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Engine - Diesel

Posted November 1st, 2007 by SeaGeek

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Engine - Diesel

This is the HOW-TO Guide area for Diesel Engines

This area will grow as we all edit (YachtPals, edit any page by clicking the edit tab), and "add child pages" to the how-to guide.

A diesel engine is an internal combustion engine which operates using the Diesel cycle. Invented in 1892 by German engineer Rudolf Diesel, it was based on the hot bulb engine design and patent on February 23, 1893.

A diesel engine uses compression ignition, a process by which fuel is injected after the air is compressed in the combustion chamber causing the fuel to self ignite. By contrast, a gasoline engine utilizes the Otto cycle, in which fuel and air are mixed before entering the combustion chamber and then ignited by a spark plug.

-- How diesel engines work --

In mechanical terms, the internal construction of a diesel engine is similar to its gasoline counterpart—components such as pistons, connecting rods and a crankshaft are present in both. Like a gasoline engine, a diesel engine may operate on a four-stroke cycle (similar to the gasoline unit's Otto cycle), or a two-stroke cycle, albeit with significant dissimilarity to the gasoline equivalent. In both cases, the principal differences lie in the handling of air and fuel, and the method of ignition.

A diesel engine relies upon compression ignition to burn its fuel, instead of the spark plug used in a gasoline engine. If air is compressed to a high degree, its temperature will increase to a point where fuel will burn upon contact. This principle is used in both four-stroke and two-stroke diesel engines to produce power.

Unlike a gasoline engine, which draws an air/fuel mixture into the cylinder during the intake stroke, the diesel aspirates air alone. Following intake, the cylinder is sealed and the air charge is highly compressed to heat it to the temperature required for ignition. Whereas a gasoline engine's compression ratio is rarely greater than 11:1 to avoid damaging preignition, a diesel's compression ratio is usually between 16:1 and 25:1. This extremely high level of compression causes the air temperature to increase to 700 to 900 degrees Celsius (1300 to 1650 degrees Fahrenheit). If a piece of steel were to be heated to that level it would glow cherry red.

As the piston approaches top dead center (TDC), fuel oil is injected into the cylinder at high pressure, causing the fuel charge to be atomized. Owing to the high air temperature in the cylinder, ignition instantly occurs, causing a rapid and considerable increase in cylinder temperature and pressure (generating the characteristic Diesel "knock"). The piston is driven downward with great force, pushing on the connecting rod and turning the crankshaft.

When the piston nears bottom dead center the spent combustion gases are expelled from the cylinder to prepare for the next cycle. In many cases, the exhaust gases will be used to drive a turbocharger, which will increase the volume of the intake air charge, resulting in cleaner combustion and greater efficiency.

The above sequence generally describes how a diesel operates. However, there are striking differences between the four-stroke and two-stroke versions:

Four-Stroke
The cycle starts with the intake stroke, which begins when the piston is near top dead center. The intake valve is opened, creating a passage from the exterior of the engine (generally through an air filter assembly), through the intake port in the cylinder head and into the cylinder itself. As the piston moves toward bottom dead center, a partial vacuum develops, causing air to enter the cylinder. In the case of a turbocharged engine, the air is rammed into the cylinder at higher than atmospheric pressure. As the piston passes through bottom dead center, the intake valve closes, sealing the cylinder.

The compression stroke begins as the piston passes through bottom dead center and starts upward. Compression will continue until the piston approaches top dead center.

The power stroke occurs as the piston reaches top dead center at the end of the compression stroke. At this time, fuel injection occurs, resulting in combustion and the production of useful work.

The final stroke is the exhaust stroke, which begins as the piston approaches bottom dead center following ignition. The exhaust valve in the cylinder head is opened and as the piston starts upward, the spent combustion gases are forced out of the cylinder. Near top dead center the intake valve will start to open before the exhaust valve is fully closed, a condition referred to as valve overlap. Overlap produces a flow of cooling intake air over the exhaust valve, prolonging its life. Following the completion of the exhaust stroke the cycle will begin anew.

Two-Stroke
Intake begins when the piston is near bottom dead center. Air is admitted to the cylinder through ports in the cylinder wall (there are no intake valves). Since the piston is moving downward at this time, aspiration due to atmospheric pressure isn't possible. Therefore a mechanical blower or hybrid turbocharger (a turbocharger that is mechanically driven from the crankshaft at low engine speeds) is employed to charge the cylinder with air. In the early phase of intake, the air charge is also used to force out any remaining combustion gases from the previous power stroke, a process referred to as scavenging. As the piston passes through bottom dead center, the exhaust valves will be closed and, owing to the pressure generated by the blower or turbocharger, the cylinder will be filled with air. Once the piston starts upward, the air intake ports in the cylinder walls will be covered, sealing the cylinder. At this point, compression will commence. Note that exhaust and intake actually occur in one stroke, the period during which the piston is near the bottom of the cylinder.

As the piston rises, compression takes place and near top dead center, fuel injection will occur, resulting in combustion, driving the piston downward. As the piston moves downward in the cylinder it will reach a point where the exhaust valves will be opened to expell the combustion gases. Continued movement of the piston will expose the air intake ports in the cylinder wall, and the cycle will start anew. Note that the cylinder will fire on each revolution, as opposed to the four-stroke engine, in which the cylinder fires on every other revolution.

-- Cold Weather and Diesels --

In cold weather, diesel engines can be difficult to start because the mass of the cylinder block and cylinder head absorb the heat of compression, thus preventing ignition. Spark ignition engines undergo the same problem, though they have the added benefit of a spark plug to help cause ignition. The main reason diesel engines take a long time to warm up in cold weather is the lack of throttling. Spark ignition engines are throttled, so only the right amount of air comes in at a time. This is less efficient, but spark plugs only work near the stoichiometric mixture of fuel and air. Diesel engines accept a cylinder full of air and measure in the right amount of fuel. So each time the intake valve on a diesel opens, a full charge of cold air enters the cylinder. This cools the cylinder back down. The heat gained from each explosion therefore can only cause a gain in temperature that is much, much smaller than it would be in a spark ignition engine. Some engines use small electric heaters called glow plugs inside the cylinder to help ignite fuel when starting. Some even use resistive grid heaters in the intake manifold to warm the inlet air until the engine reaches operating temperature. Engine block heaters (electric resistive heaters in the engine block) connected to the utility grid are often used when an engine is turned off for extended periods (more than an hour) in cold weather to reduce startup time and engine wear.

Diesel fuel is also prone to "waxing" or "gelling" in cold weather, terms for the solidification of diesel oil into a partially crystalline state. The crystals build up in the fuel (especially in fuel filters), eventually starving the engine of fuel and causing it to stop running. Low-output electric heaters in fuel tanks and around fuel lines are used to solve this problem. Also, most engines have a "spill return" system, by which any excess fuel from the injector pump and injectors is returned to the fuel tank. Once the engine has warmed, returning warm fuel prevents waxing in the tank. Fuel technology has improved recently so that with special additives waxing no longer occurs in all but the coldest climates.

A vital component of all diesel engines is a mechanical or electronic governor, which limits the speed of the engine by controlling the rate of fuel delivery. Unlike Otto-cycle engines, incoming air is not throttled and a diesel engine without a governor can easily overspeed, resulting in its destruction. Mechanically governed fuel injection systems are driven by the engine's gear train. These systems use a combination of springs and weights to control fuel delivery relative to both load and speed. Modern, electronically controlled diesel engines control fuel delivery and limit the maximum RPM by use of an electronic control module (ECM) or electronic control unit (ECU). The ECM/ECU receives an engine speed signal, as well as other operating parameters such as intake manifold pressure and fuel temperature, from a sensor and controls the amount of fuel and start of injection timing through electric or hydraulic actuators to maximize power and efficiency and minimize emissions.

Controlling the timing of the start of injection of fuel into the cylinder is a key to minimizing emissions, and maximizing fuel economy (efficiency), of the engine. The timing is usually measured in units of crank angle of the piston before top dead center (TDC). For example, if the ECM/ECU initiates fuel injection when the piston is 10 degrees before TDC, the start of injection, or timing, is said to be 10° BTDC. Optimal timing will depend on the engine design as well as its speed and load.

Advancing the start of injection (injecting before the piston reaches TDC) results in higher in-cylinder pressure and temperature, and higher efficiency, but also results in elevated engine noise and increased oxides of nitrogen (NOx) emissions due to higher combustion temperatures. On the other hand, delayed start of injection causes incomplete combustion, reduced fuel efficiency and an increase in black exhaust smoke, containing a considerable amount of particulate matter (PM) and unburned hydrocarbons (HC).

-- Modern diesel engines --

As with gasoline engines, there are two classes of diesel engines in current use: two-stroke and four-stroke. The four-stoke type is the "classic" version, tracing its lineage back to Rudolf Diesel's prototype. It is also the most commonly used form, being the preferred power source for many motor vehicles, especially buses and trucks. Much larger engines, such as used for railroad locomotion and marine propulsion, are often two-stroke units, offering a more favorable horsepower-to-weight ratio, as well as better fuel economy. The most powerful engines in the world are two-cycle diesels of mammoth proportions. These so-called low speed diesels are able to achieve thermal efficiencies approaching fifty percent.

Two-stroke diesel operation is similar to that of gasoline counterparts, except that fuel is not mixed with air prior to induction, and the crankcase does not take an active role in the cycle. The traditional two-stroke design relies upon a mechanically driven positive displacement blower to charge the cylinders with air prior to compression and ignition. The charging process also assists in expelling (scavenging) combustion gases remaining from the previous power stroke. The archetype of this design is the Detroit Diesel engine, in which the blower pressurizes a chamber in the engine block that is often referred to as the "air box." The (much larger) Electromotive prime mover utilized in EMD Diesel-electric locomotives is built to the same principle.

In a two-stroke diesel engine, as the cylinder's piston approaches bottom dead center a passage between the air box and the cylinder is opened, permitting air flow into the cylinder. During this time, the exhaust valves are opened and some of the air flow forces the remaining combustion gasses from the cylinder—this is the scavenging process. As the piston passes through bottom center and starts upward, the passage is closed and compression commences, culminating in fuel injection and ignition. Refer to two-stroke Diesel engines for more discussion concerning aspiration issues with a two-stroke engine.

Normally, the number of cylinders are used in multiples of two, although any number of cylinders can be used as long as the load on the crankshaft is counterbalanced to prevent excessive vibration. The inline-six cylinder design is the most prolific in light to medium-duty engines, though small V8 and larger inline-four displacement engines are also common. Small-capacity engines (generally considered to be those below five litres in capacity) are generally four or six cylinder types, with the four cylinder being the most common type found in automotive uses. Five cylinder diesel engines have also been produced, being a compromise between the smooth running of the six cylinder and the space-efficient dimensions of the four cylinder. Diesel engines for smaller plant machinery, boats, tractors, generators and pumps may be four, three or two cylinder types, with the single cylinder diesel engine remaining for light stationary work.

The desire to improve the diesel engine's power-to-weight ratio produced several novel cylinder arrangements to extract more power from a given capacity. The Napier Deltic engine, with three cylinders arranged in a triangular formation, each containing two opposed-action pistons, the whole engine having three crankshafts, is one of the better known. The Commer van company of the United Kingdom used a similar design for road vehicles, designed by Tillings-Stevens, member of the Rootes Group,the TS3. The Commer TS3 engine had 3 horizontal in-line cylinders,each with two opposed action pistons that worked through rocker arms,to connecting rods and had one crankshaft. While both these designs succeeded in producing greater power for a given capacity, they were complex and expensive to produce and operate, and when turbocharger technology improved in the 1960s, this was found to be a much more reliable and simple way of extracting more power.

As a footnote, prior to 1949, Sulzer started experimenting with two-stroke engines with boost pressures as high as 6 atmospheres, in which all of the output power was taken from an exhaust turbine. The two-stroke pistons directly drove air compressor pistons to make a positive displacement gas generator. Opposed pistons were connected by linkages instead of crankshafts. Several of these units could be connected together to provide power gas to one large output turbine. The overall thermal efficiency was roughly twice that of a simple gas turbine.

-- Advantages and disadvantages versus spark-ignition engines --

- Power and fuel economy

Diesel engines are more efficient than gasoline (petrol) engines of the same power, resulting in lower fuel consumption. A common margin is 40% more miles per gallon for an efficient turbodiesel. For example, the current model Škoda Octavia, using Volkswagen Group engines, has a combined Euro rating of 38 miles per US gallon (6.2 L/100 km) for the 102 bhp (76 kW) petrol engine and 54 mpg (4.4 L/100 km) for the 105 bhp (78 kW) diesel engine. However, such a comparison doesn't take into account that diesel fuel is denser and contains about 15% more energy by volume. Although the calorific value of the fuel is slightly lower at 45.3 MJ/kg (megajoules per kilogram) than gasoline at 45.8 MJ/kg, liquid diesel fuel is significantly denser than liquid gasoline. When this is taken into account, diesel fuel has a higher energy density than petrol; this volumetric measure is the main concern of many people,[attribution needed] as diesel fuel is sold by volume, not weight, and must be transported and stored in tanks of fixed size.

Adjusting the numbers to account for the energy density of diesel fuel, one finds the overall energy efficiency of the aforementioned paragraph is still about 20% greater for the diesel version, despite the weight penalty of the diesel engine. When comparing engines of relatively low power for the vehicle's weight (such as the 75 hp VW Golf), the diesel's overall energy efficiency advantage is reduced further but still between 10 and 15 percent.

While higher compression ratio is helpful in raising efficiency, diesel engines are much more economical than gasoline (petrol) engines when at low power and at engine idle. Unlike the petrol engine, diesels lack a butterfly valve (throttle) in the inlet system, which closes at idle. This creates parasitic drag on the incoming air, reducing the efficiency of petrol/gasoline engines at idle. Due to their lower heat losses, diesel engines have a lower risk of gradually overheating if left idling for long periods of time. In many applications, such as marine, agriculture, and railways, diesels are left idling unattended for many hours or sometimes days. These advantages are especially attractive in locomotives (see dieselization).

Naturally aspirated diesel engines are heavier than gasoline engines of the same power for two reasons. The first is that it takes a larger displacement diesel engine to produce the same power as a gasoline engine. This is essentially because the diesel must operate at lower engine speeds.[5] Diesel fuel is injected just before ignition, leaving the fuel little time to reach all the oxygen in the cylinder. In the gasoline engine, air and fuel are mixed for the entire compression stroke, ensuring complete mixing even at higher engine speeds. The second reason for the greater weight of a diesel engine is it must be stronger to withstand the higher combustion pressures needed for ignition, and the shock loading from the detonation of the ignition mixture. As a result, the reciprocating mass (the piston and connecting rod), and the resultant forces to accelerate and to decelerate these masses, are substantially higher the heavier, the bigger and the stronger the part, and the laws of diminishing returns of component strength, mass of component and inertia — all come into play to create a balance of offsets, of optimal mean power output, weight and durability.

Yet it is this same build quality that has allowed some enthusiasts to acquire significant power increases with turbocharged engines through fairly simple and inexpensive modifications. A gasoline engine of similar size cannot put out a comparable power increase without extensive alterations because the stock components would not be able to withstand the higher stresses placed upon them. Since a diesel engine is already built to withstand higher levels of stress, it makes an ideal candidate for performance tuning with little expense. However, it should be said that any modification that raises the amount of fuel and air put through a diesel engine will increase its operating temperature which will reduce its life and increase service requirements. These are issues with newer, lighter, high performance diesel engines which aren't "overbuilt" to the degree of older engines and are being pushed to provide greater power in smaller engines.

The addition of a turbocharger or supercharger to the engine greatly assists in increasing fuel economy and power output, mitigating the fuel-air intake speed limit mentioned above for a given engine displacement. Boost pressures can be higher on diesels than gasoline engines, due to the latter's susceptibility to knock, and the higher compression ratio allows a diesel engine to be more efficient than a comparable spark ignition engine. Because the burned gases are expanded further in a diesel engine cylinder, the exhaust gas is cooler, meaning turbochargers require less cooling, and can be more reliable, than on spark-ignition engines.

The increased fuel economy of the diesel engine over the gasoline engine means that the diesel produces less carbon dioxide (CO2) per unit distance. Recently, advances in production and changes in the political climate have increased the availability and awareness of biodiesel, an alternative to petroleum-derived diesel fuel with a much lower net-sum emission of CO2, due to the absorption of CO2 by plants used to produce the fuel.

The two main factors that held diesel engine back in private vehicles until quite recently were their low power outputs and high noise levels, characterised by knock or clatter, especially at low speeds and when cold. This noise was caused by the sudden ignition of the diesel fuel when injected into the combustion chamber. This noise was a product of the sudden temperature change, hence it was more pronounced at low engine temperatures. A combination of improved mechanical technology (such as two-stage injectors which fire a short "pilot charge" of fuel into the cylinder to warm the combustion chamber before delivering the main fuel charge) and electronic control (which can adjust the timing and length of the injection process to optimise it for all speeds and temperatures) have partially mitigated these problems in the latest generation of common-rail designs. Poor power and narrow torque bands have been helped by the use of turbochargers and intercoolers.

- Emissions

Diesel engines produce very little carbon monoxide as they burn the fuel in excess air even at full load, at which point the quantity of fuel injected per cycle is still about 50% lean of stoichiometric. However, they can produce black soot (or more specifically diesel particulate matter) from their exhaust, which consists of unburned carbon compounds. This is often caused by worn injectors, which do not atomize the fuel sufficiently, or a faulty engine management system, allowing more fuel to be injected than can be burned completely in the available time.

The full load limit of a diesel engine in normal service is defined by the "black smoke limit", beyond which point the fuel cannot be completely combusted; as the "black smoke limit" is still considerably lean of stoichiometric it is possible to obtain more power by exceeding it, but the resultant inefficient combustion means that the extra power comes at the price of reduced combustion efficiency, high fuel consumption and dense clouds of smoke, so this is only done in specialised applications (such as tractor pulling) where these disadvantages are of little concern.

Likewise, when starting from cold, the engine's combustion efficiency is reduced because the cold engine block draws heat out of the cylinder in the compression stroke. The result is that fuel is not combusted fully, resulting in blue/white smoke and lower power outputs until the engine has warmed through. This is especially the case with indirect injection engines, which are less thermally efficient. With electronic injection, the timing and length of the injection sequence can be altered to compensate for this. Older engines with mechanical injection can have manual control to alter the timing, or multi-phase electronically-controlled glow plugs, that stay on for a period after start-up to ensure clean combustion — the plugs are automatically switched to a lower power to prevent them burning out.

Particles of the size normally called PM10 (particles of 10 micrometres or smaller) have been implicated in health problems, especially in cities. Some modern diesel engines feature diesel particulate filters, which catch the black soot and when saturated are automatically regenerated by burning the particles. Other problems associated with the exhaust gases (nitrogen oxides, sulfur oxides) can be mitigated with further investment and equipment; some diesel cars now have catalytic converters in the exhaust.

- Power and torque

For commercial uses requiring towing, load carrying and other tractive tasks, diesel engines tend to have better torque characteristics. Diesel engines tend to have their torque peak quite low in their speed range (usually between 1600 – 2000 RPM for a small-capacity unit, lower for a larger engine used in a truck). This provides smoother control over heavy loads when starting from rest, and, crucially, allows the diesel engine to be given higher loads at low speeds than a petrol engine, making them much more economical for these applications. This characteristic is not so desirable in private cars, so most modern diesels used in such vehicles use electronic control, variable geometry turbochargers and shorter piston strokes to achieve a wider spread of torque over the engine's speed range, typically peaking at around 2500 – 3000 RPM.

- Reliability

The lack of an electrical ignition system greatly improves the reliability. The high durability of a diesel engine is also due to its overbuilt nature (see above) as well as the diesel's combustion cycle, which creates less-violent changes in pressure when compared to a spark-ignition engine, a benefit that is magnified by the lower rotating speeds in diesels. Diesel fuel is a better lubricant than gasoline so is less harmful to the oil film on piston rings and cylinder bores; it is routine for diesel engines to cover 250,000 miles (400 000 km) or more without a rebuild.

Unfortunately, due to the greater compression force required and the increased weight of the stronger components, starting a diesel engine is a harder task. More torque is required to push the engine through compression.

Either an electrical starter or an air start system is used to start the engine turning. On large engines, pre-lubrication and slow turning of an engine, as well as heating, are required to minimize the amount of engine damage during initial start-up and running. Some smaller military diesels can be started with an explosive cartridge, called a Coffman starter, which provides the extra power required to get the machine turning. In the past, Caterpillar and John Deere used a small gasoline pony motor in their tractors to start the primary diesel motor. The pony motor heated the diesel to aid in ignition and utilized a small clutch and transmission to actually spin up the diesel engine. Even more unusual was an International Harvester design in which the diesel motor had its own carburetor and ignition system, and started on gasoline. Once warmed up, the operator moved two levers to switch the motor to diesel operation, and work could begin. These engines had very complex cylinder heads, with their own gasoline combustion chambers, and in general were vulnerable to expensive damage if special care was not taken (especially in letting the engine cool before turning it off).

As mentioned above, diesel engines tend to have more torque at lower engine speeds than gasoline engines. However, diesel engines tend to have a narrower power band than gasoline engines. Naturally-aspirated diesels tend to lack power and torque at the top of their speed range. This narrow band is a reason why a vehicle such as a truck may have a gearbox with as many as 16 or more gears, to allow the engine's power to be used effectively at all speeds. Turbochargers tend to improve power at high engine speeds, superchargers do the same at lower speeds, and variable geometry turbochargers improve the engine's performance equally (or make the torque curve flatter).

- Quality and variety of fuels

Petrol/gasoline engines are limited in the variety and quality of the fuels they can burn. Older petrol engines fitted with a carburetor required a volatile fuel that would vaporize easily to create the necessary fuel/air mix for combustion. Because both air and fuel are admitted to the cylinder, if the compression ratio of the engine is too high or the fuel too volatile (with too low an octane rating), the fuel will ignite under compression, as in a diesel engine, before the piston reaches the top of its stroke. This pre-ignition causes a power loss and over time major damage to the piston and cylinder. The need for a fuel that is volatile enough to vaporize but not too volatile (to avoid pre-ignition) means that petrol engines will only run on a narrow range of fuels. There has been some success at dual-fuel engines that use gasoline/ethanol, gasoline/propane, and gasoline/methane.

In diesel engines, a mechanical injector system vaporizes the fuel (instead of a Venturi jet in a carburetor as in a petrol engine). This forced vaporisation means that less volatile fuels can be used. More crucially, because only air is inducted into the cylinder in a diesel engine, the compression ratio can be much higher as there is no risk of pre-ignition provided the injection process is accurately timed. This means that cylinder temperatures are much higher in a diesel engine than a petrol engine allowing less combustible fuels to be used.

Diesel fuel is a form of light fuel oil, very similar to kerosene, but diesel engines, especially older or simple designs that lack precision electronic injection systems, can run on a wide variety of other fuels. One of the most common alternatives is vegetable oil from a very wide variety of plants. Some engines can be run on vegetable oil without modification, and most others require fairly basic alterations. Biodiesel is a pure diesel-like fuel refined from vegetable oil and can be used in nearly all diesel engines. The only limits on the fuels used in diesel engines are the ability of the fuel to flow along the fuel lines and the ability of the fuel to lubricate the injector pump and injectors adequately. In general terms, inline mechanical injector pumps tolerate poor-quality or bio-fuels better than distributor-type pumps. Also, indirect injection engines generally run more satisfactorily on bio-fuels than direct injection engines. This is partly because an indirect injection engine has a much greater 'swirl' effect, improving vaporisation and combustion of fuel, and also because (in the case of vegetable oil-type fuels) lipid depositions can condense on the cylinder walls of a direct-injection engine if combustion temperatures are too low (such as starting the engine from cold).

A related historical note: at the request of the French Government the Otto company demonstrated a diesel engine at the 1900 Exposition Universelle (World's Fair) which used peanut oil (see biodiesel). The French government were at the time exploring the possibility of using peanut oil as a locally produced fuel in their African colonies. Diesel himself later tested extensively the use of plant oils in his engine and began to actively promote the use of these fuels.

Most large marine diesels (often called cathedral engines due to their size) run on heavy fuel oil (sometimes called "bunker oil"), which is a thick, viscous and almost un-flammable fuel which is very safe to store and cheap to buy in bulk as it is a waste product from the petroleum refining industry. The fuel must be heated to thin it out (often by the exhaust header) and is often passed through multiple injection stages to vaporize it.

Rudolf Diesel experimented with the use of coal dust as a fuel.

-- Fuel and fluid characteristics --

Diesel engines can operate on a variety of different fuels, depending on configuration, though the eponymous diesel fuel derived from crude oil is most common. Good-quality diesel fuel can be synthesised from vegetable oil and alcohol. Biodiesel is growing in popularity since it can frequently be used in unmodified engines, though production remains limited. Recently, Biodiesel from coconut which can produce a very promising coco methyl esther (CME) has characteristics which enhances lubricity and combustion giving a regular diesel engine without any modification more power, less particulate matter or black smoke and smoother engine performance. The Philippines pioneers in the research on Coconut based CME with the help of German and American scientists. Petroleum-derived diesel is often called petrodiesel if there is need to distinguish the source of the fuel.

Pure plant oils are increasingly being used as a fuel for cars, trucks and remote combined heat and power generation especially in Germany where hundreds of decentralised small and medium sized oil presses cold press oilseed, mainly rapeseed, for fuel. There is a Deutsches Institut für Normung fuel standard for rapeseed oil fuel.

The engines can work with the full spectrum of crude oil distillates, from compressed natural gas, alcohols, gasoline, to the fuel oils from diesel oil to residual fuels. The type of fuel used is a combination of service requirements, and fuel costs.

Residual fuels are the "dregs" of the distillation process and are a thicker, heavier oil, or oil with higher viscosity, which are so thick that they are not readily pumpable unless heated. Residual fuel oils are cheaper than clean, refined diesel oil, although they are dirtier. Their main considerations are for use in ships and very large generation sets, due to the cost of the large volume of fuel consumed, frequently amounting to many tonnes per hour. The poorly refined biofuels straight vegetable oil (SVO) and waste vegetable oil (WVO) can fall into this category. Moving beyond that, use of low-grade fuels can lead to serious maintenance problems. Most diesel engines that power ships like supertankers are built so that the engine can safely use low grade fuels.

Normal diesel fuel is more difficult to ignite than gasoline because of its higher flash point, but once burning, a diesel fire can be fierce. [from wikipedia]

External links to sites with diesel engine information:

Reference books about diesel engines: