Experimental Investigations on Combustion and

Emission of Diesel Engine Fueled with Composite

Oxygenated Fuel

Yanxia WANG, Yongqi LIU, Gongping MAO

School of Traffic and Vehicle Engineering
Shandong University of Technology
Zibo, China
wangyx200@163.com, liuyq65@163.com, maogp@163.com

Abstract—This paper describes the properties and

application of a new composite oxygenated fuel, named as II. PROPERTIES OF FHYJ
FHYJ, for an compression-ignition engine. First, the FHYJ is prepared from three different kinds of fuels named
properties of FHYJ, and FHYJ-diesel fuel blend were Y1, Y2 and Y3. The proportion of them is 1:1.5:1 by volume.
studied. Furthermore, experimental tests were carried out The oxygen content of Y1, Y2, and Y3 is 46%, 30%, and 53%,
to study the combustion performances and emissions of a respectively. The comparison of physical and chemical
four-cylinder direct injection diesel engine fuelled with the characteristics between FHYJ and diesel fuel are shown in
blends compared with those fuelled by diesel. The results Table 1. The dissolvability investigations were carried out, and
indicate that FHYJ can be blended well with diesel fuel the results indicate that FHYJ can be blended well with diesel
without additive. The combustion can be improved, and fuel without additive.
the emission can be reduced when the engine fuels with the
blend. All these results indicate the potential of the FHYJ- III. EXPERIMENTAL SETUPS
diesel fuel blend for clean combustion in diesel engines. A commercial light-duty direct injection diesel engine 4JB1
is used in this study, which is a 4-stroke, 4-cylinder, naturally
Keywords-oxygenating fuel; alternative fuel; diesel engine; aspirated diesel engine. Engine Specifications are shown in
emission; combustion performance Table II. An electric eddy dynamometer is coupled to the
engine and used to measure the engine power. The combustion
I. INTRODUCTION chamber pressure was measured by a pressure transducer
Compression ignition engines are employed particularly in (6055BBsp) that was installed into the cylinder head, a charge
the field of heavy transportation and agriculture on account of amplifier (5015A) and a combustion analysis system (DS
their higher thermal efficiency and durability. However, diesel 2000). Smoke is measured by a partial flow smoke opacimeter
engines are the major contributors of oxides of nitrogen and (AVL DiSmoke 4000). NOx, CO and HC are measured by
particulate emissions. Hence more stringent norms are imposed exhaust gas analyzer (AVL DiGas 4000). The schematic of the
on exhaust emissions. Following the global energy crisis and experimental setup is shown in Fig. 1.
the increasingly stringent emission norms, the search for
alternative fuels has intensified. Over the past several years, TABLE I. PROPERTIES OF FHYJ AND DIESE FUEL
many different types of oxygenated fuel, such as 1,1- Items FHYJ Diesel fuel
diethoxyethane[1], ethanol[2], di-methyl ether (DME) [3], Carbon content (wt%) 51.25 86
Dimethyl carbonate (DMC)[4], dibutyl maleate (DBM) [5],
ethylene glycol monoacetate (EGM)[6], burned in diesel
Hydrogen content (wt%) 9.35 14
engines have been researched, and the results show that Oxygen content (wt%) 39.40 0
oxygenated fuels are effective in reducing emissions from Density at 20℃ (kg/l) 0.95 0.82～0.88
diesel engines, especially with regard to reducing smoke Theoretic mixture ratio 7.42 14.4
emission. Boiling point (℃) 97 180～370
The objectives of this paper are to study the properties of a Kinematic viscosity at 20℃ (cSt) 1.28 3.0～8.0
new composite oxygenated fuel, named as FHYJ, and then Lower heating value (MJ/kg) 25.46 42.5
investigate the combustion performances and emissions of a latent heat of vaporization (MJ/kg) 560 270
direct injection diesel engine fuelled with the FHYJ-diesel Cetane number 12 ＞45
blend compared with normal diesel fuel.
auto-ignition temperature (℃) 320 200～220

978-1-4244-2902-8/09/$25.00 ©2009 IEEE 1

 TABLE II. TEST ENGINE SPECIFICATIONS

Item Fuel Specification

Cylinder bore (m) 0.093

Stroke (m) 0.102

3
Displacement (m ) 2.771

Compression ratio 18.2

Combustion chamber ω type

Rated speed (r/min) 3600

Rated power (kW) 57

Figure 2. Comparison of in-cylinder pressure

4 5
6 6 9
7 10
8 11

1 2 3

1-Engine； 2-Dynamometer； 3-Tachometer 4-Diesel fuel； 5-EGM； 6-

Flowmeter； 7-Regulator； 8- Ultrasonic mixer； 9-Combustion analyzer；
10- Smoke opacimeter； 11- Exhaust gas analyzer
Figure 1. Experimental setup

In order to investigate the effects of the blends containing

different proportions of FHYJ on engine’s performances and
emissions, pure diesel fuel (named F0) and the blends of diesel Figure 3. Comparison of rate of pressure rise
with 10% (named F10) by volume were used and tested. Load
characteristics at engine speeds of 2200rpm were carried out in
these experiments.

IV. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

A. Combustion performance
It can be seen from Fig. 2 that the cylinder pressure of the
engine fuelled by F10 decreases slightly. The maximum
pressure of the engine operating on F0 and F10 is 10.544 MPa
and 9.492 MPa, respectively, and the corresponding crankshaft
angle is delayed 4°CA (from 6.5° to 10.5°CA). The lower
maximum pressure is due to lower calorific value of F10. In
Fig.3, the maximum rate of pressure rise for the engine
operating on F0 and F10 is 1.269 MPa/°CA and 1.102
MPa/°CA, respectively, and the corresponding crankshaft
angle is delayed 3.5°CA (from -2° to 1.5°CA). In the premixed
combustion stage (Before 6° CA) the rate of pressure rise for Figure 4. Comparison of heat release rate
F1 is greater than that for F10. The lower maximum rate of
pressure rise for F10 is due to lower calorific value and cetane Fig. 4 shows that the amount of heat release for F10 during
number of F10. The corresponding position delay is due to the premixed combustion stage is smaller than that for F0. This
F10’s lower cetane number, while during the diffusion helps to reduce combustion pressure and temperature and lead
combustion period; the reason for the increase in the rate of to lower NOX emissions. The maximum heat release rate for
pressure rise is that the combustion process is improved due to F10 decreases 17.802 J per crankshaft angle (J/°CA) (from
the higher oxygen content of F10. 133.623 to 115.821 J/°CA), and the corresponding crankshaft

2
angle is delayed 4°CA (from 0.5 to 4.5°CA). This is due to the
good auto-ignition, atomization characteristics and high
oxygen content of F10, which improve the engine combustion
process.
B. Engine performance
The maximum power and torque output of the engine
fuelled with F10 are a little lower than those for F0, as shown
in Fig.5. The reasons are that the lower heating value of F10 is
lower than that of F0. However, the effective thermal
efficiency of the engine operating on F10 was improved
because the oxygen content of FHYJ is greater than that of
diesel fuel. As a result, the power and torque of the engine
fuelled by F10 only decreases slightly.
In comparison with the performance when using F0, the
BSFC using F10 increases slightly, and the increase is more
obvious at high load, as shown in Fig. 6, and the greatest
difference is 8.1 g/kWh at about 31 kW. The reasons are that
the lower heating value of F10 is a little lower than that of F10.
Power output using F10 would be the same as that for F0 if the
quantity of F10 delivered per cycle was increased. The BSEC
of the F10 fuelled engine is improved, and the improvement is
more obvious at low load. The greatest extent is 1.2 MJ/kWh at
low load and 0.3 MJ/kWh at high load. The reasons are that the
combustion velocity of the engine fuelled by F10 is greater
than that for F0 due to the higher oxygen content, especially at
high load.
Figure 5. The d BSFC for various fuels
Figure 6. The d BSFC for various fuels
C. Emission characteristics
Fig. 7 shows that F10 could reduce the smoke significantly,
especially at higher loads. The coefficient of light absorption is
an inverse of smoke emission. At the 3.5 kW, 13.9 kW and
37.9 kW the coefficient of light absorption (k) of the smoke is
reduced from 0.17 to 0.06 m-1 (64.7% reduction), from 0.13 to
0.05 m-1 (63.1% reduction), and from 2.48 to 0.42 m-1 (83.1%
reduction), respectively. This is due to the fact that FHYJ is
effectively introduced to the fuel rich regions and suppresses
smoke formation in combustion chamber.
In the case of NOX emissions shown in Fig. 8, the NOX
emissions of F10 are reduced somewhat in comparison with the
engine fuelled with F0. The maximum reduction is 56 PPM,
which is from 1981 to 1925 PPM, and the corresponding load
is about 35.1 kW. F10 has greater latent heat of vaporization,
lower cetane number, which make the maximum in-cylinder
temperature lower and suppresses the formation of NOX. On
the other hand, the lower heating value of F10 is smaller than
that of F0, which can also reduce the in-cylinder temperature.
Figure 7. Smoke emission characteristics
Figure 8. NOx emission characteristics
3

Figure 9. CO emission characteristics
Figure 10. CH emission characteristics
It is clear in Fig. 9 that CO emissions for F10 are smaller
than those for F0. Especially at low load (under 8kW) the trend
is obvious, it is reduced from 0.06 to 0.03 %. Low CO
emissions for F10 can be explained by the fact that the
combustion process is improved because of the high oxygen
content of F10; this promotes the formation of CO2 rather than
CO.
Fig. 10 illustrates the HC emission under various loads.
There are no obvious differences in HC emissions between F0
and F10. The reasons can be described as follow: Firstly, the
higher latent heat of vaporization of FHYJ tended to lower in-
cylinder temperature, which promotes the formation of HC
emissions. Secondly, the viscosity of FHYJ is lower than that
of F0, so leak tightness of F10 is worse than that of F0, which
lead to more quantity of leaking mixture.
V. CONCLUSIONS
The properties of FHYJ and application for a compression-
ignition engine were investigated. The addition of FHYJ to
diesel fuel can change the physicochemical properties of the
blends. With respect to oxygen content, there are better
physicochemical properties for the blend than for diesel fuel.
The maximum in-cylinder pressure, rate of pressure rise and
heat release rate of the engine fuelled with F10 are decreased
somewhat. Due to the energy density decrease, the engine
power outputs decrease and the BSFC increases when the
diesel engine fueled with blend. But the diesel equivalent
BSEC decreases. Smoke emissions of the engine fuelled with
F10 can be reduced markedly, especially at high load.
Simultaneously, NOX and CO emissions can also be reduced
somewhat, while HC emissions of F10 is similar to those of
diesel fuel. All these results indicate the potential of
diesel/FHYJ blend for clean combustion in diesel engines.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This study was financially supported by the Nature Science
Foundation of Shandong Provence (No. Y2006F63), and the
Science Foundation of Shandong University of Technology
(No. 2004KJZ04).
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