Effects of waste-derived ethylene glycol diacetate as a novel oxygenated additive on performance and emission characteristics of a diesel engine fueled with diesel/biodiesel blends

Abstract This study was devoted to introducing and experimenting a new waste-derived oxygenated additive, i.e., ethylene glycol diacetate on performance and emission characteristics of a diesel engine fueled with diesel/biodiesel blends. Mineral diesel and its blends with 5 and 20 vol% biodiesel were used in the engine test runs. These fuel blends were doped with ethylene glycol diacetate at three volumetric levels in the range of 1–3%. The engine was run under engine load conditions varying from idle to full load operation at a constant engine speed of 1500 rpm. Overall, the most appealing results were obtained when diesel fuel dosed with 3 vol% ethylene glycol diacetate was combusted under moderate engine load conditions. This oxygenated fuel blend could result in a significant mitigation in both nitrogen oxides and carbon dioxide emissions but could lead to an unfavorable increase in unburned hydrocarbon emissions in comparison with the additive-free diesel fuel. More specifically, nitrogen oxides and carbon dioxide emissions were reduced by 1.9–4.3 and 1.6–3.1 times, respectively, while unburned hydrocarbon emissions for the selected fuel blend under moderate engine loads were increased by 1.9–3.6 times. The carbon monoxide emission for this fuel blend was comparable with that of neat diesel. Furthermore, the significant reductions in nitrogen oxides and carbon dioxide emissions were achieved with a trivial drop in brake thermal efficiency of the engine (≈5%). As a conclusion, the developed oxygenated additive could be used for reformulating diesel fuel with the aim of substantially mitigating nitrogen oxides emissions.