Alternate Fuels for Medium-Speed Diesel Engines

Tests were performed on a two-stroke cycle medium-speed diesel engine in an attempt to define the ability of this class of engines to operate on certain alternate fuels, and to define the performance characteristics of the engine under such operation. Two categories of fuels were evaluated in this program, off-specification diesel fuels and non-diesel fuels; the former is the topic of this paper. Off-specification diesel fuels were defined as those fuels with one or more properties which did not lie in the currently accepted range of specifications for Number 2 diesel fuel. Cetane number, viscosity, and distillation range were systematically varied as independently of other properties as was possible by blending various fuel components. Limiting fuel properties were defined and, where possible, the influences of fuel properties on performance and emissions were determined.