Evaluation on effects of using low biodiesel blends in a EURO 5 passenger vehicle equipped with a common-rail diesel engine

The obtained results reveal some interesting findings regarding all the involved aspects. The consumption was not consistently increased with the use of biodiesel, revealing the existence of other factors besides the lower heating value to explain the fuel consumption differences. Likewise, the NOx emissions with biodiesel use does not present significant raise. In fact, when B20 was used, the levels of NOx emitted by the vehicle present a reduction in all the NEDC, which was more pronounced in the urban part of the NEDC. The performance analysis did not reveal any relevant differences, however the use of B7 promote an improvement on torque and power in the order of 2% relatively to B0.