The Effect of Pure RME and Biodiesel Blends with High RME Content on Exhaust Emissions from a Light Duty Diesel Engine 2009-01-2653

The use of biofuels (biodiesel and gasoline-alcohol blends) in vehicle powertrains has grown in recent years in European Union, the United States, Japan, India, Brazil and many other countries due to limited fossil fuel sources and necessary reduction of anthropogenic CO₂ emissions. European car manufacturers have approved up to 5 percent of biodiesel blend in diesel fuel (B5 biodiesel blend) which meets European fuel standards EN 14214 and EN 590. The goal for research is to achieve higher biodiesel content in diesel fuel B10 and B20, without resorting to larger diesel engines and fuel feed system modernization.

This paper evaluates the possibility of using higher FAME content in biodiesel blends (mixture of diesel fuel and Fatty Acid Methyl Esters) in modern Euro 4 vehicle with direct-injection, common-rail and turbocharged light-duty diesel engine with standard engine ECU calibration and standard injection equipment (not tuned for biodiesel). The influence of high quantity RME in biodiesel blends (B30, B50 and B100) on the emission measurement of gaseous pollutants, such as: carbon monoxide (CO), hydrocarbons (HC), oxides of nitrogen (NO_x), carbon dioxide (CO₂) and particulate matter (PM) for light duty vehicle (LDV) during NEDC cycle on the chassis dynamometer were analyzed. All test results have been presented in comparison to standard diesel fuel.

Analysis of the measurements performed shows that the exhaust emissions are affected by the proportion of RME in biodiesel due to different chemical and physical properties of fuel blends.

The tests subject to analyses presented above were performed in the Engine Research Department of the BOSMAL Automotive Research and Development Centre in Bielsko-Biala, Poland in co-operation to ORLEN, Poland within the test program evaluating the biofuel influence on light-duty diesel engines for passenger cars and light-commercial vehicles. This is the continuation of previous research described in [2, 3].