Effect of Various Lubricating Oils on Piston Deposits in Biodiesel Fueled Engines

Some customers of Transport Refrigeration Units (TRU's) powered by 2.1 liter diesel engines in Europe are requesting to run 100% biodiesel fuel in their TRU's.

The purpose of this paper was to find a way for users of 100% biodiesel fuel to maintain reliable diesel engine operation through selection of a better engine lubricant. Diesel engines that have been run with 100% biodiesel fuel have been found to have deposits inside the engine that are not found when running on fossil petroleum diesel fuel. This paper examines the effect of various engine-lubricating oils on engines running with 100% biodiesel fuel. The comparison of various engine oils was accomplished by evaluating the piston skirt and ring groove deposits when running 4 different engine oils for 1000 hours each on identical engines that are fueled by Soybean Biodiesel fuel.