Ethanol has been considered as an alternative fuel for diesel engines. On the other hand, injection timing is a major parameter that sensitively affects the engine performance and emissions. Therefore, in this study, the influence of advanced injection timing on the engine performance and exhaust emissions of a single cylinder, naturally aspirated, four stroke, direct injection diesel engine has been experimentally investigated when using ethanol-blended diesel fuel from 0 to 15% with an increment of 5%. The original injection timing of the engine is 27° crank angle (CA) before top dead center (BTDC). The tests were conducted at three different injection timings (27, 30 and 33° CA BTDC) for 30 Nm constant load at 1800 rpm. The experimental results showed that brake-specific energy consumption (BSEC), brake-specific fuel consumption (BSFC), NO_x and CO₂ emissions increased as brake-thermal efficiency (BTE), smoke, CO and HC emissions decreased with increasing amount of ethanol in the fuel mixture. Comparing the results with those of original injection timing, NO_x emissions increased and smoke, HC and CO emissions decreased for all test fuels at the advanced injection timings. For BSEC, BSFC and BTE, advanced injection timings gave negative results for all test conditions. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

In recent years, in order to increase the quality of life of people, energy usage has become very important. Researchers are constantly searching for new sources of energy due to increased energy demand. Engine tests are being conducted to investigate the feasibility of the new sources of energy such as alternative fuels. In the engine tests, engine performance, combustion characteristics and exhaust emissions are evaluated by obtaining the results. The effect of newly developed fuels on engine lifetime, safe transport and storage are also examined for fuel availability. In addition, the potential and the price of fuels are important in terms of sustainability. In these studies, laboratory environments are needed for experimental setups. It is difficult to determine the availability of the most suitable alternative fuel since numerous results are obtained in the engine tests and studies. This integrated model provides a great advantage in terms of time and cost. The physical and chemical properties of the fuel affect experimental results such as engine performance, combustion, and exhaust emission. The suggested model can be making the most efficient and eco-friendly fuel choice without the need for experimental studies by using physical and chemical properties of the fuel. It also can offer the best fuel for cost, safety and maintenance processes. In this study, animal fat biodiesel derived from waste animal fats and vegetable oil biodiesel produced from aspir-canola oils were investigated. Biodiesel fuels are mixed with diesel at 5%, 20%, and 50%, and nine different fuels prepared with three pure fuels, and six different fuel blends are compared. Before using these fuels in an experimental study, estimates are made about which fuels may be more advantageous in terms of many criteria. In the process, nine varied fuel specifications are taken as references such as calorific value, cetane number, oxygen content rate, fuel price, flash point, viscosity, lubricity, iodine number and water content. The criteria weights are determined with SWARA (Step-Wise Weight Assessment Ratio Analysis) from multi-criteria decision-making models, and MULTIMOORA (Multi-Objective Optimization on the basis of Ratio Analysis) is ranked according to fuels’ characteristics from the best to the worst. While theoretically, the best fuel is ultimately VOB20, VOB50 and AFB20 were selected as the second fuel and the third fuel.

In this study, the top surfaces of piston and valves of a four-strokes and direct-injection diesel engine have been coated—with no change in the compression ratio—with a 100 μm of NiCrAl lining layer via plasma spray method and this layer has later been coated with main coating material with a mixture of 88% of ZrO₂, 4% of MgO and 8% of Al₂O₃ (400 μm). Then, after the engine-coating process, ultra-low sulfur diesel (ULSD) as base fuels and its blend with used frying cottonseed oil derived biodiesel in proportion of 20%, volumetrically, have been tested in the coated engine and data of combustion and performance characteristics on full load and at different speeds have been noted. The results, which were compared with those obtained by uncoated-engine operation, showed that thermal efficiency increased, and engine noise reduced. Cylinder gas pressure values obtained from the diesel engine which has been coated with thermal barriers have been found to be somewhat higher than those of the uncoated-engine. Also, maximum pressure values measured in both engines and under the same experimental conditions through the use of test fuel have been obtained after TDC. Moreover, heat release rate and heat release have occurred earlier in the coated-engine. NOx emissions were increased while CO and HC emissions were remained almost the same with a little bit decrease.

Reactivity-controlled compression ignition (RCCI) combustion is considered one of the most promising low-temperature combustion (LTC) concepts aimed at reducing greenhouse gases for the transportation and power generation sectors. RCCI combustion mode is achieved by combining different fuel types with low and high temperatures. The aim of this study is to investigate combustion characteristics and reduce nitrogen oxide (NO_x) and carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions. In this experimental study, the effects of the RCCI strategy using methanol/diesel fuel on combustion characteristics (ignition delay, combustion duration), engine performance (brake-specific fuel consumption and brake-specific energy consumption), and emissions were examined in a four-cylinder, turbocharged, dual-fuel engine. The experiments were conducted at a constant speed of 1750 rpm at partial loads (40 Nm, 60 Nm, 80 Nm, and 100 Nm). The test results obtained with diesel fuel were compared with the test results obtained with methanol at different mass flow rates. When the results were examined, the minimum ignition delay (ID) occurred at 40 Nm torque, 5.63 crank angle (CA) with M12 fuel, while the maximum ID occurred with M26 fuel at 80 Nm torque, showing an increasing trend as engine load (EL) increased. The highest combustion time (CD) was achieved with M26 fuel at 100 Nm torque, whereas the lowest was achieved with the same fuel (M26) at 40 Nm. While the minimum brake-specific fuel consumption (bsfc) was 45.9 g/kWh for conventional diesel fuel at 40 Nm, the highest bsfc was 104.88 g/kWh for 100 Nm with M26 fuel. Generally, bsfc tends to increase with increasing load. Brake-specific energy consumption (bsec) had the lowest value of 1950.58 kJ/kWh with conventional diesel fuel at 40 Nm and the highest value of 4034.69 kJ/kWh with M26 fuel at 100 Nm. As the methanol content increased, significant improvements were observed in (NO_x) and (CO₂) emissions, while hydrocarbon (HC) and oxygen (O₂) emissions increased as well. Smoke emissions decreased at low loads but tended to increase at high loads.

The cold filter plugging point (CFPP) value of biodiesel fuel blends need to be improved because of it has been reported that utilizing high concentrations of biodiesel blends in cold climates can cause major issues. Therefore, the main objective of the study is to improve CFPP value of biodiesel blends using ethyl proxitol additive. It is also to examine combustion and emission of the blends behavior. Biodiesel blends were prepared as; 5% ethyl proxitol-10% biodiesel-85% ultra-low sulfur diesel (ULSD) named as E5B10 and 5% ethyl proxitol-20% biodiesel-75% ULSD named as E5B20 fuel. These fuel blends were compared with ULSD fuel in a compression ignition engine at a constant engine speed of 1500 rev/min and four different loads (idle, 1, 2, and 3 bar BMEP) of eddy current dynamometer. The addition of ethyl proxitol led to a decrease in in-cylinder pressure and temperature due to an about 1˚ later SOC and 2˚ earlier EOC compared to ULSD. The pressure rise rate was slightly higher compared to ULSD at both low and high loads, with a difference of about 1 bar per degree. As a result, these blends with improved CFPP value can be used in cold climates.