Ultralow Sulfur Diesel and Rapeseed Methyl Ester Fuel Impact on Performance, Emitted Regulated, Unregulated, and Nanoparticle Pollutants

Miqdam T Chaichan; Mohammed A Fayad; Amged Al Ezzi; Hayder A Dhahad; T Megaritis; Talal Yusaf; Ahmed Al-Amiery; Wan Nor Roslam Wan Isahak

doi:10.1021/acsomega.2c00893

Ultralow Sulfur Diesel and Rapeseed Methyl Ester Fuel Impact on Performance, Emitted Regulated, Unregulated, and Nanoparticle Pollutants

ACS Omega. 2022 Jul 18;7(30):26056-26075. doi: 10.1021/acsomega.2c00893. eCollection 2022 Aug 2.

Authors

Miqdam T Chaichan¹, Mohammed A Fayad¹, Amged Al Ezzi², Hayder A Dhahad³, T Megaritis⁴, Talal Yusaf⁵, Ahmed Al-Amiery^{1

6}, Wan Nor Roslam Wan Isahak⁶

Affiliations

¹ Energy and Renewable Energies Technology Center, University of Technology-Iraq, Baghdad 10001, Iraq.
² Electromechanical Engineering Department, University of Technology-Iraq, Baghdad 10001, Iraq.
³ Mechanical Engineering Department, University of Technology-Iraq, Baghdad 10001, Iraq.
⁴ Centre for Advanced Powertrain and Fuels Research School of Engineering and Design, Brunel University, London UB8 3PH, UK.
⁵ Business Development Department, Aviation Australia, Brisbane, 4004 QLD, Australia.
⁶ Department of Chemical and Process Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), Bangi 43600, Selangor, Malaysia.

Abstract

The operation of engines using rapeseed methyl ester (RME) and ultralow sulfur diesel (ULSD) was tested for the combustion properties, emitted regulated, unregulated exhaust pollutants, and the size of nanoparticles. The combustion analysis showed higher apparent heat release rate and shorter ignition delay period during RME combustion than during ULSD combustion. The ULSD engine has a combustion chamber maximum pressure relatively higher than that of RME. This study showed that the heat release rate of ULSD is always higher than that of RME while more fuel consumption occurred from the combustion of biodiesel in comparison with diesel. When the engine is running on RME, HC and NOx formation increased at high loads up to 15% and 13%, respectively; meanwhile, CO concentrations reduced by 30.9% for the same conditions. Most of the particulate matter (PM) emitted from a diesel engine has a particle size from 5 to 100 nm, while the particle size from ULSD ranged from 5 to 40 nm. Overloading the engine caused a decrease in the sizes of emitted PM for both fuels. The smoke number for RME was less than that for ULSD by 33.9% at high loads. For high engine load, the cumulative concentration number for the nucleation mode decreased, while it increased for the accumulation mode. Furthermore, measurements of formaldehyde, ethane, methane, acetylene, ethylene, propylene, and isocyanic acid emissions showed the presence of these harmful substances at very low concentrations (8 ppm) for both fuels.