Performance and emission characteristics of diesel engine powered with diesel–glycerol derivatives blends

• A glycerol ketal ester is synthesized.
• The diesel blends properties were studied.
• Diesel blends with 1–2 wt. % glycerol derivatives were tested on diesel engine.
• Diesel blends reduce HC, CO and smoke emission and slightly increase NOx emission.

The present work investigates the possibility of using two glycerol derivatives as additives for diesel fuel. The first additive was obtained by catalytic condensation of glycerol with butane-2-one over solid superacid SO42 −/TiO2-La2O3, while the second additive was synthesized from the first one by transesterification with methyl hexanoate. In order to investigate the chain length influence of the glycerol ketal ester over diesel properties, we studied the influence of ratio of oxygenated compound on the quality parameters of diesel fuel like viscosity, pour point, flash point and cetane index. To evaluate the effects of (2-ethyl-2-methyl-1,3-dioxolan-4-yl)methanol and (2-ethyl-2-methyl-1,3-dioxolan-4-yl)methyl hexanoate diesel blends on engine performance and emission characteristics, the following parameters were studied: engine power, engine torque, specific fuel consumption (sfc), nitrogen oxide (NOx), hydrocarbon (HC), carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO2) and smoke emission. All tests were carried out on a four cylinder diesel engine, without any modifications, working at full load and engine speeds between 1200 and 3700 rpm. The experimental data indicates (2-ethyl-2-methyl-1,3-dioxolan-4-yl)methyl hexanoate as a promising additive for emission reduction (reduces HC, CO and respective smoke emission by 26.04%, 18.93% and 19.20%, respectively, and slightly increases NOx emission).