Potential for Reduced Wear Rates in Diesel Engines Running on Fischer-Tropsch Diesel

In three recent engine testing research projects involving comparisons of Low Temperature Fischer Tropsch (LTFT) synthetic diesel with conventional crude derived diesel, findings have included indications of significantly lower engine cylinder wear rates in engines running on Fischer Tropsch (FT) diesel. Close examination of the engine oil analysis from the second comparative study has strongly indicated that the differences in cylinder wear rate can be ascribed to the choice of fuel. None of the three studies were originally formulated for this aspect of comparison and only the second study is able to prove that this is in fact a fuel specific advantage attributed to FT diesel fuel.

This paper reports on the details of the three projects in respect to this issue, presents analysis of the experimental data and preliminary investigations attempted in an effort to understand this phenomenon.