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Combustion and exhaust emission characteristics were compared among three representative diesel fuels called “Base (corresponding to a Japanese market fuel)”, “Improved” and Swedish “Class-1” using both a modern small and an optically accessible single-cylinder DI diesel engines. In these tests, the relative amount of PM collected in the exhaust was “Base” >“Class-1” >“Improved” at almost all of the operating conditions. This means that “Class-1” generated more PM than “Improved”, even though “Class-1” has significantly lower distillation temperatures, aromatic content, sulfur, and density compared with “Improved”. There was little difference in combustion characteristics such as heat release rate pattern, mixture formation and flame development processes between these two fuels. However, it was found that “Class-1” contained more branches in the paraffin fraction and more naphthenes.

The effect of the chemical reactivity of diesel fuel on PM formation was investigated using a flow reactor and a shock tube. Reaction products from the flow-reactor pyrolysis of the three diesel fuels used for the engine tests in Part 1(1) (“Base”, “Improved” and Swedish “Class-1”) were analyzed by gas chromatography. At 850C, Swedish “Class-1” fuel was found to produce the most PM precursors such as benzene and toluene among the three fuels, even though it contains very low amounts of aromatics. The chemical analyses described in Part 1 revealed that “Class-1” contains a large amount of branched and cyclic structures in the saturated hydrocarbon portion of the fuel. These results suggest that the presence of such branched and ring structures can increase exhaust PM emissions.

Recent years have seen dramatic reductions in gasoline and diesel sulfur concentrations in the United States, Europe, Japan and other countries. Many developing countries are evaluating the appropriate sulfur levels to choose for the future. This paper examines the current state of knowledge concerning the impact of fuel sulfur on exhaust emissions, and the sensitivity of exhaust aftertreatment technology to fuel sulfur. Gasoline vehicles achieve very low emissions through use of three-way catalysts. These systems are relatively insensitive to sulfur, being able to operate on levels of up to 500 ppm. Further reduction in sulfur will produce additional, small emission reductions. Diesel emissions may be reduced significantly using engine modifications, oxidation catalysts or exhaust gas recirculation, which may require sulfur levels of 500 ppm.