Impact of Biofuel on the Environmental and Economic Performance of Marine Diesel Engines

Abstract

The results of the research work on biofuel’s impact on the environmental and economic performance of marine diesel engines are presented. During the research, a fuel mixture was used that consisted of the diesel fuel RMA10 and FAME biofuel. The objective of the research was to determine the optimal concentration of biofuel mixed with diesel fuel. The research work was carried out on three of the same type of marine medium-speed diesel engine, 6N165LW Yanmar. One of the diesel engines only operated on diesel fuel, and the other two operated on a mixture of diesel fuel and 5–20% biofuel. During the experiment, the diesel engines operated at a load of 50–80% of the rated value. Experimentally, it was found that using biofuel improved the environmental friendliness of diesel engines: the emission of nitrogen oxides in exhaust gases was reduced by 8.7–23.4%, and the emission of carbon oxides in exhaust gases was reduced by 3.1–24%. However, when using biofuel, the economic efficiency of diesel operation decreased as the specific effective fuel consumption increased by 0.5–9.3%. The highest environmental efficiency was achieved when using a fuel mixture that included 10–15% biofuel in an 80% diesel load. In this case, the emission of nitrogen oxides was reduced by 21–23.5%, the emission of carbon oxides was reduced by 16.5–19.2%, and the magnification of the specific useful consumption of the diesel engine was 1–1.55%.

Keywords

• marine diesel
• marine fuel
• alternative fuels
• biofuel
• environmental performance
• economic performance