Effects of Low Cetane Number and High Aromatics Fuel Properties on Heavy-Duty Diesel Engine Combustion and Emissions

Abstract

In the near future, some portion of diesel fuel is projected to be derived from heavy oil and be marketed. Thus, the effects of such low cetane number and high aromatics fuels were investigated on combustion and emissions in a heavy-duty diesel engine. As a result, at low load, premixed combustion was enhanced with low cetane number fuels due to increased ignition delay. By contrast, at high load, no difference was observed in combustion and emissions between the low and high cetane number fuels. Such tendencies indicate that cetane number influences combustion and emissions depending highly on in-cylinder charge temperatures.