A New Volvo V70 2.5 and an Old Ford Escort 1.6 Were Tested and Compared on a Chassis Dynamometer, Using the Same Blends of Frying Biodiesel and Neat Diesel 2008-01-1576

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. Fuel injection timing was 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. The biofuel was chosen to be converted chemically to biodiesel. The frying oil was collected in Belgium and then converted to biodiesel. The only difference between these two set of tests conducted in two different countries was the content of sulfur in neat diesel, since the Greek neat diesel was not lower than 50 ppm as the Belgian one. The same biodiesel was used from both labs and exhaust emissions were measured and presented in this paper. Measurements were taken over more than eight months and no major failure appeared in either car. They were run under the same load conditions using a similar chassis dynamometer [3]. Ambient temperatures and several other parameters were measured and presented in the paper.

Soot emissions were considerably lower for biodiesel mixtures compared to those from diesel. Different diesel fuels, in terms of sulfur concentration, were tested and several blends of biodiesel produced. CO₂ emissions generated from both test cars are not directly comparable due to the engines' different size.