Effects of Oxygenated Biomass Fuels on the Performance of Diesel Engine and After-Treatment System

Oxygenated biomass fuels have attracted significant attention due to their contributions in reducing environmental pollution and fossil fuel consumption. In view of stricter emission regulations, the use of these alternative fuels cannot fully meet the requirements, and it needs to be combined with an after-treatment system. In this article, polymethoxy dimethyl ether (PODE) and n-pentanol were blended with diesel (D100 (pure diesel)) at 15% and 20% by volume, respectively, referred to as D85P15, D80P20, D85A15, and D80A20, while the effects of the addition of two new oxygenated biomass fuels on the performance of diesel engine and diesel oxidation catalyst (DOC) and catalytic diesel particulate filter (CDPF) after-treatment system were experimentally investigated. Results show that the addition of oxygenated biomass fuels can improve combustion and reduce carbon monoxide (CO) and soot emissions. At heavy load conditions, when D80P20 was used, compared with D100 and D80A20, the conversion efficiency of CO emissions in DOC + CDPF system is always the highest, close to 100%. It shows that the addition of oxygenated biomass fuels can effectively improve the exhaust oxygen concentration. Besides, there is nearly no increase in CDPF pressure drop at each tested engine speed when D80P20 is used. This has greatly improved in CDPF performance.

Automated summary

The addition of oxygenated biomass fuels can improve combustion efficiency, reduce CO and soot emissions, and enhance the performance of the DOC+CDPF system. Specifically, when using D80P20, the conversion efficiency of CO emissions in the system is consistently the highest, close to 100%, indicating effective improvement in exhaust oxygen concentration without significantly impacting CDPF performance.