Combustion Heat Release Rate Comparison of Algae Hydroprocessed Renewable Diesel to F-76 in a Two-Stroke Diesel Engine.

摘要

This thesis compared the combustion performance of algae-based hydroprocessed renewable Diesel fuel (HRD) and HRD/F-76 blends, to that of conventional Naval Diesel fuel, F-76. The tests were conducted using a two- stroke, direct injected Detroit 3-53 Diesel engine. The cetane number (CN) of the HRD used was 78 while the CN of the F-76 used was 46. The start of injection (SOI) was measured with a strain gauge mounted on the mechanical fuel injector rocker arm. SOI was found to advance as load increased and retard as speed increased; however, SOI remained constant with the use of the different fuels HRD or F-76. Ignition delay (IGD) decreased significantly with HRD which is consistent with the much higher CN. The heat release rate analysis performed determined that the shorter IGD of HRD led to later combustion phasing, increased overall combustion duration and lower maximum rate of pressure rise. The use of HRD also resulted in lower max cylinder pressure. These results suggest that the combustion performance of HRD has no detrimental effects on the Diesel engine tested.