Diesel Fuel Component Contribution to Engine Emissions and Performance: Final Report

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Abstract
Contemporary diesel fuel is a blend of several refinery streams chosen to meet specifications. The need to increase yield of transportation fuel from crude oil has resulted in converting increased proportions of residual oil to lighter products. This conversion is accomplished by thermal, catalytic, and hydrocracking of high molecular weight materials rich in aromatic compounds. The current efforts to reformulate California diesel fuel for reduced emissions from existing engines is an example of another driving force affecting refining practice: regulations designed to reduce exhaust emissions. Although derived from petroleum crude oil, reformulated diesel fuel is an alternative to current specification-grade diesel fuel, and this alternative presents opportunities and questions to be resolved by fuel and engine research. Various concerned parties have argued that regulations for fuel reformulation have not been based on an adequate data base. Despite numerous studies, much ambiguity remains about the relationship of exhaust parameters to fuel composition, particularly for diesel fuel. In an effort to gather pertinent data, the automobile industry and the oil refiners have joined forces in the Air Quality Improvement Research Program (AUTO/OIL) to address this question for gasoline. The objective of that work is to define the relationship between gasoline composition andmore » the magnitude and composition of the exhaust emissions. The results of the AUTO/OEL program will also be used, along with other data bases, to define the EPA {open_quotes}complex model{close_quotes} for reformulated gasolines. Valuable insights have been gained for compression ignition engines in the Coordinating Research Council`s VE-1 program, but no program similar to AUTO/OIL has been started for diesel fuel reformulation. A more detailed understanding of the fuel/performance relationship is a readily apparent need. « less

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