At present, the experiment of mixing ethanol with petrol has been largely successful in India. This is helping to reduce the import of crude oil. While up to 20 percent ethanol has been successfully blended into petrol, many people wonder, “Why can’t we blend the same ethanol into diesel?” Because freight and public transport in India runs on diesel to a large extent. Due to technical and chemical reasons, direct blending of ethanol with diesel is impossible. The main reasons behind it are as follows,
1. Chemical variation
Ethanol is ‘hydrophilic’ in nature, meaning it attracts water to itself. Diesel is a hydrocarbon, which does not come in contact with water. When trying to mix ethanol with diesel, it doesn’t mix properly. After a while the layers of ethanol and diesel separate, causing watery ethanol to enter the engine instead of just diesel, and can cause engine failure.
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2. CYTEN NUMBER AND IGNITION PROBLEM
A diesel engine works on the principle of ‘compression ignition’. That is, it does not have a spark plug, instead the diesel is ignited by the heat generated by compressing the air. The ‘Citan Number’ (combustion capacity) of diesel needs to be high. However, ethanol has a very low cetane number. When ethanol is mixed with diesel, the engine does not ignite on time, causing problems such as loud engine noise and engine failure.
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3. Lack of lubricating properties
Diesel is slightly oily in nature. It itself acts as a lubricant for the fuel pump and injectors in the engine. In contrast, ethanol is dry. Mixing it with diesel increases friction between engine parts and causes fuel injection systems to wear out quickly.
4. Corrosion and damage
Ethanol corrodes rubber, plastic pipes and aluminum parts in cars. The fuel system of diesel cars is not designed for this.
What is the alternative??
Instead of ethanol, diesel is blended with ‘biodiesel’, which is made from jatropha, palm oil or old cooking oil. Since biodiesel has similar properties to diesel, it can be easily mixed without harming the engine.
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