(673h) Kinetic Model Development for the Combustion of Diesel Particulate Matter From Conventional and Soy Methyl Ester Diesel Fuels

Compression ignition (CI) diesel engines have long been commonly used in heavy duty transportation and off road applications, but have recently been gaining purchase in the light duty passenger market due to superior efficiency, durability and reliability compared to their gasoline counterparts. Broader use of diesels is limited by exhaust emissions, particularly NOx and particulate matter (PM). Diesel Particulate Filters (DPFs) have been implemented in vehicles since 1999, to eliminate particulate emissions, however the control of these devices remains a major challenge due to the broad variations in soot oxidation mechanisms. With global petroleum demand and political pressures with respect to greenhouse gas emissions continually increasing, interest in alternative fuels, particularly renewable biofuels, is growing. The impact of biofuels on combustion and emissions is currently a hot topic of study. Particularly, the impact of biodiesel and biodiesel blending on soot oxidation kinetics is of interest as it strongly impacts the behavior of the DPF. In this work, several complementary experimental techniques were employed to investigate the differences between soots derived from conventional ULSD and biodiesel in order to understand their oxidation kinetics and a kinetic model has been developed for determining the rate of consumption and for ULSD and biodiesel soots during oxidation at diesel exhaust relevant temperatures.