Effects of B20 on the Operation of a Single-Cylinder Engine Equipped with a SiC Diesel Particulate Filter

This is an experimental and computational study of the effect of a low-percentage biodiesel blend on the operation, diesel filter loading, and fuel additive-assisted regeneration behavior on a conventional, direct injection (DI), single-cylinder diesel engine. The evolution of regeneration was studied by means of infrared thermography on the unit filter. The results of two sets of regeneration experiments, one for each fuel blend, with high-space velocity levels are discussed. The test fuels were conventional diesel (denoted as B0) and B20 biodiesel blend. The objective was to investigate the differences in catalytic soot ignition and regeneration propagation when the engine is fueled by biodiesel blend. The investigation is assisted by the application of an in-house diesel particulate filter (DPF) regeneration modeling tool. The results indicate a faster evolution of the regeneration with B20 fuel, with lower overall filter wall temperatures prevailing, more favorable on filter durability grounds. (C) 2014 American Society of Civil Engineers.