| Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4442783 | Atmospheric Environment | 2008 | 11 Pages |
Biodiesels are promoted as alternative fuels and their applications in diesel engines have been investigated by many researchers. However, the particle size distribution emitted from heavy-duty diesel engines fueled with palm-biodiesel blended with premium diesel fuel and paraffinic fuel blended with palm-biodiesel has seldom been addressed. Thus, five test fuels were used in this work to study the particle size distribution: D100 (premium diesel fuel), B100 (100% palm-biodiesel), B20 (20 vol% palm-biodiesel+80 vol% D100), BP9505 (95 vol% paraffinic fuel+5 vol% palm-biodiesel) and BP8020 (80 vol% paraffinic fuel+20 vol% palm-biodiesel). A Micro-Orifice Uniform Deposit Impactor (MOUDI) equipped with aluminum filters was used to collect size-resolved samples. Experimental results indicated that palm-biodiesel blends and paraffinic fuel blends could improve combustion efficiency in diesel engines, but pure palm-biodiesel could cause incomplete combustion. Adding palm-biodiesel to diesel fuel would slightly increase particles with diameter <0.31 μm but paraffinic fuel blends could decrease particles with diameter <1 μm. The mass median diameter of overall particles (MMDo) and σg,o are 0.439 μm and 3.88 for D100; 0.380 μm and 3.24 for B20; 0.465 μm and 4.22 for B100; 1.40 μm and 4.92 for BP9505; 1.46 μm and 2.25 for BP8020. There are more particles with low aerodynamic diameters (diameter <0.31 μm) in the exhaust of D100, B20 and B100 fuels. On the other hand, a greater fraction of particulate matter of BP9505 and BP8020 existed in coarse particles (diameter: 2.5–10 μm). Energy efficiency also increases significantly by 12.3–15.1% with the introduction of paraffinic fuel blends into the engine. Nevertheless, paraffinic fuel blends also reduce the emission of particulate matters by 36.0–38.4%. Carbon monoxide was decreased by 36.8–48.5%. Total hydrocarbon is 39.6–41.7% less than diesel fuel combustion. Nitrogen oxides emission is about 5% lower for paraffinic fuel. These results show that paraffinic fuel can be very competitive and replaced diesel fuels in the future.
