Experimental Study of Diesel Fuel Effects on Direct Injection (DI) Diesel Engine Performance and Pollutant Emissions

Abstract

An experimental investigation was conducted to specify the effect of diesel fuel composition and its physical and chemical properties on direct injection (DI) diesel engine performance characteristics and pollutant emissions. Engine tests were made on a single-cylinder naturally aspirated DI diesel engine (Lister LV1), which is located at the laboratory of the authors, at various operating conditions using seven conventional diesel fuels. The test fuels indicate variable hydrocarbon composition and physical and chemical properties, and they were prepared under a European Union research program aiming to identify future fuel formulations for use in modern DI diesel engines. Emphasis was given to the examination of the effect of diesel fuel density, viscosity, and compressibility factor on the fuel injection system, engine combustion characteristics, and diesel-emitted pollutants. Having observed that many diesel fuel parameters are strongly interrelated, we carried out a multivariable statistical analysis to determine the fuel property pairs that are statistically independent. Using experimental findings for pollutant emissions and independent fuel property pairs, a linear multiple regression analysis was conducted to identify potential correlations between diesel-emitted pollutant emissions and the fuel parameters. The sensitivity analysis revealed that soot emissions depend upon fuel viscosity, cetane number, and fuel volatility, whereas NO, CO, and HC emissions mainly depend upon fuel aromatic content. The evaluation of experimental results showed that reductions of soot, NO, and CO emissions can be attained with the reduction of the distillation temperature and the increase of paraffinics/napthenics ratio, which mainly provide the reduction of fuel viscosity and, secondarily, the decrease of the density and increase of the compressibility factor.

Improvement the Physico-chemical Characteristics of Diesel Fuel using Gamma Irradiation

“…The higher CN, the better in fuel burns within the engine of a vehicle. The difference between CN and octane number (ON) is that ON rates gasoline whereas cetane rates diesel [14]. Moreover, just as higher performance gasoline vehicles require fuels with a higher ON, high performance diesel vehicles require fuel with a higher CN.…”

“…The most important properties of diesel fuels are [14] viscosity, heating value, ignition quality, volatility, cetane number, lubricity, low-temperature flow, component compatibility, storage stability, and sulfur content [15]. Andrade et al 2014 [16] have described the hydrodesulphurization (HDS), which is currently the most common method used by refineries to remove sulfur compounds from petroleum fractions.…”

The impact of ignition delay and further fuel properties on combustion and emissions in a compression ignition engine

“…Zannis et al [12] conducted experiments in conventional diesel engines, and they reported that reductions of soot, NO and CO emissions could be achieved with the reduction of distillation temperature and an increase of paraffin/naphthene ratio.…”

Performance and exhaust gases of a diesel engine using different magnetic treatments of the fuel

“…Diesel engines are preferred by ICE manufacturers because of their high output power and thermal performance [7]. The current effects produced by global warming and air pollution together with the variations in the prices of fossil fuels, require alternative solutions to promote the reduction of specific fuel consumption and emissions of polluting gases from stationary diesel engines and diesel vehicles [8].…”