The Effect of Hydrotreatment of Diesel Fuel Derived from Canadian Tar Sands on Particulate Exhaust Emissions

Four combustion devices including a laminar diffusion flame burner, a light-duty single-cylinder diesel engine, a light-duty multicylinder diesel engine and a light-duty diesel-powered vehicle were used to evaluate the particulate-forming tendencies of eight diesel-type fuels. Four of the fuels were produced from a single tar sands process stream by increasing, in steps, the severity of hydrotreatment they received. The particulate emissions were best correlated by multiple linear regressions with the aromatic carbon contents and ninety percent distilled temperatures of the fuels. The particulate emission indices for all four combustion devices decreased exponentially with increased hydrotreatment of the tar sands fuels.