Impact of Animal Fat Biodiesel, GTL, and HVO Fuels on Combustion, Performance, and Pollutant Emissions of a Light-Duty Diesel Vehicle Tested under the NEDC

Abstract

This paper presents the performance, combustion, and emissions characteristics of a light-duty vehicle equipped with a Euro 4 diesel engine, operating with animal fat biodiesel, gas to liquid (GTL), hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO), and a commercial diesel fuel (with 5.8% of biodiesel) as reference. Tests were carried out in on a chassis dynamometer under controlled ambient conditions following the New European Driving Cycle (NEDC). One of the engine cylinders was instrumented with a Kistler Kibox device combined with an opened electronic control unit (ECU) and ETAS-INCA PC system for online thermodynamic combustion diagnosis. Regulated emissions and thermodynamic diagnosis parameters have been compared at different time windows along the NEDC. Tested fuels exhibited significant reduction of CO and small variations in total hydrocarbons (THC) and NOx in comparison with commercial diesel fuel. Both specific particulate number and particulate mass were below Euro 5b directive for all tested fuels due to the use of diesel particle filter. In general, all parameters studied here were affected by both, fuel properties, and the evolution of the thermal conditions of the engine and the after-treatment devices.