Over the past several years, there has been increased interest in reformulated and alternative diesel fuels to control emissions and provide energy independence. Biodiesel, which can be generated from natural renewable sources such as new or used vege...
Over the past several years, there has been increased interest in reformulated and alternative diesel fuels to control emissions and provide energy independence. Biodiesel, which can be generated from natural renewable sources such as new or used vegetable oils or animal fats, may have the potential to reduce our nation's reliance on imported oil and to improve air quality. In addition, it is compatible with diesel fuel in compression ignition engines, meaning that an existing diesel engine can be fueled by biodiesel blends. In this paper, the test results of fuel economy and exhaust emissions of neat diesel oil, neat biodiesel and biodiesel blends (20 vol. % biodiesel and 50 vol. % biodiesel) are presented using three conventional diesel-engine vehicles. Chassis dynamometer tests showed that PM, Smoke, THC and CO emissions were decreased as the blending rations of biodiesel to diesel oil increased, on the other hand NOx emission was slightly increased because of the oxygen content in biodiesel. Also, the biodiesel blends yielded lower fuel economy than that of diesel oil because of lower hearting value of biodiesel.