As a renewable, sustainable and alternative fuel for compression ignition engines, biodiesel instead of diesel has been increasingly fueled to study its effects on engine performances and emissions in the recent 10 years. But these studies have been rarely reviewed to favor understanding and popularization for biodiesel so far. In this work, reports about biodiesel engine performances and emissions, published by highly rated journals in scientific indexes, were cited preferentially since 2000 year. From these reports, the effect of biodiesel on engine power, economy, durability and emissions including regulated and non-regulated emissions, and the corresponding effect factors are surveyed and analyzed in detail. The use of biodiesel leads to the substantial reduction in PM, HC and CO emissions accompanying with the imperceptible power loss, the increase in fuel consumption and the increase in NOx emission on conventional diesel engines with no or fewer modification. And it favors to reduce carbon deposit and wear of the key engine parts. Therefore, the blends of biodiesel with small content in place of petroleum diesel can help in controlling air pollution and easing the pressure on scarce resources without significantly sacrificing engine power and economy. However, many further researches about optimization and modification on engine, low temperature performances of engine, new instrumentation and methodology for measurements, etc., should be performed when petroleum diesel is substituted completely by biodiesel.

http://www.abe-research.illinois.edu/pubs/T_Grift/EffectOfBiodieselOnEnginePerformancesAndEmissions.pdf

Effect of biodiesel on engine performances and emissions

Review on characteristics of PAHs in atmosphere, anthropogenic sources and control technologies.

Determination of performance and combustion characteristics of a diesel engine fueled with canola and waste palm oil methyl esters

Compatibility of automotive materials in biodiesel: A review

Increasing energy demands, predicted fossil fuels shortage in the near future, and environmental concerns due to the production of greenhouse gas carbon dioxide on their combustion have motivated the search for alternative ‘clean’ energy sources. Among many resources for this, microalgae have been found to be most promising due to their high production capacity of vegetable oils. They possess a high growth rate, need abundantly available solar light and CO2, and thus are more photosynthetically efficient than oil crops. Also, they tolerate high concentration of salts allowing the use of any type of water for the agriculture and the possibility of production using innovative compact photobioreactors. In addition, microalgae are a potential source of biomass, which may have great biodiversity and consequent variability in their biochemical composition. This paper presents an overview on microalgae with particular emphasis as a source for energy (biofuel/electricity) and new materials. Critical issues involved in production of microalgae and their use, future R & D to overcome these, including the work initiated by the authors at Federal University of Parana, UFPR, in Brazil are discussed. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

A review on microalgae, a versatile source for sustainable energy and materials

Characteristics of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons emissions of diesel engine fueled with biodiesel and diesel

http://methanolfuels.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Comparison-of-PM-emissions-from-a-gasoline-direct-injected-GDI-vehicle-and-a-port-fuel-injected-PFI-vehicle-measured-by-electrical-low-pressure-impactor-ELPI-with-two-fuels-Gasoline-and-M15-methanol-gasoline.pdf

Comparison of PM emissions from a gasoline direct injected (GDI) vehicle and a port fuel injected (PFI) vehicle measured by electrical low pressure impactor (ELPI) with two fuels: Gasoline and M15 methanol gasoline

Physical properties of biodiesel play an important role in the injection, atomization and combustion performance. An experiment was carried out to investigate the spray properties of biodiesel. The experimental setup was based on an electronic unit-pump (EUP) bench, a constant volume chamber and a high-speed digital camera. The photographs of spray were dealt with by using an image processing procedure. Then the spray tip penetrations and cone angles were obtained and analyzed. The experimental results indicate that the spray tip penetrations and cone angles of biodiesel increase with increasing injection duration. In addition, with decreasing ambient pressure the spray tip penetrations increase while the cone angles decrease. Furthermore, ambient pressure has a stronger effect on the spray properties of biodiesel than injection pressure. On the macroscopically view, the shape of biodiesel spray is similar to that of diesel. The final tip penetrations and cone angles of biodiesel are greater than those of diesel due to its higher viscosity, density and bulk modulus. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Spray properties of alternative fuels: A comparative analysis of biodiesel and diesel

Investigation on the character and quantity of aldehydes and ketones emitted from methanol vehicle was implemented respectively by using high performance liquid chromatograph (HPLC) method. Experiments of vehicles equipped with and without three-way catalyst (TWC) under transient and steady mode were carried out. The emission results were compared with that of gasoline vehicle. The data showed that the efficiency of aldehydes and ketones emitted from methanol vehicle and gasoline vehicle were 22.53% and 48.95% with TWC under transient state respectively. When the vehicle is fueled with methanol, the main emissions are formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, acraldehyde + acetone, and these three matters account for 97.18% of the total emission. This proportion is 39.07% when the vehicle is fueled with gasoline. However, the total quantity of aldehydes and ketones from methanol vehicle without TWC was less than that from gasoline vehicle without TWC. Whether with or without TWC, aldehydes and ketones from methanol vehicle were more than that from gasoline vehicle under steady states. When the vehicle is fueled with methanol, the emission of aldehydes and ketones is on the top level at the speed of 60 km/h, and the converting efficiency is also the highest, which is 88.50%. When at the speed of 60 km/h, 90 km/h, 120 km/h, the formaldehyde quantity of methanol vehicle was 332.94%, 374.47% and 357.58% as much as that from gasoline vehicle respectively.

Xiukun Han

Papers

Characteristics of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons emissions of diesel engine fueled with biodiesel and diesel

Comparison of PM emissions from a gasoline direct injected (GDI) vehicle and a port fuel injected (PFI) vehicle measured by electrical low pressure impactor (ELPI) with two fuels: Gasoline and M15 methanol gasoline

Spray properties of alternative fuels: A comparative analysis of biodiesel and diesel

[Investigation on emission characteristics of methanol vehicle's aldehyde and ketone pollutants].