Experimental Investigation of a Diesel Engine Powered with Fuel Microemulsion

Abstract

The paper presents the research results of the AVL diesel engine powered with microemulsion fuels. In particular the emission of soot particles from the engine operated under stationary conditions was investigated. The neces­sary tests were carried out for two microemulsions containing 3.5 and 7% by volume of distilled water dispersed in diesel fuel with necessary surfactants/cosurfactants, i.e. Crillet-6/Span-20. Both tested microemulsions contained similar water micelles size distribution with average dimension of 18 nm. The results of the investigation con­firmed that the combustion of tested water – fuel microemulsion in the AVL research engine reduces the emission of soot particles even by 50% in comparison with the diesel fuel.