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This work investigates the effect of a multifunctional diesel fuel additive package used with RapeSeed Oil (RSO) as a fuel in a DI heavy duty diesel engine. The effects on fuel injectors’ cleanliness were assessed. The aim was to maintain combustion performance and preventing the deterioration of exhaust emissions associated with injector deposit build up. Two scenarios were investigated: the effect of deposit clean-up by a high dose of the additive package; and the effect of deposit prevention using a moderate dose of the additive package. Engine combustion performance and emissions were compared for each case against use of RSO without any additive. The engine used was a 6 cylinder, turbocharged, intercooled Perkins Phaser Engine, fitted with an oxidation catalyst and meeting the Euro II emissions limits. The tests were conducted under steady state conditions of 23kW and 47kW power output at an engine speed of 1500 rpm.

Exhaust emissions were measured under real world urban driving conditions using a set of in-vehicle FTIR emission measurement system, which is able to measure 65 emission components simultaneously at a rate of 0.5 Hz. The test vehicle was a modern EURO4 emission compliant SI car equipped with temperature measurement along the exhaust pipe across the catalyst so as to match thermal characteristics to emission profiles. A free flow urban driving cycle was used for the test and four repeated journeys were conducted. The results were compared to EU emissions legislation. The results show that the warm up of the lubricating oil needed 15 minutes. The TWC needed about 200 seconds to reach full conversion efficiency. CO, THC and NOx emissions exceeded the EURO4 exhaust emission legislation. CO2 emissions were well above the type approval value of this vehicle.

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.

A FTIR in-vehicle on-road emission measurement system was installed in a EURO 2 emissions compliant SI car to investigate exhaust emissions under different urban traffic conditions. The real time fuel consumption and vehicle traveling speed was measured and logged. The temperatures were measured along the exhaust pipe so as to monitor the thermal characteristics and efficiency of the catalyst. Two real world driving cycles were developed with different traffic conditions. One (WP cycle) was located in a quiet area with few traffic interference and the other one (HPL cycle) was in a busy area with more traffic variations. The test car was pre-warmed before each test to eliminate cold start effect. The driving parameters were analyzed for two real world cycles. The WP cycle had higher acceleration rate, longer acceleration mode and shorter steady speed driving mode and thus harsher than the HPL cycle.

Lubricating oil takes all of the NEDC test cycle time to reach 90°C. Hence, this gives high friction losses throughout the test cycle, which leads to a significant increase in the fuel consumption. In real world driving, particularly in congested traffic, it is shown that lube oil warm-up is even slower than in the NEDC. Euro 1, 2 and 4 Ford Mondeo water and oil warm up rates in real world urban driving were determined and shown to be comparable with the results of Kunze et al. (2) for a BMW on the NEDC. This paper explores the use of forced convective heat exchange between the cooling water and the lube oil during the warm-up period. A technique of a step warm-up of the engine at 32 Nm at 2000 rpm (35% of peak power) was used and the engine lube oil and water temperature monitored. It was shown that the heat exchanger results in an increase in lube oil temperature by 4°C, which increased to 10°C if enhanced heat transfer to the water was used from an exhaust port heat exchanger.

Exhaust emissions were measured under real world urban driving conditions using a set of in-vehicle FTIR emission measurement system, which is able to measure 65 emission components simultaneously at a rate of 0.5 Hz. The test vehicle was a EURO 2 emission compliant SI car equipped with real time fuel consumption measurement and temperature measurement along the exhaust pipe across the catalyst allowing the matching of thermal characteristics to emission profiles and monitor fuel consumption. The temperature profile indicated that the light-off of the catalyst took about 150∼200 seconds. The warm up of the lubricating oil and coolant water required a longer time than the catalyst did. The impact of ambient temperatures on lubricating oil and coolant water warm ups was greater than that on the light-off of the catalyst. The heat loss and energy balance were calculated during the whole cycle period. The influence of cold start on fuel consumption was investigated.

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.

A precision in-vehicle tail-pipe emission measurement system was installed in a EURO1 emissions compliant SI car and used to investigate the variability in tail-pipe emission generation at an urban traffic junction and uphill/downhill road, and thereby the impact of road topography on emissions. Exhaust gas and skin temperatures were also measured along the exhaust pipe of the instrumented vehicle, so the thermal characteristics and the efficiency of the catalyst could be monitored. Different turning movements (driving events) at the priority T-junction were investigated such as straight, left and right turns with and without stops. The test car was run until hot stable operating conditions were achieved before each test, thereby negating cold start effects.

A rapeseed methyl ester biodiesel RMEB100 was tested on a heavy duty DI diesel engine under steady state conditions. The combustion performance and exhaust emissions were measured and compared to a standard petroleum derived diesel fuel. The engine used was a 6 cylinder, turbocharged, intercooled Perkins Phaser Engine, with emission compliance of EURO 2, fitted with an oxidation catalyst. The exhaust samples were taken both upstream and downstream of the catalyst. Particulates were collected and analysed for VOF, carbon and ash. A MEXA7100 gas analysis system was used for legislated gas analysis such as CO, CO2, NOx and total hydrocarbons. A FTIR analysis system was deployed for gaseous hydrocarbon speciation, which is capable of speciating up to 65 species. The results showed a significant reduction in total particulate mass, particulate VOF, CO, THC and aldehydes when using RMEB100.

Condensable and gaseous hydrocarbon emissions and speciation of the hydrocarbons have been investigated using a EURO1 emissions compliant SI (Spark Ignition) car. Exhaust gas samples were simultaneously collected upstream and downstream of the catalyst using a system containing cold ice trap, resin, particulate filter block and Teflon gas sampling bag. GC (Gas Chromatography) was employed to analyze for hydrocarbons and 16 of the more significant hydrocarbons are reported. The test was carried out using both cold start and hot start driving cycles. Results show that the benzene and toluene were major species emitted from the tailpipe under cold start conditions. Methylnaphthalene was a dominated hydrocarbon under hot start conditions. The cold start had significant influence on hydrocarbon emissions. The catalyst out benzene emissions for cold start was thirty times higher than that for hot start.

An in-vehicle FTIR emission measurement system was used to investigate the exhaust emissions under different real world urban driving conditions. Five different driving cycles were developed based on real world urban driving conditions including urban free flow driving, junction maneuver, congested traffic and moderate speed cruising. The test vehicle was a EURO 2 emission compliant SI car equipped with temperature measurement along the exhaust pipe across the catalyst and real time fuel consumption measurement system. Both regulated and non-regulated emissions were measured and analyzed for different driving cycles. All journeys were started from cold. The engine warm up features and emissions as a function of engine warm up for different driving conditions were investigated.

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.

A commercial on-board exhaust emissions measurement system, the Horiba OBS-1300, was evaluated in a series of chassis dynamometer test trails. A EURO 1 (petrol) SI passenger car, operated under normal and rich combustion conditions, and a combination of static and transient sampling provided a wide range of measurement conditions for the evaluation exercise. The chassis dynamometer facility incorporated an ‘industry standard’ measurement system comprising MEXA-7400 gas analyzer and CVS bag sampling system which were used as ‘benchmarks’ for the evaluation of both OBS-1300 component (exhaust flow meter and species analyzer) measurements and ‘daughter’ emission measurements for regulated gas-phase species (CO, CO2, HC and NOx). Trials demonstrated very good to reasonable agreement for exhaust flow and CO, CO2 and HC concentration measurements during static (R2 ≈ 0.97, 0.99, 0.99 and 0.97, respectively) and transient (R2 ≈ 0.88, 0.96, 0.95 and 0.86, respectively) testing.

Rape oil, as used in fresh cooking oil (FCO), and the methyl ester derived from waste cooking oil (WCOB100) were tested as 100% biofuels (B100) on a heavy duty DI diesel engine under steady state conditions. The exhaust emissions were measured and compared to those for conventional low sulphur (<50ppm) diesel fuel. The engine used was a 6 cylinder, turbocharged, intercooled Perkins Euro2 Phaser Engine, fitted with an oxidation catalyst. The engine out gaseous emissions results for WCOB100 showed a large decrease in CO and HC emissions, but a small increase in NOx emissions compared to diesel. However, for FCO the CO and HC increased relative to WCOB100 and CO was higher than for diesel, indicating deterioration in fuel/air mixing. The particulate matter (PM) emissions for WCOB100 were similar to those for diesel at the 23kw condition, but greatly reduced at 47kw. The FCO produced higher engine out PM at both power conditions due to a higher volatile organic fraction (VOF).

EURO 1, 2 3 and 4 SI (Spark Ignition) Ford Mondeo passenger cars were compared for their real world cold start emissions using an on-board FTIR (Fourier Transform Infrared) exhaust emission measurement system. The FTIR system can measure up to 65 species including both regulated and non-regulated exhaust pollutants at a rate of 0.5 Hz. The driving parameters such as speed, fuel consumption and air/fuel ratio were logged. The coolant water, lube oil and exhaust temperatures were also recorded. A typical urban driving cycle including a loop and a section of straight road was used for the comparison test as it was similar to the legislative ECE15 urban driving cycle. Exhaust emissions were calculated for the whole journey average and compared to EU legislation. The cold start transient emissions were also investigated as a separate parameter and this was where there was the greatest difference between the four vehicles.

New EU environmental law requires 31 ozone precursor VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds) to be measured for urban air quality control. In this study, 23 out of the 31 ozone precursor VOCs were measured at a rate of 0.5 HZ by an in-vehicle FTIR (Fourier Transform InfraRed) emission measurement system along with 15 other VOCs. The vehicle used was a EURO2 emission compliant SI car. The test vehicle was driven under real world urban driving conditions on the same route by the same driver on different days at different ambient temperatures. All the journeys were started from cold. The VOC emissions and OFP (Ozone Formation Potential) as a function of engine warm up and ambient temperatures during cold start were investigated. The exhaust temperatures were measured along with the exhaust emissions. The temperature and duration of light off of the catalyst for VOCs was monitored.

This work investigates the heating of unprocessed rapeseed oil as a means to improve fuel delivery by reducing the fuel viscosity, and to assess the effects on combustion performance. The results show that a simple low power heater with thermal insulation around the fuel line and pump can effectively raise the operational fuel temperature at delivery to the pump. The results show that even with a moderate temperature increase, the fuel flow limitations with rapeseed oil are reduced and the legislated gaseous emissions are reduced at steady state conditions. As one of the main reasons for the conversion of straight oils to the methyl ester, ie biodiesel, is to reduce the viscosity, this work shows that heating the oil can have a similar effect. An emissions benefit is observed with biodiesel compared to rapeseed oil but this is not large. There is also a significant greenhouse gas and cost benefit associated with straight vegetable oils.

An on-board emission measurement system (PEMS), the Horiba OBS 1300, was installed in Euro 1-4 SI cars of the same model to investigate the impact of vehicle technology on exhaust emissions, under urban driving conditions with a fully warmed-up catalyst. A typical urban driving loop cycle was used with no traffic loading so that driver behavior without the influence of other traffic could be investigated. The results showed that under real world driving conditions the NOx emissions exceeded the legislated values and only at cruise was the NOx emissions below the legislated value. The higher NOx emissions during real-world driving have implications for higher urban Ozone formation. With the exception of the old EURO1 vehicle, HC and CO emissions were under control for all the vehicles, as these are dominated by cold start issues, which were not included in this investigation.

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 86 model, 1.6L, 4 cylinders with indirect injection system engine was used on a chassis dynamometer in Greece and a Volvo V70 2.5L was tested in Belgium. The Ford Escort 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 2.5 L Turbo diesel. Seven fuels were used in both cases, a high sulfur diesel 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.

A 10W-50 G4 synthetic lubricating oil (EULUBE oil) was tested on a heavy duty DI diesel engine under two steady state conditions. The exhaust emissions were measured and compared to a 10W-30 CF semi-synthetic lubricating oil. The EULUBE oil contained the friction reduction additive to improve the fuel economy. The engine used was a 6 cylinder, turbocharged, intercooled Perkins Phaser Engine, with emission compliance of EURO 2, fitted with an oxidation catalyst. The exhaust samples were taken both upstream and downstream of the catalyst. Gaseous and particulates emissions were measured. Particulate size distribution was measured using ELPI and SMPS. The particulate samples were analysed for VOF, carbon and ash. A MEXA7100 gas analysis system was used for legislated gas analysis such as CO, CO2, NOx and total hydrocarbons. The results showed a significant reduction by synthetic lubricating oil in gaseous hydrocarbon emissions, total particulate mass, particulate carbon and ash.