The influence of diesel fuel composition on gaseous and particulate emissions

Abstract

A very efficient and promising approach to improve rapidly the pollutant emission behaviour of an existing diesel vehicle fleet is to optimise the fuel composition with regard to reduced pollutant formation. That is why a European research program was carried out to evaluate the potential of an optimised fuel composition. Twelve diesel-like fuels were composed performing lower aromatic concentrations and containing oxygenating components. A series-like modern passenger car CR DI diesel engine was operated on a test bench under various steady state conditions using these fuels and - for comparison - a diesel-typical reference fuel. Pollutant concentrations were measured in the tailpipe and in-cylinder. To get further information on the transient pollutant emission behaviour of the engine, the investigations were extended by vehicle tests (same engine) on a chassis dynamometer. For all experiments the HC, CO, CO2, NOx, O2 and PM concentrations were measured.