel consumption and longer aftertreatment life cycle can be achieved. In this study, the effect of blending n-butanol with diesel fuels was evaluated to get practical information for the design of transport and storage equipment, pipelines and injector systems, knowledge about their miscibility and useful information about their autoignition behaviour. Butanol- diesel blends up to 20% (volume basis) were tested in a Euro 6 diesel engine and vehicle in the engine test bench and in the chassis dynamometer, respectively to study their viability and to know if the use of n-butanol blends is beneficial in terms of performance and emissions at any ambient conditions and under any certification procedure. From this study, although the increases in CO and THC emissions are largely compensated by the benefits in particulate matter emissions, especially for Bu16D (16% butanol- 84% diesel volumen basis), the maximum butanol content is further limited by starting difficulties at very low ambient temperatures. Since startability problems ocurred from 13% butanol content onwards, it was concluded that butanol can be introduced up to 13% at any ambient conditions and under any certification procedure. Since butanol blends fulfil most of the limits proposed in EN 590 for diesel fuels and the most restrictive limits could be fulfilled using some technological devices such as cetane number improvers or flame arresters in tanks, any initiative to promote the use of n-butanol in diesel engines would be required to initiate the standardization process in the European Standardization Commitee