Physico-chemical properties of Acetone-Butanol-Ethanol (ABE)-diesel blends: Blending strategies and mathematical correlations

Abstract

Butanol offers more promising results compared to lower carbon alcohol. Yet, it has not been commercially produced as a biofuel due to its expensive recovery process from Acetone-Butanol-Ethanol (ABE) fermentation. If ABE is used directly as a biofuel, the process will be more straightforward, thus eliminating its energy and cost-intensive purification process. Study on ABE as a biofuel has become a growing field for the last five years. Several preliminary studies have reported convincing results of using ABE-diesel blends in diesel engines. However, many of the studies on ABE lacks clarity regarding its fuel properties. In fact, no previous study has investigated the fuel properties of ABE. Therefore, this study aims to quantify some critical physico-chemical properties of ABE-diesel blends. Several important fuel properties were investigated in this study; calorific value, density, kinematic viscosity, distillation characteristics and cetane index. In terms of blending strategy, results from this study indicate that ABE(3 6 1) can be added up to 42% to diesel fuel, while ABE(6 3 1) and ABE(1 3 6) can only be added up to 22% and 23%, respectively. Also, the mathematical correlations to estimate ABE's fuel properties are presented. The equations developed in this study gave have high coefficient of determination values. They can serve as prediction models for future studies. Considering its relatively low-cost production and satisfying physico-chemical properties, ABE has the potential to become a promising alternative biofuel.