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In this work, a quasi-dimensional, multi-zone combustion model is analytically presented, for the prediction of performance and nitric oxide (NO) emissions of a homogeneous charge spark ignition (SI) engine, fueled with biogas-H2 blends of variable composition. The combustion model is incorporated into a closed cycle simulation code, which is also fully described. Combustion is modeled on the basis of turbulent entrainment theory and flame stretch concepts. In this context, the entrainment speed, by which unburned gas enters the flame region, is simulated by the turbulent burning velocity of a flamelet model. A flame stretch submodel is also included, in order to assess the flame response on the combined effects of curvature, turbulent strain and nonunity Lewis number mixture. As far as the burned gas is concerned, this is treated using a multi-zone thermodynamic formulation, to account for the spatial distribution of temperature and NO concentration inside the burned volume.

This study investigates the impact of mid-high biodiesel blends on the criteria and PAH emissions from a modern pick-up diesel vehicle. The vehicle was a Euro 4 (category N1, subclass III) compliant common-rail light-duty goods pick-up truck fitted with a diesel oxidation catalyst. Emission and fuel consumption measurements were performed on a chassis dynamometer equipped with CVS, following the European regulations. All measurements were conducted over the certification New European Driving Cycle (NEDC) and the real traffic-based Artemis driving cycles. Aiming to evaluate the fuel impact on emissions, a soy-based biodiesel, a palm-based biodiesel, and an oxidized biodiesel obtained from used frying oils were blended with a typical automotive ultra-low-sulfur diesel at proportions of 30, 50 and 80% by volume. The experimental results revealed that CO₂ emissions and fuel consumption exhibited an increase with biodiesel over all driving conditions.

In this study, regulated, unregulated exhaust emissions and fuel consumption with ultra low sulphur diesel and soy-based biodiesel blends at proportions of 10 and 30% v/v have been investigated. A Euro 4 compliant SUV, equipped with a 2.2 litre common-rail diesel engine and an oxidation catalyst was tested on a chassis dynamometer with constant volume sampling (CVS) technique. Emission and fuel consumption measurements were performed over the New European Driving Cycle (NEDC) and the non-legislated Artemis driving cycles which simulate urban, rural, and highway driving conditions in Europe. The regulated pollutants were characterized by determined NOx, PM, CO, and HC. CO2 was also quantified in the exhaust. Overall, 16 PAHs, 4 nitro-PAHs, 6 oxy-PAHs, 13 carbonyl compounds and particulate alkanes ranged from C13 to C35 were determined in the exhaust.

In the frame of circular economy, wastes are perceived as sources not only for the recovery of high added-value compounds but also for energy production. Coffee is one of the most popular beverages with the consumption continuously increasing and generating huge amounts of solid residues in return. This solid waste after the extraction of the coffee beverage is known as Waste or Spent Coffee Grounds (WCG). Among others, the valorization has the potential to be directed as a bioresource for sustainable energy and particularly for the production of alternative liquid fuels for internal combustion engines. The aim of the current study is to formulate alternative fuel from WCG and to examine the fundamental properties per relevant specifications and requirements. Parameters related to stability, cold flow properties, lubricating characteristics and ignition quality are studied in comparison with other types of biodiesel fuel.

Many incidents associated with filter plugging have extensively been reported in microbially contaminated diesel and biodiesel fuel systems, especially under long term storage conditions. In this study a quantitative assessment of the undesirable insoluble solids produced in contaminated biodiesel fuels was carried out in order to evaluate their evolution rate during biodeterioration. For this purpose, a series of contaminated biodiesel fuel microcosms were prepared and stored for six months under stable conditions. The quantity of the particulate contaminants was monitored during storage by a multiple filtration technique which was followed at the end by a comparison with the active bioburden per ATP bioluminescence protocol. Additionally, identical microcosms were treated with a commercially available biocide in order to examine the latter’s activity both on solids formation and the microbial proliferation.

During recent years, the deterioration of greenhouse phenomenon, in conjunction with the continuous increase of worldwide fleet of vehicles and crude oil prices, raised heightened concerns over both the improvement of vehicle mileage and the reduction of pollutant emissions. Diesel engines have the highest fuel economy and thus, highest CO2 reduction potential among all other thermal propulsion engines due to their superior thermal efficiency. However, particulate matter (PM) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions from diesel engines are comparatively higher than those emitted from modern gasoline engines. Therefore, reduction of diesel emitted pollutants and especially, PM and NOx without increase of specific fuel consumption or let alone improvement of diesel fuel economy is a difficult problem, which requires immediate and drastic actions to be taken.

An experimental analysis is carried out to investigate several heat transfer characteristics during the engine cycle, in the combustion chamber and exhaust manifold walls of a direct injection (DI), air-cooled, diesel engine. For this purpose, a novel experimental installation has been developed, which separates the engine transient temperature signals into two groups, namely the long-and the short- term response ones, processing the respective signals in two independent data acquisition systems. Furthermore, a new pre-amplification unit for fast response thermocouples, appropriate heat flux sensors and an innovative, object-oriented, control code for fast data acquisition have been designed and applied. Experimentally obtained cylinder pressure diagrams together with semi-empirical equations for instantaneous heat transfer were used as basis for the calculation of overall heat transfer coefficient.

This study examines the impact of ETBE and ethanol addition on the main properties of motor gasoline. European Union mandates the use of biofuels in all transport fuels, according to the 2003/30/EC Directive. The addition of ethanol, a known octane enhancing component, in small proportions significantly increases the vapor pressure of the final gasoline, exceeding the maximum specification limits. ETBE (ethyl tert-butyl ether) is on the other hand an excellent but expensive octane enhancing component with beneficial impact on vapor pressure of the final gasoline. This paper examines the ability of ETBE to act as a stabilizer in gasoline - ethanol blends. Two gasoline samples with different chemical compositions and characteristics were prepared by blending basic refinery components. In each sample, ETBE was added in concentrations of 2, 4, and 6 % V/V respectively. In each of these ETBE - gasoline blends, ethanol was added in concentrations from 1 to 6 % V/V in 1% steps.

A difficulty which exists when applying diagnostic techniques on large-scale diesel engines operating on the field, is that usually it is not possible to obtain measurement data at a wide engine operating range due to a number of constraints. In the present work is investigated the possibility to overcome this practical difficulty originating from the test procedure for engines operating on the field (i.e. marine or stationary applications). The main objective is to examine if a diagnosis procedure provides similar results when applied at various engine operating conditions. For this purpose an existing diagnostic technique, developed by the authors, is applied at different operating conditions on a large-scale two-stroke diesel engine used for power generation in a Greek island.

The scope of this work is to examine the use of hydroprossed used cooking oils as substitute for automotive diesel fuel. Hydroprocessing is an alternative method for the transformation of vegetable oils into high quality transport fuels, even if the quality of the oils is low, such as used cooking oils. In the present work, the utilization of hydroprocessed used cooking oil (HUCO) as neat fuel was proved to be very difficult, due to its very poor cold flow properties; therefore, mixtures of the HUCO with low quality middle distillates (a low cetane number gasoil and a light cycle oil) were prepared and evaluated. Throughout the process the formed blends were evaluated according to the european standard EN 590. The following points were mainly recorded: The lower density of HUCO was beneficial, permitting the use of poor quality distillates, in specific concentrations, and the high cetane number of HUCO was appreciable, improving the worse behavior of the other components.

The need of a more realistic and dynamic driving cycle which simulates real-world driving conditions in the largest city in the greater area of Balkans, led to the development of the Athens Driving Cycle (ADC). Emission and fuel consumption measurements were conducted over the ADC and compared with those of the New European Driving Cycle (NEDC) using a chassis dynamometer. A Euro II compliant diesel vehicle was used in this study, fuelled with a typical automotive diesel fuel and biodiesel blends at proportions of 5, 10, and 20 % respectively. The unregulated emissions were characterized by determining the soluble organic fraction (SOF) in the particulate matter, together with qualitative hydrocarbon analysis present in the SOF fraction, and of carbonyl compounds (aldehydes, ketones). Emissions of NOx, CO, THC, CO2, and PM10 were also measured over the two test cycles.

A three-dimensional multi-zone combustion model is developed for the description of the combustion mechanism inside the engine cylinder of direct injection diesel engines. Various multi-zone models have been proposed in the past for the prediction of DI diesel engine performance and emissions. These models offer an alternative tool if one wants to avoid the use of other more complicated and sophisticated flow models that require high computational times. Most of them have the disadvantage that they focus mainly on emissions, failing to predict at the same time engine performance adequately. In almost all multi-zone models the resulting fuel jet after injection, which is divided into zones, is assumed to be symmetrical around its axis. In the present work a different approach is followed. The fuel jet is divided into zones in the three dimensions overcoming the need for the previous symmetry assumption.

This paper describes some of the recent work carried out in our laboratory regarding the effects of novel oxygen and nitrogen containing compounds on the antiknock quality of unleaded gasoline and their effects on some other gasoline properties. In particular, the research included Research Octane Number (RON) measurements and the evaluation of the effects of the most effective antiknock compounds on Dry Vapour Pressure Equivalent (DVPE), distillation temperatures, aromatic content, olefins, and oxygen content. Emphasis was given in studying chemical structures that can be derived from renewable raw materials. The compounds tested included substituted phenols, furan derivatives, aliphatic amines, various amide structures and Mannich base phenols. Methyl t-butyl ether (MTBE), the most widespread oxygenate currently used in gasoline, was used as a yardstick for assessing the quality of the compounds tested.

Despite the improvement in HD Diesel engine out emissions future emission legislation requires significant reduction of both NOx and particulate matter. To accomplish this task various solutions exist involving both internal and external measures. As widely recognized, it will be possibly required to employ both types of measures to meet future emission limits. Towards this direction, it is necessary to reduce NOx further using internal measures. Several solutions exist in that area, but the most feasible ones according to the present status of technical knowledge are EGR, water injection or fuel/water emulsions. These technologies aim to the reduction of both the gas temperature and oxygen concentration inside the combustion chamber that strongly affect NOx formation. However, there remain open points mainly concerning the effectiveness of water addition techniques and penalties related to bsfc and soot emissions.

The modeling of transient turbocharged diesel engine operation appeared in the early seventies and continues to be in the focal point of research, due to the importance of transient response in the everyday operating conditions of engines. The majority of research has focused so far on issues concerning thermodynamic modeling, as these directly affect heat release predictions and consequently performance and pollutants emissions. On the other hand, issues concerning the dynamics of transient operation are often disregarded or over-simplified, possibly for the sake of speeding up program execution time. In the present work, an experimentally validated transient diesel engine simulation code is used to study and evaluate the importance of such dynamic issues. First of all, the development of various forces (piston, connecting rod, crank and main crankshaft bearings) is computed and illustrated in order to evaluate the importance of abrupt load increases on the bearings durability.

In this study, the transesterification process of 4 different vegetable oils (sunflower, rapeseed, olive oil and used frying oil) took place utilizing ethanol, in order to characterize the ethyl esters and their blends with diesel fuel obtained as fuels for internal combustion engines. All ethyl esters were synthesized using calcium ethoxide as a heterogeneous solid base catalyst. The ester preparation involved a two-step transesterification reaction, followed by purification. The effects of the mass ratio of catalyst to oil, the molar ratio of ethanol to oil, and the reaction temperature were studied on conversion of sunflower oil to optimize the reaction conditions in both stages. The rest of the vegetable oils were converted to ethyl esters under optimum reaction parameters. The optimal conditions for first stage transesterification were an ethanol/oil molar ratio of 12:1, catalyst amount (3.5%), and 80 °C temperature, whereas the maximum yield of ethyl esters reached 80.5%.

The introduction to the European market of higher levels of biodiesel blends focuses the research interest on the compatibility problems of the diesel fuel distribution system. The influence of metals in the oxidation stability and lubricity of two different types of commercially available FAMEs (without antioxidant additive) was investigated. Zinc (Zn), Copper (Cu) and Tin (Sn), were added in the form of solid metals (heterogeneous catalysis in liquid phase oxidation) and examined for their impact on the oxidation stability of biodiesel fuel. Oxidation stability was determined by Rancimat accelerated oxidation method, according to European Standard EN14214. Additionally, in order to examine the effect of the above mentioned metals in the presence of antioxidant additive, BHT was added in both biodiesel samples and oxidation stability determinations were carried out, as well.

This study examines the effects of neat soy-based biodiesel (B100) and its 50% v/v blend (B50) with low sulphur automotive diesel on vehicle PAH emissions. The measurements were conducted on a chassis dynamometer with constant volume sampling (CVS) according to the European regulated technique. The vehicle was a Euro 2 compliant diesel passenger car, equipped with a 1.9 litre common-rail turbocharged direct injection engine and an oxidation catalyst. Emissions of PAHs, nitro-PAHs and oxy-PAHs were measured over the urban phase (UDC) and the extra-urban phase (EUDC) of the type approval cycle (NEDC). In addition, for evaluating realistic driving performance the non-legislated Artemis driving cycles (Urban, Road and Motorway) were used. Overall, 12 PAHs, 4 nitro-PAHs, and 6 oxy-PAHs were determined. The results indicated that PAH emissions exhibited a reduction with biodiesel during all driving modes.

In this paper, the results are presented from the analysis of the second stage of an experimental investigation with the aim to provide insight to the cyclic, instantaneous heat transfer phenomena occurring in both the cylinder head and exhaust manifold wall surfaces of a direct injection (DI), air-cooled diesel engine. Results from the first stage of the investigation concerning steady-state engine operation have already been presented by the authors in this series. In this second stage, the mechanism of cyclic heat transfer was investigated during engine transient events, viz. after a sudden change in engine speed and/or load, both for the combustion chamber and exhaust manifold surfaces. The modified experimental installation allowed both long- and short-term signal types to be recorded on a common time reference base during the transient event.

To reduce the fuel related logistic burden, NATO Armed Forces are advancing the use of a single fuel for both aircraft and ground equipment. To this end, F-34 is replacing distillate diesel fuel in many applications. Yet, unacceptable wear due to poor lubricity was illustrated by tests conducted with kerosene on High Frequency Reciprocating Rig. Therefore, HFRR tests were performed with fatty acid methyl esters of sunflower, palm, cotton-seed, tobacco-seed, olive, rape-seed and used frying oils, at volume concentrations from 0.05% to 0.6%. This study showed that the biodiesels used, produced a significant decrease in the wear scar diameter at concentrations of 0.2% to 0.4 %. Biodiesels derived from non-polyunsaturated oils, such as palm and olive gave better lubrication at certain concentrations.