Fuel oil additives Fuel oil additives

Reducing the soot in diesel engines

The following paper concerns a study conducted to investigate the effect of fuel additives on performance and soot emissions of diesel engines by Professor Assoc. D. T. Hountalas of the Internal Combustion Engines Laboratory at the National Technical University Of Athens, Mechanical Engineering Department, Thermal Engineering Section.
he research was assigned to the NTUA Internal Combustion Engines Lab (ICEL), on behalf of a company, MSTP Hellas, to conduct an investigation to validate the effect of a fuel and lube oil additive on the specific fuel consumption and pollutant emissions of marine diesel engines. A product that the company supplies to the market, its composition was unknown to ICEL Lab. To investigate the effect of the additive, a detailed experimental investigation was conducted on the engine of the Aptera, a vessel belonging to ANEK LINES. The additive was supplied by MSTP Hellas, which also managed to install a device in the engine room through which the additive was fed directly to the fuel circuit upstream of the engine fuel pumps. The supply was made using a dose pump, at a percentage defined by MSTP Hellas. The same procedure was followed for the lube oil additive as well. Two sets of measurements were conducted, a first without additive and a second with the use of the fuel and lube oil additives in various proportions and combinations. During all tests the same fuel quality was used from the vessels tanks that had the same preheat temperature and density. Finally it should be mentioned that

pling and measurement processing. For the analysis of gas emissions a Kayne-May portable gas analyser was used, consisting of electrochemical sensors which had been previously calibrated. For soot measurement, a portable Bosch device was used. Table 1a gives the data of all instrumentation and their characteristics, that were used and the measured pollutants as well.

all measurements TABLE 1A were taken with the co-operation of the Pollutant Manufacturer Type Operating Principal crew and their assist- Soot Bosch EFAW-65 Optical ance was direct and CO Kane-May KM 9106 Electro Chemical essential. As far as NO Sensors soot measurements CO2 are concerned, the sampling was made O2 from the crew and the measured data (Bosch paper) Engine Description where presented immediately to the The engine used for the test was Technical Staff of the vessel for oba MITSUBISHI MAN 4054 18V, 4 servation. The measured data stroke, 18 cylinder supercharged (Bosch Paper Filters) are available marine engine. Its main characterin our laboratory. istics :

Experimental set-up
Description of the experimental installation The experimental investigation was made at sea, engine No.2. The basic data of this engine are: Engine Type MAN4054 18V Maximum Power Output 10,000 kW at 500 rpm 4 Stroke One Turbocharger One Air Cooler A portable sampling system was used for taking measurements, consisting of : a) Laptop Computer b) Analogue to Digital Converter c) K i s t l e r P i e z o t r o n P r e s s u r e Transducer d) Amplifier for pressure signal. e) Special software for sam-

Max. Power Output 10000 PS Oper. Speed Range 230-500 rpm Bore 400 mm Stroke 540 mm Compression Ratio 12.5:1 No. of Cylinders 18 Layout V No. of T/C 1 The engine was mounted to a pitch propeller through a reducing gear device.

Experimental procedure
Before any measurements were taken, the engine was prepared so that it could operate with and without the use of the fuel additive. This work was done by MSTP Hellas through the installation of a special dose pump on the supply line of the engines high pressure fuel pumps. The experimental investigation

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Fuel oil additives

consisted of the following: Measurements at 410 rpm engine speed using a load indication of 38 at a full scale of 42 without using additive in the fuel oil. Following this, cylinder pressure diagrams were taken together with pollutant emission measurements at steady conditions. Pollutant emissions were measured in the exhaust duct at the Turbine inlet. Following this, and using the fuel oil additive, measurements was taken of cylinder pressure and pollutants at a load index of 38 where all peripheral measurements were similar to the previous case were no additive was used. These measurements were taken during the return trip of the vessel to Piraeus and after using the additive for 8 hours. Thus the time the additive was used was rather limited. Afterwards, after 1- 1/2 months, measurements were repeated for the same engine at the same con-

(constant) of 38. In the same Table is given the total power output of the engine and the total fuel consumption and specific consumption as well. The values have been derived after processing the measured data using the diagnosis EDS-2 with which the measurements were taken. The All measurements conducted tovalues of brake specific fuel congether with their numbering are sumption for cases No.5, 6 will be provided in Table 1b. revised after the completion of the experimental investigation for the Description of symbolsestimation of the effect of the lube parameters oil additive on engine mechanical To comprehend the results of the losses (mainly frictional losses). measurements in the following diaThus, at the current stage it cannot grams, given below is the be revealed the effect of the lube nomenclature of the main symbols oil additive on specific fuel conand parameters used: sumption. bsfc = brake specific fuel con Observing the values, we observe sumption (g/PS h) that the power with the use of the BSN = Bosch smoke index additive is higher while the load ppm = parts per million indicator is constant and the peripheral measurements are practically the same, this is posiAnalysis of experimental results tive for the operation of the engine (as far as exhaust gas temperature Specific fuel consumption levels are concerned). In Table No . 2 specific fuel conFrom Table 2, it can be seen that sumption for the TABLE 1B for a load index of 38 we have a various condireduction of specific fuel consumptions examined Load Percentage of Lube Oil tion in the order of 2.6% with the first are given. The Indicator Fuel Oil Additive Additive use of 0.3% additive which reaches values refer to 1 38 0.0 NO almost 3% after use of 40 days. Also tests with and 2 38 0.3 NO we observe that this reduction can without the addi3 38 0.3 NO be achieved with a percentage of tive at operating 4 38 0.1 NO fuel additive of 0.1% as well. These conditions corvalues, taking into consideration the respon d i n g t o 5 38 0.3 YES size of the engine and its total a load index 6 38 0.1 YES consumption, are very significant. The reduction of TABLE 2 specific fuel consumption is straightforward in all Load Percentage of Lube Oil T. C.* Total S. F. C.* Difference cylinders Indicator Fuel Additive Additive kg power PS g/PSh % Fig. 1 shows the total 1 38 0.0 NO 821.4 5065 162.17 0.0 consumption for all cylin2 38 0.3 NO 820.7 5192 158.08 -2.6 ders as estimated from the 3 38 0.3 NO 854.7 5444 157.00 -3.1 diagnosis system for cases 4 38 0.1 NO 846.1 5383 157.18 -3.0 No. 1, 2 and 4 of the previous Table. Similar results 5 38 0.3 YES 845.0 5352 157.89 -2.6 are observed for cases 3, 6 38 0.1 YES 848.9 5383 157.70 -2.8 5-6. The total consumption ap* T. C. - Total Consumption; S. F. C. Specific Fuel Consumption pears higher when using the

ditions, using only fuel additive in percentages of 0.3% and 0.1%. Then measurements were conducted using the lube oil additive and fuel oil additive also in percentages 0.3% and 0.1% . Thus a total of 4 additional measurements were made.

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additive but the power is also higher as revealed from Figs 1 and 2. For this reason, it is used for comparison of the specific fuel consumption which, as revealed from Fig. 3, is lower for all cylinders when using the additive. Soot emissions A significant parameter for diesel engines is soot emission. Its value indicates the quality of combustion which, in turn, contributes to the maintenance of the exhaust and the injection system in good condition. In Table 3 are displayed the values of soot emission as they were measured with and without the use of fuel additive at both load indexes mentioned. Additional mea surements were taken with the use of fuel additive at load index 38. For this reason, the exact time of each measurement is displayed on Table 3. It can be observed from Table 3 that there is a straightforward reduction of soot emission values

Fig. 1

when using the fuel additive. The mean value before using the additive is 1.02 but with the first application of the additive is becomes 0.54. The reduction is in the order of 50% and is considered to be very significant. Using the additive for 40 days the value has been reduced to 0.50 for a percentage of 0.3% and to 0.43 for a percentage of 0.1%. Significant reduction is also observed when using the lube oil additive where the final value is close to 0.25 , i.e., reduction of soot, about 85%. The value is considered to be very significant. At this point we must mention that results are satisfying with the use of 0.1% after a percentage of 0.3% has been used for a prolonged period. Composition of exhaust gasgaseous pollutant emissions In Table 4 are given the gas concentrations within the exhaustgas, at the point where soot emissions were measured. No significant differences are observed for O 2 and CO2. For CO and NO, there are no noticeable differences, the values being practically the same with and without the use of the fuel oil additive. The differences are mainly due to differences in load between the tests. Therefore, the use of fuel oil additive does not cause a noticeable positive or negative effect on gaseous pollutants values emitted from the engine exhaust system. Cylinder combustion pressures - Cylinder pressure diagrams In Figs. 4.1 and 4.2 are given the cylinder pressure diagrams as measured from the diagnosis system before using the additive (No.1) and after its first use (No.2). Similar results where observed and for cases No.3-6 which for the sake of space are not mentioned here. As far as the pressure diagrams are concerned, when the lube oil additive was used, as expected, these

Fig. 2

Fig. 3

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Fuel oil additives

TABLE 3
Date 1 2 3 4 5 6 05/02/01 06/02/01 17/03/01 17/03/01 18/03/01 18/03/01 Time 21:15 21:45 21:25 23:50 21:12 23:46 Fuel Additive % 0.0 0.3 0.3 0.1 0.3 0.1 Lube Oil Additive NO NO NO NO YES YES 1st Reading 0.90 0.60 0.60 0.50 0.30 0.20 2 nd Reading 1.0 0.70 0.60 0.40 0.40 0.30 2 nd Reading 1.0 0.50 0.40 0.40 0.40 0.30 2 nd Reading 0.90 0.50 0.50 0.40 0.38 0.20 2 nd Reading 1.30 0.40 0.40 Mean Value 1.02 0.54 0.50 0.43 0.37 0.25

TABLE 4
Percentage of Fuel Additive 1 0 2 0.3 3 4 5 6 0.3 0.1 0.3 0.1 Lube Oil Additive NO NO NO NO YES YES Date 05/02/01 06/02/01 17/03/01 17/03/01 18/03/01 18/03/01 Time 21:15 21:45 21:25 23:50 21:12 23:46 CO ppm 198 169 195 224 217 219 CO2 % 6.3 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.4 6.1 O2 % 12.5 12.6 12.5 12.4 12.4 12.8 NO ppm 1800 1803 1924 2076 1977 1916

Fig. 4.1

Fig. 4.2

have shown no differences. To derive a conclusion, Fig.5 shows the peak cylinder pressure for all cylinders for cases 1, 2 and 4 from where it can be seen that the use of the additive causes in general a small increase of peak pressure in most cylinders for both percentages of fuel oil additive used, 0.3 %(No.3) and 0.1% (No.4). At this point it is required to be very careful since during the measurement procedure it is possible to have deviations that can effect the final conclusion. For this reason we always compare individual cylinder

pressure diagrams before and after the use of the additive before a safe conclusion is derived. Then, through Figs. 6.1-6.4, is given the comparison of cylinder pressure diagrams of some cylinders that were measured with 0%, 0.3% and 0.1% fuel oil additive to detect its effect on the combustion mechanism. Observing these figures, it is obvious that we have an acceleration of combustion around cylinder TDC which reveals the effect of the additive. This effect can explain the observed reduction of soot values and the slight improvement of specific fuel consumption. Mean cylinder peak pressure values To evaluate the general effect of the fuel oil additive on the peak cylinder pressure level, Table 5 gives the mean peak cylinder pressure value as estimated from the processing of measured data. As observed the use of the additive results in no significant increase of maximum pressure ex-

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that the additive causes. Heat release rate Figs. 7.1 and 7.2 give the heat release rate inside the combustion chamber for a load index of 38 without and with the use of the additive in percentages 0.3% and 0.1% for Cylinders No. 1 and 3. As observed, with the use of the additive the heat release rate is more intense at the first stages of combustion. This has a

positive effect on the produced work and the specific fuel consumption as already mentioned. Similar results are observed when using 0.1% of additive as well. The use of the lube oil additive does not effect combustion as expected. Effect of the additive on the injector quality of injection Processing the measured data with the diagnosis system, the injection quality of injectors is derived. Table 6 gives the mean condition of all injectors for all measurements conducted. Form this it is revealed that the use of the additive results in an improvement of injection quality which, as shown by Table 7, is straightforward, eliminating the possibility of computational error.

Fig. 5

cept for cylinders having lower injection timing, where combustion is accelerated due to the improvement of the fuel cetane number

Fig. 6.1

Fig. 6.3

Fig.6.2

Fig. 6.4

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Fuel oil additives

TABLE 5
Percentage of Fuel Oil Additive 0 0.3 0.3 0.1 0.3 0.1 Lube Oil Additive NO NO NO NO YES YES Mean Cylinder Peak Pressure 91.0 92.6 92.7 92.1 91.2 91.0

1 2 3 4 5 6

TABLE 6
Percentage of Fuel Oil Additive 0.0 0.3 0.3 0.1 0.3 0.1 Lube Oil Additive NO NO NO NO YES YES Mean Quality of Injection for All Injectors % 80.0 87.1 87.6 86.7 85.9 86.1

1 2 3 4 5 6

Study to define the effect of the lube oil additive

The evaluation of the fuel and lube oil additive was based on the processing of measured cylinder pressure data. From the cylinder pressure diagrams is derived the indicated power output of each cylinder and following this, using a mechanical efficiency, is converted to brake power on the engine shaft. The relations which are used for this process are quite accurate and the resulting

error for a specific engine is very small. This is certified from the analysis of engine shop and sea trials. Thus, when the fuel oil additive is evaluated there is no significant error, since any such error exists in both measurements i.e., without and with the additive. But, in the case of the lube oil additive this affects the frictional losses of the kinematics mechanism and not the combustion. This has, as a result, the fact that any effect on the spe-

cific fuel consumption cannot be detected through the cylinder pressure diagram. For this reason tests were conducted at the NTUA ICEL so that specific measurements could be made to determine the effect of the lube oil additive on engine frictional losses. A special engine was used, a Ricardo E-6 single cylinder test engine which is mounted to an electric brake which permits the estimation of mechanical losses. Also, for this reason two sets of measurements where conducted under running conditions to estimate the effect of the lube oil additive on frictional losses. Since, in this engine, mechanical losses are relatively high due to its robust nature and its small size, an effort was made to estimate the absolute value of friction reduction and to express this as a percentage of total power output of the engine at full load. In this manner it is possible to determine the effect of the additive on specific fuel consumption. It must be noted that the specific engine is in excellent mechanical condition. Before the measurement, the lube oil was replaced with another of the type SAE15-40 and then tests were conducted at rotational speeds of 500-2000 rpm at intervals of 250 rpm and the electric brake torque reading

Fig. 7.1

Fig.7.2

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Fuel oil additives

TABLE 7
No. Additive 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Mean power Increase % 500 750 1000 1250 1500 1750 2000 Engine Speed Torque Reading Ft-lb NO YES 4.65 4.65 5.30 5.60 6.15 6.70 7.05 4.15 4.45 4.80 5.10 5.65 6.05 6.50 Water Temp. C NO YES 55 55 55 55 54 54 54 55 55 54 54 54 54 53 Lube Oil Temp. C NO YES 61 61 62 61 61 61 61 61 61 63 61 61 61 61 Diff. In HP 0.07 0.05 0.15 0.18 0.21 0.33 0.29 Difference as % of Full Load +3.5% +3.5% +3.4% +4.2% +3.3% +3.6%

was stored. Measurements initiated when the temperature of the lube oil was steady at 60C and the cooling water temperature was at 55 C. This temperature was maintained steady with the use of coolers. The process was repeated when using the lube oil additive which was used at a percentage of 6%. It must be noted that the amount of engine lube oil is 9 lt. In the following Table 7 are given the readings of both tests. For the specific engine and based on its operation at 1000 rpm up to 2000 rpm it is observed using the lube oil additive an increase of power output in the order of 3.% which is straightforward and observed in all measurements. This results reveals that for the specific engine the use of the lube oil additive results in a decrease of specific fuel consumption in the order of 3.6% due to the reduction of frictional losses. At this point we must note that the specific engine is in very good condition so as not to have unmeasurable mechanical losses due to malfunction etc. The running under load method used is very accurate and reveals immediately the trend for reduction or not of mechanical losses since its a direct method of measuring their value.

Final results of the study

From the analysis of the previous results, the following conclusions can be reached about the effect of the

fuel and lube oil additives on the performance and pollutant emissions of the MAN4054 18V engine onboard the Aptera vessel. a) It is observed with the use of the fuel additive a reduction of specific fuel consumption in all cylinders that, where measured, is straightforward. The reduction for fuel oil additive percentage of 0.3% is in the order of 2.6% immediately after its first use. After using the product for 40 days the reduction reached a value of 3% and remained the same when the percentage of the additive was reduced to 0.1%. As far as the effect of the lube oil additive is concerned and due to the difficulties that have already been mentioned, we use the conclusions derived from the experimental investigation in the ICEL lab of NTUA on the prototype engine. Based on the test data on this engine it is expected a reduction of specific fuel consumption about 3.5% due to the effect of the additive. This reduction is solely due to the reduction of frictional losses. b) No considerable variation of gaseous pollutants was observed with the used of the fuel oil additive, as expected. On the contrary, it is important that no increase was observed especially in CO and NO as observed with many additives. c) There is a significant reduction of soot emissions when using the

fuel oil additive observed in all measurements. With the first use, after 8 hours there was observed a reduction of soot in the order of 50% and after 40 days using a percentage of 0.3% it was about 55%. The reduction of soot after this point with percentages of 0.3% and 0.1% of fuel additive was similar after using of course a higher percentage (0.3%) for a prolonged period. With the use of the lube oil additive it was observed a further reduction of soot that reached a value of 75% after using the product for 12 hours. The reduction was the same for both percentages of fuel oil additive 0.1 and 0.3%. Thus the combination of the two additives can result in a decrease of soot in the order of 75% on the specific engine. d) There is, due to the use of the fuel oil additive, an acceleration of combustion which is revealed by a slight increase in peak pressure (12 bar) in some cylinders and especially from the heat release rate. In general, the use of the additive does not result in a serious change of cylinder combustion pressure, especially in cylinders that have proper injection timing. From the present analysis, results show that the mean cylinder pressure in all cases was practically the same without and with the use of the additive.
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