Potentiality of the Modern Engines Fed by New Diesel Fuels to Approach the Future European Emission Limits

This paper reports some results on the performance of an advanced common rail (CR) DI diesel engine burning 12 model diesel fuels. The experiments were carried out within a co-operative research program “NeDeNeF” (New Diesel Engines and New Diesel Fuels), partly sponsored by the Commission of European Communities. Partners of the project with Istituto Motori (IM) were: FEV (Germany), VTT (Finland), NTUA (Greece), Brunel University (UK), Fortum (Finland), LAT (Greece) under the coordination of the IFP (France). The matrix of twelve fuels was prepared by the fuel producer partner (Fortum). The research program of the Diesel Engines and Fuels Department of Istituto Motori aimed at assessing the effect of fuel quality on exhaust emissions. The engine employed in the tests was a Fiat four-cylinder DI CR diesel engine, EURO3 version, of 1.9 litre, installed on Fiat Group class C Cars (1350kg of mass). Two steady-state test points were chosen: 1500 rpm at 5 bar and 2500 rpm at 8 bar of B.M.E.P. Results show the potentiality in reducing pollutants emissions of reformulated fuels, obtained with blends of advanced and oxygenated components.