The Possibility of Gas to Liquid (GTL) as a Fuel of Direct Injection Diesel Engine

In this study, engine performances and exhaust emissions characteristics of compression ignition engine fueled with GTL were investigated by comparison with diesel fuel. Diesel engine could be operated fueled with GTL without any special modify for the test engine. With the high cetane number of GTL, the ignition lag was shorter, and the combustion started earlier than that of diesel fuel. Brake thermal efficiency operated with GTL increased at middle load conditions due to incomplete combustion emission such as CO and THC were lower than that of diesel fuel operation. NOx emission with GTL was comparable to diesel fuel, and there was a little decrease at high load. With GTL, soot emission was lower than with diesel fuel at above middle load condition. It seemed to be a reason of soot reduction that there was little sulphur contained in GTL. The brake thermal efficiency with GTL increased with retarding the injection timing, but the decreasing rate regarding the injection timing was lower than with diesel fuel. The NOx and soot emissions with GTL were lower than with diesel fuel at any injection timing.