Technical Paper
Emission and Fuel Consumption Comparison of Three Light Duty Vehicles Fuelled with Diesel, Pure Plant Oil and a Biodiesel Mix
2011-09-11
2011-24-0103
Three light-duty vehicles were measured on-board for their fuel consumption and regulated emissions while driven on diesel, pure rapeseed plant oil (PPO) and a 5% biodiesel (B5) mix with diesel. They were driven along a realistic cycle covering urban, rural and motorway roads. The vehicles were an Opel Vivaro 1.9 DTI Van, a Citroën Berlingo 2.0 HDI car and a Nissan Patrol GR 3.0 diesel SUV. Each vehicle was retrofitted with an Econet PPO two tank kit. They started on diesel when cold and switched to PPO -heated over a heat exchanger- when warm. As PPO has a lower caloric value compared to diesel fuel, consumption on PPO was higher. On B5 no significant effect was noticed. PPO however has lower carbon content and CO₂ emissions were a few percent lower than on diesel except for the Nissan Patrol where they were 8% higher.
