An Experimental Investigation of Fischer-Tropsch Fuels in a Light-Duty Diesel Engine

Experiments were performed using a Light-Duty, single-cylinder, research engine in which the emissions, fuel consumption and combustion characteristics of two Fischer-Tropsch (F-T) Diesel fuels derived from natural gas and two conventional Diesel fuels (Swedish low sulfur Diesel and European EN 590 Diesel) were compared.

Due to their low aromatic contents combustion with the F-T Diesel fuels resulted in lower soot emissions than combustion with the conventional Diesel fuels. The hydrocarbon emissions were also significantly lower with F-T fuel combustion. Moreover the F-T fuels tended to yield lower CO emissions than the conventional Diesel fuels.

The low emissions from the F-T Diesel fuels, and the potential for producing such fuels from biomass, are powerful reason for future interest and research in this field.