Optical Diagnostic Combustion Comparisons of Pump Diesel with Bio-Derived Diesel Blends in an Optical DI Diesel Engine

Combustion studies were completed using an International VT275-based, optical DI Diesel engine fueled with Diesel fuel, a Canola-derived FAMES biodiesel, as well as with a blend of the Canola-derived biodiesel and a cetane-reducing, oxygenated fuel, Di-Butyl Succinate. Three engine operating conditions were tested to examine the combustion of the fuels across a range of loads and combustion schemes. Pressure data and instantaneous images were recorded using a high-speed visible imaging, infrared imaging, and high-speed OH imaging techniques. The recorded images were post processed to analyze different metrics, such as projected areas of in-cylinder soot, OH, and combustion volumes. A substantially reduced in-cylinder area of soot formation is observed for the Canola-DBS blended fuel with a slight reduction from the pure FAMES biodiesel compared to pump Diesel fuel. This work presents that the reduction in soot for the blended fuel is caused by a twofold effect of the additional oxygen in the fuel as well as reduction in the autoignition of the fuel allowing for increased air entrainment into the fuel plumes.