The Effect of Fuel Properties on Diesel Engine Exhaust Particulate Formation

Abstract

<div class="htmlview paragraph">Exhaust particulate in diesel engines are affected by fuel properties, especially the aromatic hydrocarbon content and distillation properties, but the reasons for this are not clear.</div> <div class="htmlview paragraph">The process of particulate formation has been reported to start with a thermal cracking of the fuel to lower boiling point hydrocarbons followed by condensation polymerization and production of benzene ring compounds; the formation of particulate takes place via polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.</div> <div class="htmlview paragraph">The fuel properties affect diesel engine particulate because the thermal cracking and condensation polymerization of various fuels are different.</div> <div class="htmlview paragraph">This report investigates the thermal cracking and condensation polymerization processes of various fuels with different molecular structure and carbon number in a nitrogen atmosphere using a thermal cracking apparatus,</div> <div class="htmlview paragraph">The following results were obtained: (<span class="xref">1</span>) Paraffin and aromatic fuels display different thermal cracking and condensation polymerization processes. (<span class="xref">2</span>) The paraffin fuels are thermally cracked to from lower boiling point hydrocarbons, and the particulate was then formed via the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. However, the benzene rings of the aromatic fuels are not thermally cracked to form polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.</div>