Author(s)

Ákos Bereczky, Kristóf Lukács, Mária Farkas, Sándor Dóbé

Department of Energy Engineering, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Budapest, Hungary.
Institute of Materials and Environmental Chemistry, Research Centre for Natural Sciences, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest, Hungary.

γ-valerolactone (GVL) is a C5-cyclic ester that can be produced from biomass providing a potentially renewable fuel for transportation and feedstock for the chemical industry. Experiments were performed with fossil diesel (D), D + biodiesel (BD) and D + BD + GVL blends. A four-cylinder, turbocharged direct injection diesel engine was used for the tests. The engine was coupled to a dynamometer to vary the load. CO, NO_x, THC and smoke emissions were measured by using a multi-channel gas analyzer. Combustion characteristics were assessed by in-cylinder pressure data with respect to crank angle and the derived heat release rates. Compared with D, and D + BD blends, addition of GVL had relatively little effect on engine performance and NO_x emission, but reduced the exhaust concentration of CO, unburned fuel and smoke significantly. The smoke reduction is particularly notable in view of the very recent suggestion that black carbon is the second most important greenhouse gas in the atmosphere next to carbon dioxide. No diesel engine study with GVL has been reported so far.

Second Generation Biofuel, γ-Valerolactone, Diesel Blend, Engine Performance, Emissions

Bereczky, Á. , Lukács, K. , Farkas, M. and Dóbé, S. (2014) Effect of γ-Valerolactone Blending on Engine Performance, Combustion Characteristics and Exhaust Emissions in a Diesel Engine. Natural Resources, 5, 177-191. doi: 10.4236/nr.2014.55017.