Diesel Surrogate Fuels for Engine Testing and Chemical-Kinetic Modeling: Compositions and Properties

Published

January 7, 2016

Author(s)

Charles J. Mueller, William J. Cannella, J. Timothy Bays, Thomas J. Bruno, Kathy DeFabio, Heather Dettman, Rafal M. Gieleciak, Marcia L. Huber, Chol-Bum Kweon, Steven S. McConnell, William J. Pitz, Matthew A. Ratcliff

Abstract

The primary objectives of this work were to formulate, blend, and characterize a set of four ultra-low-sulfur diesel surrogate fuels in quantities sufficient to enable their study in single-cylinder engines and combustion-vessel experiments. The surrogate fuels feature increasing levels of compositional accuracy (i.e., increasing exactness in matching hydrocarbon structural characteristics) relative to the single target diesel fuel upon which the surrogate fuels are based. This approach was taken to assist in determining the minimum level of surrogate-fuel compositional accuracy that is required to adequately emulate the performance characteristics of the target fuel under different combustion modes. For each of the four surrogate fuels, an approximately 30-liter batch was blended, and a number of the physical and chemical properties were measured. This publication documents the surrogate fuel creation process and the results of the property measurements.

Citation

Energy & Fuels

Volume

30

Pub Type

Journals

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DOI Link

Keywords

advanced distillation curve, aftertreatment, cetane number, diesel, fuel characterization, nuclear magnetic resonance, regression model, surrogate fuel

Citation

Mueller, C. , Cannella, W. , Bays, J. , Bruno, T. , DeFabio, K. , Dettman, H. , Gieleciak, R. , Huber, M. , Kweon, C. , McConnell, S. , Pitz, W. and Ratcliff, M. (2016), Diesel Surrogate Fuels for Engine Testing and Chemical-Kinetic Modeling: Compositions and Properties, Energy & Fuels, [online], https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.energyfuels.5b02879 (Accessed October 17, 2025)