Impact of Diethyl Ether/Rapeseed Oil Blends on Performance and Emissions of a Light-Duty Diesel Vehicle

This article presents results of experimental study of diesel, rapeseed oil and three different blends of 10%, 20% and 30% diethyl ether addition to rapeseed oil, tested on VW Golf vehicle on chassis dynamometer Mustang MD-1750. Fuel consumption and emission tests were conducted at different testing conditions: idling, 50 km/h, 90 km/h, as also IM-240 cycle. The analysis of obtained results have shown reduction of engine power by 6.2%–17.3% and increase of fuel consumption by 0.6%–15.5% (based on testing conditions) for all blends based on DEE addition compared to RO, demonstrating better perspectives for low level blends. Emission tests have shown decrease of hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxides (NOx) for all blends with DEE content in almost all testing conditions and also slight increase of carbon monoxides and carbon dioxides compared to rapeseed oil. Largest decrease of NOx was observed during 90 km/h and cycle IM-240 reaching almost 24% reduction for 20DEE and 30DEE in comparison to neat RO.