Study on combustion and emission characteristics of Polyoxymethylene Dimethyl Ethers/diesel blends in light-duty and heavy-duty diesel engines

Diesel and Polyoxymethylene Dimethyl Ethers (PODE3-4)/diesel blends with 10-30% PODE3-4 by volume were tested in a light-duty (LD) direct injection diesel engine without any modifications on the engine fuel supply system. Engine performance, combustion and emission characteristics were compared at various loads. The results show that diesel engines are able to work normally fueled by blend fuel ratio with lower than 30% PODE3-4. Adding PODE3-4 improve engine efficiency and reduce soot and CO emissions significantly without a serious impact on NOx emissions. P20 is the optimal choice among these blends because it has much lower soot emissions than diesel and P10 and slightly lower NOx emissions than P30. The European Stationary Cycle (ESC) was also carried out in a six-cylinder heavy-duty (HD) production diesel engine fueled with pure diesel and P20, and the results were similar to those of the LD engine. It is proved that PODE3-4, of which the mass production has been achieved recently, is a promising additive component for diesel fuel. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.