Fuel 332 (2023) 126200 0016-2361/© 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Investigation of ternary blends of animal fat biodiesel-diethyl ether-diesel fuel on CMFIS-CI engine characteristics S. Ashfaque Ahmed a , Manzoore Elahi M. Soudagar b, c, d, * , I. Rahamathullah e , J. Sadhik Basha f , T.M. Yunus Khan g , Syed Javed g , Ashraf Elfasakhany h , MA Kalam i, * a Department of Mechanical Engineering, Priyadarshini Engineering College, Vaniyambadi, Tamilnadu, India b Department of Mechanical Engineering and University Centre for Research & Development, Chandigarh University, Mohali, Punjab 140413, India c Department of Mechanical Engineering, School of Technology, Glocal University, Delhi-Yamunotri Marg, Uttar Pradesh 247121, India d Department of VLSI Microelectronics, Saveetha School of Engineering, Saveetha Institute of Medical and Technical Sciences, Chennai 602105, Tamilnadu, India e Department of Mechanical Engineering, Government College of Engineering, Srirangam, Tamilnadu, India f Department of Process Engineering, National University of Science and Technology (International Maritime College Oman), Sohar, Oman g Department of Mechanical Engineering, College of Engineering, King Khalid University, Abha 61421, Saudi Arabia h Mechanical Engineering Department, College of Engineering, Taif University, P.O. Box 11099, Taif 21944, Saudi Arabia i School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, FEIT, University of Technology Sydney, NSW 2007, Australia A R T I C L E INFO Keywords: Animal fat biodiesel blend Diethyl ether Transesterifcation Performance Emissions and combustion ABSTRACT The experimental study aims at investigation of the ternary blends of animal fat oil biodiesel, diesel and diethyl ether in-terms of performance, emission and combustion analysis in single cylinder four stroke diesel engine. The animal (mono) fat biodiesel was prepared through transesterifcation process by using alcohol (6:1) and po- tassium hydroxide (4:1) at 50 ◦ C –55 ◦ C and obtained 90 % of biodiesel. The prepared biodiesel was blended with neat diesel to get the tested blend, animal fat biodiesel (AFB20). To improve the performance parameters of AFB20, the prepared biodiesel blend AFB20 was again blend with diethyl ether (DEE) in various proportions by 10 % and 20 % to obtain the ternary blend AFB20DEE10 and AFB20DEE20. Addition of DEE to AFB20 enhances the physicochemical properties of the biodiesel blends. The frst stage of this study was that the neat diesel was examined in the single cylinder four stroke diesel engine to obtain the reference readings. The second and third stage of this investigation was the prepared animal fat biodiesel blend AFB20 and AFB20DEE10 and AFB20- DEE20 were examined in the diesel engine. The fourth stage of this investigation was that, the obtained results of neat diesel was compared with the other tested blends. The experimental outcome reveals that, AFB20DEE20 blend perform better than that of the other tested blends. 4.8 % higher fuel is consumed, and 7.1 % lowered brake thermal effciency and exhaust gas temperature was found in the blend AFB20DEE20 compared to neat diesel. The blend AFB20DEE20 exhibits higher cylinder pressure by 70.43 bar and lower heat release rate by 35.23 J/deg., compared to neat diesel. 0.15 % lower CO emission and 37.8 % lower UBHC emission were found in AFB20DEE20 compared with ND. Reduction of NOx emission by 4.18 % and higher smoke emissions were found in the blend AFB20DEE20 compared to neat diesel. 1. Introduction Increasing demand for the energy from the past two decades has encouraged the world researchers to fnd the better alternate sources to fulfll the energy demand. Daily increasing number of transport sectors, which creates the demand of petroleum products [1]. Transportation Abbreviations: BTE, Brake thermal effciency; BSEC, Brake specifc energy consumption; EGT, Exhaust gas temperature; NOx, Oxides of nitrogen; CO, Carbon monoxide; UBHC, Unburned hydrocarbons; CP, Cylinder pressure; HRR, Heat release rate; ppm, Parts per million; CI, Compression ignition; aTDC, After top dead center; bTDC, Before top dead centre; ND, Neat diesel; CO 2 , Carbon dioxide; WCO, Waste cooking oil; CMFIS, Conventional mechanical fuel injection system; AFB, Animal (beef) fat biodiesel 100% biodiesel; CNT, Carbon nano-tubes; AFB20, 20% Biodiesel + 80% neat diesel by volume; DEE, Diethyl ether; AFB20DEE10, 90% Biodiesel blend + 10% DEE by volume; AFBDB20DEE20, 80% Biodiesel blend + 20% DEE by volume. * Corresponding authors at: Department of Mechanical Engineering and University Centre for Research & Development, Chandigarh University, Mohali, Punjab 140413, India (M.M. Soudagar). School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, FEIT, University of Technology Sydney, NSW 2007, Australia (M.A. Kalam). E-mail addresses: me.soudagar@gmail.com (M. Elahi M. Soudagar), mdabul.kalam@uts.edu.au (M. Kalam). Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Fuel journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/fuel https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fuel.2022.126200 Received 8 February 2022; Received in revised form 1 August 2022; Accepted 30 September 2022