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Some recent findings regarding the negative health effects of particulate matter increase the relevance of the detailed characteristics of particulate emissions from different sources and especially the nonvolatile fraction of particles. In this study, the nonvolatile fraction of ultrafine particulate emissions from a non-road diesel engine was studied. The measurements were carried out in an engine laboratory and the exhaust sample was taken from the engine-out location with various steady state driving modes. Four different fuels, including fossil fuel, soybean methyl ester (SME), rapeseed methyl ester (RME), and renewable paraffinic diesel (RPD), were used. In the sampling system, the sample was diluted and led through a thermodenuder removing the volatile fraction of particles. The measured particle size distributions of nonvolatile particles were found to be trimodal. Based on the size distribution data as well as the morphology and elemental composition of particles in transmission electron microscopy (TEM) samples, we were able to draw conclusions from the most probable origin of the different particle modes, and the modes were named accordingly. From larger to smaller in particle size, the modes were a soot mode, lubricating oil originated core (LC) mode, and a fuel originated core (FC) mode. All of these three modes were detected with every driving mode, but differences were seen, for example, between different fuels. In addition, a trade-off was observed in the concentrations of the LC mode and the soot mode as a function of the engine torque.

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Sustainable liquid fuels will be needed for decades to fulfil the world’s growing energy demands. Combustion systems must be able to operate with a variety of renewable and sustainable fuels. This study focused on how the use of various alternative fuels affects combustion, especially in-cylinder combustion. The study investigated light fuel oil (LFO) and six alternative liquid fuels in a high-speed, compression-ignition (CI) engine to understand their combustion properties. The fuels were LFO (baseline), marine gas oil (MGO), kerosene, rapeseed methyl ester (RME), renewable diesel (HVO), renewable wood-based naphtha and its blend with LFO. The heat release rate (HRR), mass fraction burned (MFB) and combustion duration (CD) were determined at an intermediate speed at three loads. The combustion parameters seemed to be very similar with all studied fuels. The HRR curve was slightly delayed with RME at the highest load. The combustion duration of neat naphtha decreased compared to LFO as the engine load was reduced. The MFB values of 50% and 90% occurred earlier with neat renewable naphtha than with other fuels. It was concluded that with the exception of renewable naphtha, all investigated alternative fuels can be used in the non-road engine without modifications.

We mainly aimed to determine how alternative liquid fuels affect the exhaust particle size distributions (PSD) emitted by a medium-speed diesel engine. The selected alternative fuels included: circulation-origin marine gas oil (MGO), the 26/74 vol. % blend of renewable naphtha and baseline low-sulfur marine light fuel oil (LFO), and kerosene. PSDs were measured by means of an engine exhaust particle sizer from the raw exhaust of a four-cylinder, turbocharged, intercooled engine. During the measurements, the engine was loaded by an alternator, the maximum power output being set at 600 kW(e) at a speed of 1000 rpm. The partial loads of 450, 300, 150 and 60 kW(e) were also used for measurements. At each load, the PSDs had a distinct peak between 20 and 100 nm regardless of fuel. Relative to the other fuels, circulation-origin MGO emitted the lowest particle numbers at several loads despite having the highest viscosity and highest density. Compared to baseline LFO and kerosene, MGO and the blend of renewable naphtha and LFO were more beneficial in terms of total particle number (TPN). Irrespective of the load or fuel, the TPN consisted mainly of particles detected above the 23 nm size category.