Contents 3 Diesel Engine Emissions

With respect to fuels utilized as heating fuels for industrial furnaces, or as motor fuels for large diesel engines such as those in ships or power generation sets, the characteristics of primary importance are viscosity, sulfur content and the content of extremely heavy materials (asphaltenes) whose combustion can cause high emissions of particulates which are incompatible with antipollution legislation. 

Desulfurization will become mandatory when oxidizing catalysts are installed on the exhaust systems of diesel engines. At high temperatures this catalyst accelerates the oxidation of SO2 to SO3 and causes an increase in the weight of particulate emissions if the diesel fuel has not been desulfurized. As an illustrative example, Figure 5.22 shows that starting from a catalyst temperature of 400°C, the quantity of particulates increases very rapidly with the sulfur content. 

In summaiy, diesel fuel with veiy low to no sulfur content is now possible with chemical and technological advances. Along with catalytic converters, electronic fuel systems, and sensors, the diesel engine for the new millennium will he capable of complying with ever more stringent EPA exliaust emissions. The diesel engine will continue to sei"ve as the main global workliorse for all of the many thousands of different applications of its power cycle. 

Irrespective of the fuel supply chain, alternative fuels have generally lower tailpipe emissions in terms of local pollutants (such as NO, CO, S02, VOC and particle emissions) than conventional gasoline and diesel engines for instance, natural gas completely eliminates particle emissions synfuels are manufactured with very low sulphur and aromatic contents alcohol-based fuels have high octane numbers, which... 

There has been a recent revival in interest in the use of ethanol-diesel fuel blends (E-diesel) in heavy-duty vehicles as a means to reduce petroleum dependency, increase renewable fuels use, and reduce vehicle emissions [27]. E-diesel blends containing 10-15% ethanol could be prepared via the use of additives. However, several fuel properties that are essential to the proper operation of a diesel engine are affected by the addition of ethanol to diesel fuel - in particular, blend stability, viscosity and lubricity, energy content and cetane number (increasing concentrations of ethanol in diesel lower the cetane number proportionately) [28]. Materials compatibility and corrosiveness are also important factors that need to be considered. 

For soybean-based biodiesel at this concentration, the estimated emission impacts for percent change in emissions of NO,, particular matter (PM), HC, and CO were +20%, -10.1%, -21.1%, and -11.0%, respectively (EPA, 2002). The use of blends of biodiesel and diesel oil are preferred in engines in order to avoid some problems related to the decrease of power and torque, and to the increase of NO, emissions (a contributing factor in the localized formation of smog and ozone) that occurs with an increase in the content of pure biodiesel in a blend. Emissions of all pollutants except NO appear to decrease when biodiesel is used. The use of biodiesel in a conventional diesel engine dramatically reduces the emissions of unbumed hydrocarbons, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, sulfates, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, nitrated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, ozone-forming hydrocarbons, and particulate matter. The net contribution of carbon dioxide from biomass combustion is small. 

Natural gas (NG) consists of 85-95% methane (CH ), which is the simplest hydrocarbon. NG is the cleanest burning alternative fuel. Exhaust emissions from NG vehicles are much lower than those from gasoline-powered vehicles. Combustion of NG reduces carbon dioxide content compared with diesel, but the lost efficiency when the Otto process is used means that carbon dioxide emissions increase. All in all combustion of NG in a gasoline engine gives rise to about as much carbon dioxide as the combustion of diesel in a diesel engine, measured in units of energy. 

Biodiesel has inherently low sulfur content that makes it well-suited to diesel engines equipped with catalysts for emissions control. This fact and the fact that biodiesel in neat form does not have any aromatics, makes biodiesel competitive with dean diesel without any additional modifications.14... 

Clean diesel is a term that applies to diesel fuel that has low sulfur and aromatic content, along with other characteristics that facilitate low emissions from diesel engines. 

Manufacturers of diesel engines generally recommend that fuels which contain less than 0.5 percent sulfur be used in order to minimize corrosion problems. A typical diesel fuel has approximately 0.15 percent sulfur though there is a wide variation in different fuels. The use of EDS fuel with a sulfur content of 0.4 percent could present a possible problem with regard to both SO2 and SO3 emissions. 

The sampling strategy for measuring diesel exhaust emissions includes ambient and personal sampling to determine the gaseous and particulate concentrations in the raw exhaust and the in-mine work environment. Raw exhaust from diesel engines is measured in terms of voliune and gas content (CO, nitric oxide [NO], and NO2). Electronic equipment can be used to accurately measure gaseous component levels. 

---