Advances in Biological Chemistry, 2011, 1, 119-121
doi:10.4236/abc.2011.13014 Published Online November 2011 (http://www.SciRP.org/journal/abc/
ABC
).
Published Online November 2011 in SciRes. http://www.scirp.org/journal/ABC
Exhaust emission characteristics of diesel and biodiesel
Yongmei Zhang1, Hongjun You2
1Liaoning Shihua University, Fushun, China;
2SAIT Polytechnic, Calgary, Canada.
Received 20 June 2011; revised 6 September 2011; accepted 18 September 2011.
ABSTRACT
The performances of diesel contrasted with that of
biodiesel, such as HC and CO and NOx and fume and
particles discharge, are studied on. The contents of
HC, CO, NOx and flue gas are measured by Japan
163 Gas Chromatograph, USA 48 CO Analyser, Ja-
pan MEXA-7200H and FBY-201 flue gas analyzer,
respectively. The experimental results shows HC dis-
charge of biodiesel B20 decreases with the increase of
rate of revolution; NOx discharge of biodiesel B5 and
biodiesel B20 increase with the increase of torque;
NOx discharge increases with the increase of adding
biodiesel at the same torque; Flue gas discharge of
biodiesel B5 and biodiesel B20 firstly increase and
then decrease with the increase of torque; Particle
discharge decreases with the increase of the amount
of biodiesel.
Keywords: Biodiesel; Diesel; HC and CO; Discharge
Performance; Pollutants
1. INTRODUCTION
Biodiesel is the alkyl esters of long chain fatty acids and
a transportation fuel that has gradually grown in popu-
larity over the past decade. With the decreasing reserves
of fossil fuels, it is now more important than ever to find
transportation fuels that can serve as alternatives to
crude oil-based fuels such as gasoline and diesel fuel.
Common sources for biodiesel’s feedstock include soy-
bean oil [1], algal oil, higuereta oil [2], canola oil, vege-
table oils [3], palm oil, corn oil [4], rapeseed oil [5],
Brassica carinata oil [6], trap grease [7], yellow horn oil
[8]. Lately there has been growing controversy about the
use of potential food sources for the production of fuel.
In attempt to address these concerns, researchers have
turned their focus from the popular feedstock and are
currently investigating the use of alternative feedstock
such as beef fat from beef plant.
The objective of this work was to study on the dis-
charge performance of biodiesel and diesel, such as HC
and CO and NOx and flue gas and particles. And the ex-
perimental results of biodiesel are compared with that of
diesel. The experimental results can prove that biodiesel
has more competitive in price and environmental protec-
tion with diesel fuel.
2. EXPERIMENT
Feedstock
Diesel was obtained from Fushun Petrochemical Com-
pany. Biodiesel was produced from palm oil with Assis-
tant of CaO-La2O3. Properties of diesel and biodiesel are
shown in Table 1 and Table 2, respectively.
3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
3.1 CO and HC Discharge
Experimental results of CO discharge at the different rate
of revolution (1000 r/min, 1500 r/min and 2000 r/min)
Table 1. Properties of diesel.
Project Diesel
Oxidation stability mg 100 mL–1 0.1
Acidity mg KOH 100 mL–1 4.97
10% remain coke % 0.01
Copper corrosion 1
Kinematic viscosity (20˚C) mm2·s–1 3.541
Freezing point ˚C –37
Flash point ˚C 54
Cetane number 57
Table 2. Properties of biodiesel.
Project Biodiesel
Density (20˚C) kg·m–3 894.7
Flash point ˚C 121
Sulfur content % 0.0004
Copper corrosion 1
Cetane number 50.1

Y. M. Zhang et al. / Advances in Biological Chemistry 1 (2011) 119-121 120
are listed in Ta bl e 3 . CO discharge of blank diesel has
no change with the increase of rate of revolution. CO
discharge of biodiesel B5 decreases with the increase of
rate of revolution. But CO discharge of biodiesel B20
increases with the increase of rate of revolution. CO
discharge decreases with the increase of adding biodiesel
at the same rate of revolution.
The cylinder’s temperature and the content of oxygen
in the cylinder have a main effect on the burning degree
of fuel. The content of CO shows if the burning degree
of fuel is good or bad. When fuel is burnt, the content of
oxygen determines to produce the amount of CO due to
the high cylinder’s temperature. Diesel doesn’t almost
consist of oxygen element, while biodiesel includes a
little bit of oxygen element, so diesel requires more
oxygen and discharges more CO than that of biodiesel.
Experimental results of HC discharge at the different
rate of revolution are listed in Tab le 4 . HC discharge of
blank diesel and biodiesel B20 decreases with the in-
crease of rate of revolution. But HC discharge of blank
diesel firstly increase and then decreases with the in-
crease of rate of revolution and has a maximum 5. HC
discharge increases with the increase of adding biodiesel
at the same rate of revolution.
Compound fuels (B5 and B20) have very low HC
discharge because biodiesel has low content of aromatics
and a little bit of oxygen element and high cetane num-
ber, so HC discharge is very low.
3.2. NOx Discharge
Experimental results of NOx discharge at 1000 r/min are
shown in Table 5. NOx discharge of blank diesel and
biodiesel B5 and biodiesel B20 increase with the in-
crease of torque. NOx Discharge increases with the in-
crease of adding biodiesel at the same torque. When
biodiesel is added into diesel, it means more oxygen
element is added into diesel, so NOx discharge gradually
increases.
3.3. Flue Gas Discharge
Experimental results of flue gas discharge at 1000 r/min
are shown in Table 6. Flue gas discharge of blank diesel
and biodiesel DB5 and biodiesel DB20 firstly increase
and then decrease with the increase of torque and have
maximum. Flue gas discharge decreases with the in-
crease of amount of biodiesel at the same torque. Flue
gas decreases because C/H of biodiesel is lower than that
of diesel and density of biodiesel is more than that of
diesel.
3.4. Particle Discharge
Experimental results of particle discharge at 1000 r/min
are shown in Table 7 . Particle discharge obviously de-
creases with the increase of adding biodiesel. Particle
discharge of B5 and B20 decrease 8.2% and 13.3%, re-
spectively. Fuel is burnt to discharge particle due to high
temperature and no oxygen and crack reaction. Com-
pound fuels (B5 and B20) have low content of aromatics
to produce less particle and high cetane number to de-
crease the burning period and the burning retention, so it
prevents more particle producing.
Table 3. Results of CO discharge.
Rate of revolution
r/min 1000 1500 2000
Torque Nm 300 300 300
CO discharge %
Blank diesel (B0)0.01 0.01 0.01
Biodiesel (B5) 0.01 0.01 0.008
Biodiesel (B20) 0.006 0.007 0.008
Table 4. Results of HC discharge.
Rate of revolution
r/min 1000 1500 2000
Torque Nm 300 300 300
HC discharge ugg–1
Blank diesel (B0)18 14 12
Biodiesel (B5) 6 7 4
Biodiesel (B20) 9 8 7
Table 5. Effect of different torque on NOx discharge (ugg–1) at
1000 r/min.
100 Nm150 Nm 200 Nm250Nm
Blank diesel (B0)875 1345 2051 2178
Biodiesel (B5) 891 1357 2067 2207
Biodiesel (B20) 886 1506 2178 2298
Table 6. Effect of different torque on flue gas discharge (%) at
1000 r/min.
100 Nm150 Nm 200 Nm250 Nm
Blank diesel (B0)0.78 1.18 1.08 1.04
Biodiesel (B5) 0.77 1.10 0.98 0.94
Biodiesel (B20) 0.60 0.82 0.48 0.40
Table 7. Particles discharge.
Project Results
Rate of revolution r/min 1000
Torque Nm 300
Dilution PM/mgh–1
Blank diesel (B0) 6.67
Biodiesel (B5) 6.12
Biodiesel (B20) 5.78
C
opyright © 2011 SciRes. ABC

Y. M. Zhang et al. / Advances in Biological Chemistry 1 (2011) 119-121 121
4. CONLUSION
Biodiesel discharge performance, such as HC and CO
and NOx and flue gas and particles discharge, is re-
searched. The experimental results are as follow:
ABC
1) Adding biodiesel is benefit to decrease pollutants in
the environment.
2) CO discharge decreases with the increase of adding
biodiesel at the same rate of revolution and HC dis-
charge increases with the increase of adding biodiesel at
the same rate of revolution.
3) NOx discharge of blank diesel and biodiesel B5 and
biodiesel B20 increase with the increase of torque. NOx
Discharge increases with the increase of adding bio-
diesel at the same torque.
4) Flue gas discharge of blank diesel and biodiesel B5
and biodiesel B20 firstly increase and then decrease with
the increase of torque and have maximum. Flue gas
Discharge decreases with the increase of amount of bio-
diesel at the same torque.
5) Particle discharge decreases with the increase of
adding biodiesel.
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