Combustion and Emissions Characteristics of Valeric Biofuels in a Compression Ignition Engine

New-generation biofuels are mainly produced from nonfood crops or waste. Although second-generation ethanol is one of the main options, valeric esters can also be produced from lignocellulose through levulinic acid. However, only few experimental results are available to characterize their combustion behavior. Using a traditional compression ignition (CI) engine converted to monocylinder operation, the engine performances and emissions of butyl and pentyl valerate (BV and PenV, respectively) were investigated. This paper analyses the experimental results for blends of 20%(vol) of esters in diesel fuel, taking diesel fuel as the reference fuel. The BV and PenV have a smaller cetane number and consequently the ignition delay of the blends is slightly longer. However, engine performances and emissions are not significantly modified by adding 20%(vol) of esters to diesel fuel. The BV and PenV then represent very good alternative biofuels for CI engines. (C) 2014 American Society of Civil Engineers.