Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of using gas to liquid (GTL)-biodiesel blends as an alternative fuel on the physical properties as well as the combustion and emission reduction characteristics in a diesel engine. In order to assess the influence of the GTL-biodiesel blending ratio, the biodiesel is blended with GTL fuel, which is a test fuel with various blending ratios. The effects of GTL-biodiesel blends on the fuel properties, heat release, and emission characteristics were studied at various fuel injection timing and blending ratios. The test fuels investigated here were GTL, biodiesel, and biodiesel blended GTL fuels. The biodiesel blending ratio was changed from 0%, 20% and 40% by a volume fraction. The GTL-biodiesel fuel properties such as the fuel density, viscosity, lower heating value, and cetane number were analyzed in order to compare the effects of different mixing ratios of the biodiesel fuel. Based on the experimental results, certain meaningful results were derived. The increasing rate of the density and kinematic viscosity of the GTL-biodiesel blended fuels at various temperature conditions was increased with the increase in the biodiesel volumetric fraction. The rate of density changes between biodiesel-GTL and GTL are 2.768% to 10.982%. The combustion pressure of the GTL fuel showed a higher pressure than the biodiesel blended GTL fuels. The biodiesel-GTL fuel resulted in reduced NOx and soot emissions compared to those of the unblended GTL fuel. Based on the experimental results, the ignition delay of the GTL-biodiesel blends increased with the increase of the biodiesel blending ratio because of the low cetane number of biodiesel compared to GTL. As the injection timing is advanced, the NOx emissions were significantly increased, while the effect of the injection timing on the soot emission was small compared to the NOx emissions. In the cases of the HC and CO emissions, the GTL-biodiesel blended fuels resulted in similar low emission trends and, in particular, the HC emissions showed a slight increase at the range of advanced injection timings.
Highlights
In the transport sector, the rapid reductions in the use of fossil fuels and exhaust emissions have led to an interest in alternative fuels
Based on the experimental results, the ignition delay of the GTL-biodiesel blends increased with the increase of the biodiesel blending ratio because of the low cetane number of biodiesel compared to GTL
This study is an experimental study on the properties, combustion and exhaust emission characteristics of GTL-biodiesel blended fuels
Summary
The rapid reductions in the use of fossil fuels and exhaust emissions have led to an interest in alternative fuels. Reducing fuel consumption and exhaust emissions from transportation vehicles is important because of the limited reserves of fossil fuels and the harmful emissions of many vehicles. Gas-to-liquids (GTL) is an alternative synthetic fuel to diesel that converts natural gas into a liquid fuel that is suitable for diesel engines. GTL can be synthesized in several ways, such as the Fischer-Tropsch (FT) synthesis, the methane reforming process, and the hydrocracking process [1,2]. An increasing concern about energy consumption and greenhouse gases have prompted vehicle manufacturers to research and apply alternative fuels and highly efficient engines.
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