Utilization of Biodiesel in modern Diesel engines: effects on performance and emissions

Biodiesel is receiving growing attention as an alternative fuel for diesel engines. Although its use is already widespread some aspects of its influence on engine performance and emissions are not yet exhaustively analyzed especially in the case of modern diesel engines. The paper presents the results of a research activity carried out on a IVECO Cursor 8 EURO 3 heavy duty engine and a FIAT 1.3 ℓMultijet. The Cursor 8 was mounted in an IVECO City Class bus in service in Pordenone – Italy. In this case the tests have been aimed at studying in particular the influence of Biodiesel on the NOx and on the particulate matter emissions and experiments were carried out both in on road and free acceleration conditions. The FIAT Multijet was analyzed on the Department test facility and the experiments examine various steady state load and speed conditions. The resultsshow that in all cases the opacity with Biodiesel is reduced while the trends in the NOx emissions strictly depend on the load condition and the type of the engine. The particulate distribution analysis shows that Biodiesel contributes to the reduction of the total number of particles emitted.