Science advanced: biofuels for traditional diesel engines

According to EU regulations, conventional automotive diesel needs to be supplemented with 7% biodiesel By 2020, the proportion is expected to rise to 10% However, this is a huge technical challenge: biodiesel will evaporate at a higher temperature, which may cause problems in the electronic fuel injection system and particulate filter Researchers from Kaiserslautern, Bohong and Rostock, Germany, have developed a way to get fuel from biofuels that can be used in conventional diesel engines at low temperatures This new biofuel meets current EU and US requirements It can be used without dilution in modern diesel engine or mixed with petroleum diesel in any proportion Relevant research results are published in the journal Science advanced In Europe, biodiesel mainly comes from rapeseed oil In terms of chemical composition, biofuels include long-chain hydrocarbons, usually fatty acid methyl esters The properties of biofuels are different from those of diesel oil obtained from mineral oil For example, the boiling point of biofuels is much higher than that of diesel This means that biodiesel is often only partially evaporated, which is easy to form deposits on components such as engines Because of these characteristics, pure biodiesel is not suitable for standard engine fuel If biofuels are used, the structure of the injection pumps, seals and pipes will need to be redesigned Dr Lukas goodien explained: "vehicles using pure biodiesel fuel need to be equipped with specially designed engines." Dr goo Dien, together with Kai Pfister and Sabrina Baader, chemists at the 3met Research Center at the University of Kaiserslautern, developed an innovative technology for the treatment of biodiesel Dr goodien said: with almost no energy input, we can convert fatty esters and bioethylene from plants into fuel, which can be directly used in modern diesel engines without dilution The advantage of this new technology is that researchers can precisely adjust the chemical properties of the mixture "We have combined two catalytic methods to convert long-chain fatty esters into compounds with shorter chains," said Dr goodien This process changes the characteristics of biodiesel during ignition and combustion Since combustion starts at a lower temperature, biodiesel can be adjusted to be suitable for use in conventional diesel engines by this method In addition, this method does not need solvent or waste, and it also conforms to the current environmental protection concept Mathias Baader, a researcher from Kaiserslautern University, used mathematical simulations to compare the two methods at the same time Silvia Berndt, a researcher from the University of Rostock, has shown that the dye blend added to this biofuel meets the stringent modern diesel engine standard (EN 590) In the initial test run, Kai Pfister, a researcher, has proved that the new diesel can actually power cars.