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In this study the influence of various blends biodiesel on steady state exhaust emissions was determined. A series tests were conducted over a period of six months, including the summer when the ambient temperature is quite high in Greece. An old technology Ford Escort 1.6L, 4 cylinders with indirect injection system was used on a chassis dynamometer. The test car was not equipped with an engine Electronic Control Unit (ECU) and run on the dynamometer with full load on three different gear settings (second gear, third gear and fourth gear). Seven fuels were used, a high sulfur diesel, and blends of 10%, 20%, 30%, 40% and 50% by weight biodiesel in neat diesel (B10), (B20), (B30), (B40), (B50) and (B100) respectively. Fuel injection timings were held the same for the biodiesel blends and the baseline diesel fuel to eliminate the potential injection timing differences due to the different fuel heating values.

Two biofuels were converted chemically to biodiesels: cottonseed oil, which was produced in Macedonia, Greece, and used frying oil which was collected in the city of Antwerp, Belgium. The conversion to biodiesels was accomplished in the Department of Industrial Sciences and Technology of the Karel de Grote-Hogeschool, Hoboken, Belgium. Mixtures of the two biodiesels with diesel were prepared as B10, B20, B30, B40, B50 and B100 (B10 means a 10 % by weight of biodiesel). These mixtures were used as fuel on two cars in the Combustion Laboratory in the Department of Industrial Sciences and Technology of the Karel de Grote-Hogeschool, Hoboken, Belgium. The two cars were a VOLVO V70 2.5 L turbo diesel and a FORD TRANSIT 2.5 L diesel. The cars were run under full load at 30, 50, 90 and 120 km/h speeds on a chassis dynamometer.

In this study the influence of various blends biodiesel on steady state exhaust emissions was determined using, in terms of technology, two different cars. A first series of tests were conducted in Greece and a second series of tests were conducted in Belgium. An old technology Ford Escort 1986 model, 1.6L, 4 cylinders with indirect injection system engine was used on a chassis dynamometer in Greece [1] and a Volvo V70 2.5L, 2003 model with a modern engine fitted on was tested in Belgium [2]. The Greek test car was not equipped with an engine Electronic Control Unit (ECU) and run on the dynamometer with full load on three different gear settings (second gear, third gear and fourth gear). The Belgian car was a modern Volvo V70 2.5L Turbo Diesel. Seven fuels were used in both cases, a high sulfur diesel, more than 300 ppm, in Greece, and blends of 10%, 20%, 30%, 40% and 50% by weight biodiesel in neat diesel or (B10), (B20), (B30), (B40), (B50) and (B100) respectively.

The influence of the ignition timing on the exhaust emissions of an old technology vehicle fuelled by various ethanol/petrol mixtures was investigated. All tests were carried out on a 1300cc Ford Escort equipped with a carburettor and without a catalytic converter. The reference petrol fuel E0 and the blends E10, E20 and E50 were used, at three different constant speeds of 30, 50 and 90 km/h, under full load with wide open throttle while the vehicle was on a chassis dynamometer. All measurements were taken at three different settings of the advance angle, at 0°, 4° and 12° BTDC. With the use of an exhaust gas analyser, the concentrations of CO, CO2, HC, O2 and NOX in the exhaust gases at the tailpipe were recorded. For the evaluation of the results the lambda value was calculated from the available recorded data. Changing the ignition timing, while using the blends E10, E20 and E50, had the same effects on the emissions as the reference fuel E0.

The scope of this work was to study the impact of the ignition timing on the engine’s performance on an old technology vehicle fuelled by ethanol/petrol blends. Many previous studies have been published on the subject, but most of them were carried on SI engines using bench dynamometers. In this work, a 1.3 L Ford Escort equipped with a carburettor and without a catalytic converter was tested on a chassis dynamometer. Blends with ethanol concentrations of 10%, 20% and 50% per volume were used and the results were compared with the reference LRP fuel. All tests were performed at three different constant speeds of 30, 50 and 90 km/h, under full load with wide open throttle. Torque and rpm of the engine were recorded by the chassis dynamometer’s software. The fuel consumption was measured by means of the gravimetric method. All measurements were taken at three different settings of the advance angle, at 0°, 4° and 12° BTDC.

The use of biomass fuels such as biodiesel as an alternative fuel for petroleum diesel in automotive sector is of great importance today, as it reduces global warming. Previous research has pointed out that biodiesel/diesel blends can be used in diesel engines with little or no modification. It is estimated that the differences on the characteristics of diesel engines exhaust emissions are due to the different molecule composition of conventional diesel and biodiesel fuels. The scope of this work was to compare the exhaust gas emissions from the use of mixtures of biodiesel and diesel and their effect on the performance of a passenger car engine. The blends B10, B50 and neat biodiesel, B100, were used in an old technology 1600 cc diesel car, equipped with a retrofit catalytic diesel particulate filter.