Sustainability, Vol. 11, Pages 4449: Thermodynamic Fundamentals for Fuel Production Management (Sustainability)

An increase of needs for replacement of fossil fuels, and for mitigation of Carbon Dioxide emissions generated from fossil fuels inspires the search for new fuels based on renewable biological resources. It would be convenient if the biological component of the fuel required as little as possible conversion operations in the production. The obvious response is an attempt to use unconverted, neat plant oils as a fuel for Diesel engines. The present paper is devoted to the experimental studies of the combustion process of neat rapeseed oil, and its mixtures with gasoline and ethanol as additional components of the mixtures. The investigation of combustion was carried out in a fixed volume combustion chamber equipped with a Common Rail injection system. It is shown that the instant of ignition, as well as time-dependence of heat emanation, are strongly dependent upon mixture composition. The results enable the design of mixture compositions that could serve as commercial fuel for Diesel engines. Such fuels are expected to fulfill the requirements for the sustainability of road transport.