Development of multi-component surrogate fuel for marine diesel considering fuel physical-chemical properties

Abstract

Herein, as an alternative to heavy fuel oil (HFO), a multi-component surrogate fuel was developed, consisting n-tetradecane (6.36 %), n-hexadecane (4.25 %), i-hexadecane (20 %), n-eicosane (15 %), decalin (17 %), toluene (4.45 %), naphthalene (13 %), and phenanthrene (19.94 %). The proportions of the components of the surrogate fuel were determined by studying the chemical and physical characteristics of HFO. The surrogate fuel was optimized by matching the cetane number (CN), density at 20 °C, lower heating value (LHV), and hydrogen-carbon (H/C) ratio. The developed skeletal surrogate mechanism constituted 128 species and 375 reactions. It was extensively validated using various fundamental experiments based on its single components and HFO performance under relevant engine conditions. The predicted ignition delay time in shock tubes and the concentrations of primary species in jet stirred reactors and flow reactors were in good agreement with the previously measured values. The predicted laminar flame speed in counterflow configuration was close to the experimental data. The flame spray and combustion characteristics were found to be well produced by the proposed mechanism in a fuel ignition analyzer and a two-stroke marine diesel engine. The proposed skeletal mechanism exhibited reliable overall performance for combustion behavior, indicating that it can be used for modeling HFO in realistic engine applications.