The effect of fuel oxygen content on ignition delay and combustion of a turbocharged CRDI diesel engine

Abstract

The article presents the effects caused by the variation of fuel-oxygen mass content and widely differing chemical and physical properties of a fossil diesel (DF) and hydrotreated renewable diesel (HRD) fuel blends involving ethanol (E) or biodiesel (B) on ignition delay, combustion phenomenon, heat release characteristics, and maximum in-cylinder pressure of a turbocharged CRDI diesel engine. The diesel-HRD fuel blends (12 in total) involving anhydrous (200 proof) ethanol OE0-OE5 or rapeseed biodiesel OB0-OB5 in such proportions by mass to assure a wide range of the variation of fuel-bound oxygen mass fraction 0-4.52 wt% (CN = 55.5) were tested for relative air-fuel ratios, λ = 1.30, 1.25 and 1.20, at the respective speeds of 1500, 2000, and 2500 rpm. Analysis of changes in the ignition delay, combustion history, and the peak in-cylinder pressure produced by using purposely designed fuel blends was performed on comparative bases with the corresponding values measured with ‘base-line’ blends OE0 or OB0 to reveal the potential developing trends. It was found that the reasonably higher fuel oxygen content improved combustion, boosted heat release rates, and shortened burn angle MBF 90, when running mainly at the high engine speed of 2500 rpm. Experiments revealed that fuel-oxygen mass content should be neither too high nor too low, but just enough to assure complete combustion and a low coefficient of the cyclic variation (COV) of operational parameters.