An Investigation of Laboratory and Road Test of Common Rail Injection Vehicles Fueled with B20 Biodiesel

In this study, biodiesel fuel with a ratio of 20% volume (B20) was used on vehicles that are used in common rail injection systems, complying with Euro2 emission regulations. Laboratory and road tests were conducted to evaluate the effects of B20 on performance, emissions and engine components. Using diesel fuel and B20 as reference fuels, tests were conducted using Euro2 vehicle technology to investigate the effects on emissions, fuel consumption, and power. Durability testing was run for travel distances covering 40,000 km under various road and environmental conditions, while vehicle performance and emissions tests were conducted using the ECE R84-03 and ECE R101 test methods, respectively. The results show that B20 has lower CO and hydrocarbon (HC) emissions for every distance travelled, with an average of around 30%. Particulate emission was a bit lower, averaging 3.4% for B20 compared to B0, while NOx was found to slightly increase at around 2% for B20. Due to its lower calorific value, for an average distance traveled, the fuel economy of B20 was around 0.5% higher compared to B0. Furthermore, the maximum power of B20 was 3% lower compared to that of B0 for the entire distance traveled. However, an evaluation of engine components after 40,000 km showed that B20 and B0 were similar. Moreover, vehicles using B20 tend to have a comparable durability of engine components when compared with B0.