According to the information provided by the catalyst producer, the catalyst with the trade name Reduxco, which was used in the research, is a reaction product of acetic acid, iron, n-butanol, n-propanol and isopropanol. According to Customer data, Reduxco catalyst in a fuel causes a decrease of the energy of activation of the hydrocarbon fuel oxidation reaction, introduces additional OH groups allowing to increase the burning rate, facilitates the combustion of already formed solid particles in the engine cylinder. To confirm this information, comparative tests were carried out (in the Internal Combustion Engines laboratory of the Cracow University of Technology); the analysis included not only the energy parameters and exhaust gas composition of the diesel engine powered by standard diesel oil and Reduxco-containing fuel, but also the indicator charts and rate of heat release in the engine cylinder.
What was used in the tests was a turbocharged VW 1.9 TDI diesel engine, which was powered by the standard diesel fuel and a diesel fuel with Reduxco (0.2% V/V) on load characteristics. The conducted research authorises to present the following, most important conclusions:
for high engine loads, PM emissions are reduced by up to 30%, while smoke opacity then decreases by over 50%,
a strong reduction in the exhaust gas temperature of engine fuelled by diesel fuel with Redyxco is observed. Usually, this is associated with the earlier end of combustion, which would explain a 4% reduction in fuel consumption in case of fuel with Reduxco,
a slight increase in NOx concentration in the exhaust gas of engine fuelled by diesel fuel with Reduxco.
The analysis of rate of heat release for a diesel engine fuelled by diesel fuel with/without Reduxco, presented in the second article, allows to understand the mechanism of operation of this catalyst.