Abstract
Novel second-generation mono-ether bioblendstocks, produced from catalytic upgrading of ethanol, have been shown to have lower GHG emissions potential and favorable fuel properties (high reactivity and oxygen content) for application in heavy-duty diesel engines. The soot-NOx trade-off characteristics when blended with #2 diesel were explored by performing sweeps of injection timing and EGR rate. The fuel blend with the highest oxygen content and reactivity (CN60) showed significantly lower engine-out soot emissions relative to #2 diesel fuel at three out of the four load-speed conditions evaluated. For the 10 bar indicated mean effective pressure case at 2200 RPM case, the CN60 fuel had 48% lower soot emissions than #2 diesel at the most advanced injection timing and highest EGR case investigated. The range of injection timings and EGR rate where tolerable engine engine-out emissions (soot and NOx), dictated by the aftertreatment efficiency and current tail-pipe regulations (EPA on-road heavy-duty, 2007), were met increased for the higher reactivity fuels. This increase was driven by a positive shift in soot-NOx trade-off with the mono-ether fuel blends, which had a lower chemical propensity to soot and were predicted to have a higher oxygen concentration at the lift-off length than #2 diesel.
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