Fuel design concept for improving the spray characteristics and emissions of diesel engines

Abstract

This work investigated the improvement of spray characteristics and exhaust emissions of diesel engines by reformulating the fuel compounds and physicochemical parameters. Three oxygenated fuels, including ethanol, dimethyl carbonate (DMC), and dimethoxymethane (DMM), were mixed with diesel. Basic properties directly related to engine parameters and those characterizing fuel quality were investigated. A laser phase Doppler anemometry analyser was applied to obtain the spray characteristics, including the Sauter mean diameter and axial mean velocity distribution, of DMM-diesel hybrid fuels. Furthermore, engine tests of oxygenated hybrid fuels were performed on a four-cylinder water-cooled high-speed direct injection diesel engine. The results show that the evaporation properties and the fuel transportation parameters could be optimized using hybrid fuel, and the engine behaviour seemed to be improved in the presence of oxygenated additives with a reduction in pollutant emissions in exhaust gas.