Intermediate result from partner FEV Europe GmbH
Potential of a REDIFUEL drop-in fuel blend under real driving conditions
Result has been achieved on 1st of October 2021 in month 37 of the project.
The single cylinder results have shown the potential for both engine performance and emission reduction impressively. In order to comprehend the performance of REDIFUEL combustion in an engine under real driving condition it is necessary to run in-service compliance tests on a heavy-duty demonstrator vehicle.
- Objective: Assessment of most promising drop-in fuel blends under real driving condition.
- Research: The single cylinder engine investigations have demonstrated the potential of an EN590-complient drop-in fuel of 40 vol% RFA30P70 mixed in diesel. The next step becomes to perform tests on a state-of-the-art heavy-duty vehicle 4×2 tractor of the N3 class. The truck is equipped with a 12.8 l 6-cylinder diesel engine with high pressure EGR and is homologated to EU VI-C emission legislation. Further, the truck features an online fuel mixing system fed by two different tanks. It allows to operate the vehicle at different share of fuel mixture. Here, a share of 40 vol% RFA30P70 fuel in diesel has been investigated against pure diesel fuel. There has been no engine calibration adaptation based on the different fuels considered during the tests. To conduct in-service conformity runs a portable emission measurement system (PEMS) has been connected at engine tailpipe to measure and analyze the exhaust gas composition when operating the vehicle under city driving, rural road and motorway at 100 % payload.
- Result: The vehicle results of the ISC PEMS test demonstrate the great potential with a share of 40 vol% RFA30P70 in diesel. That EN590-compliant fuel blend operates absolutely similar in terms of emission behavior and drivability to conventional diesel fuel, as can be seen in Figure 1. Both NOX and total CO2 tailpipe emissions act on the same level. In fact, RFA30P70 sources on fully renewable energy and carbon the Well-to-Wheel CO2 footprint can be reduced significantly. Those results validate the key findings from the single cylinder fuel screening camping.
- What will it be used for: The results will be shared with the REDIFUEL partners to discuss the drop-in fuel blend potential and are further been used for model validation of vehicle/engine performance simulations.
- Impact: In general, RFA30P70 has proven as a great successor for future renewable fuel candidates, either as pure fuel or mixed with diesel as EN590-compliant. Even if total CO2 tailpipe emissions remain similar compared to conventional diesel it still behaves beneficial on the Well-to-Wheel CO2 emissions significantly.
