The increasing environmental threat due to exhaust gas emitted from petroleum fuel engines and the rising demand for non-renewable energy has called for a search for alternative renewable fuel sources. Though the focus so far has been on bio-ethanol due to the availability of raw materials. However, the high corrosive tendency, water affinity, and lower volumetric energy of ethanol and methanol have made them less attractive as an alternative fuel. Recently, the use of Bio-butanol is gaining attention because it is not hygroscopic, does not cause corrosion, has better blending abilities, has higher calorific value, and has the ability to be used in conventional internal combustion engines without the need for modifications. In this research work, butanol was produced from cornstalks and blended with diesel in different proportions of 5%, 10%, 15%, 20%, and 25%. Both the butanol and the blends were characterized, and the values obtained were compared with standard and diesel. Performance and exhaust test analysis were conducted on the blends and diesel in a compression Ignition engine. Brake power and BMEP exhibited an increasing trend for all the test fuels and were better with B0. In all the tested fuels BSFC was higher at lower engine torque and continued to decrease as the engine torque increased though the BO gave the lowest BSFC at all torque level tested. There was also a reduction in the carbon monoxide emission and the air/fuel ratio with the blends than diesel while the HC was higher with the blends than diesel.
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