Different fuels, in detail: three blends from methyl esters of rapeseed oil, soy bean oil, and palm oil; neat rapeseed oil methyl ester; a gas-to-liquid fuel (GTL); and two new diesel fuel qualities from Aral and Shell (Ultimate and V-Power, respectively) were compared to reference diesel fuel (DF) with focus on emissions.
Therefore, the regulated emissions carbon monoxide (CO), hydrocarbons (HC), nitrogen oxides (NOx) and particulate matter (PM) and the non regulated particle size distribution were determined. Additionally to the emissions the mutagenic potency of conventional reference diesel fuel, biodiesel, Shell V-Power Diesel, and Aral Ultimate Diesel was tested.
With the exception of CO, GTL always led to better results of regulated emissions than conventional diesel fuel (DF). Except for NOx, biodiesel emitted less regulated compounds than GTL and all diesel fuels. Biodiesel showed the lowest mutagenicity. However, the new diesel fuels from Aral and Shell also had less mutagenic potency than DF.
In the result of all investigations it becomes clear that the potency of fuel systems engineering as constructional element should be considered for the joint development of biogenic and fossil fuels and engines.