Parffinic biofuels: HVO, BTL diesel, and farnesane

Abstract

Of various paraffinic (alkane) biofuels, the application of hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO), biomass-to-liquid (BTL) diesel, and farnesane except biojet fuels to compression ignition engines will be discussed in this chapter. The property, fundamental combustion studies, and combustion and emission characteristics of neat paraffinic biofuels and blends with diesel or biodiesel will be analyzed. The interest in using these new renewable non-oxygenated fuels is recently increased. The serious shortcomings of biodiesel in terms of cold start, fuel stability, and cloud point can be overcomes by using HVO. Further, the use of neat HVO and HVO blends with diesel contributes to a reduction of regulated and unregulated emissions and of greenhouse gas from both heavy-duty and light-duty CI engines. One of the most promising options to obtain transportation fuels from biomass is BTL, the liquid biofuel produced by Fischer–Tropsch synthesis using lignocellulosic biomass as the feedstock. Farnesane can be produced from the fermentation of biomass-derived sugars. Little information is available for the utilization of farnesane in CI engines.