Experimental Investigation on the Effectiveness of Biodiesel Based Sulfur as an Additive in Ultra Low Sulfur Diesel on the Unmodified Engine

Adequate lubricity and energy content play a significant role in fuel injection and performance in the diesel engine. The major challenge with ultra-low sulfur diesel (ULSD) is lower lubricity. This study aims to perform experimental analysis to investigate the wear behavior of commercial diesel with biodiesel-based sulfur (BBS) solution as an additive and examine the engine characteristics. BBS is a novel solution with higher ester and sulfur content (500 ppm). By doping this novel solution, two test fuels, BS6D1 and BS6D2 were prepared with a sulfur concentration between BS4 and BS6 commercial diesels. Compared to BS6 commercial diesel, the BS6D2 sample showed a significant reduction in mean wear scar diameter (MWSD) and coefficient of friction (COF) by 43.97% and 33%, respectively. At peak load, BS6D2 had 4.13% higher brake thermal efficiency than BS6 diesel. Due to enhanced ignition quality, the brake-specific energy consumption (BSEC) for the BS6D2 sample was found to be the lowest, i.e., 3.85% less than BS6 diesel. Furthermore, a significant reduction in exhaust pollutants for BS6D2 sample compared to BS6 diesel at maximum loads, such as smoke opacity (14.06%), unburnt hydrocarbon (8.82%), and carbon monoxide (20.45%). In conclusion, the BS6D2 sample produces the best results of all the tested fuel samples evaluated on the unmodified diesel engine.