A study on the characteristics of combustion with butane and propane in a retrofitted diesel engine

The purpose of this study was to investigate the characteristics of combustion and exhaustgas temperature of a liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) engine when using butane and propane as fuel. A conventional diesel engine was modified into a LPG engine that utilized an LPG fuel system instead of a diesel fuel injection pump. The study was performed with different compositions of butane and propane, such as 100 per cent butane, 100 per cent propane, 50 per cent butane - 50 per cent propane, 70 per cent butane - 30 per cent propane, and 30 per cent butane - 70 per cent propane. The major conclusions of this work are as follows: MBT spark ignition timing was similar with different butane/ propane fuel blends, except at the 100 per cent butane, 1200 r/min condition; engine torque and power were not influenced by varying butane/propane fuel blends; and exhaust gas temperature was increased at higher engine speeds, and it was decreased by a maximum of 15°C with different butane/propane fuel blends.