Particle emissions of a heavy-duty engine fueled with polyoxymethylene dimethyl ethers (OME)

Abstract

Polyoxymethylene dimethyl ethers (OME) are promising substitutes for fossil diesel fuel. Besides the possibility of closing the carbon cycle, OME also feature soot-free combustion. Although this has been demonstrated sufficiently, nanoparticle emission in OME exhaust is mainly unknown. Many studies provide information about the particle size distribution (PSD) in the exhaust of OME-fueled diesel engines, but lack a distinction between solid particles and particles of a volatile nature. This distinction is necessary in order to evaluate the potential of OME regarding Euro VI and the Euro VII exhaust gas legislation being discussed. This study investigates the PSD of fossil diesel and the OME exhaust of a heavy-duty engine with and without removal of the volatile fraction via a catalytic stripper, by means of a purpose-built sampling system based on proposals from the Particle Measurement Programme (PMP). The experiments showed that most of the nuclei mode investigated in OME operation is of a volatile nature and that the solid particle number (PN) emission is below that of Euro VI diesel operation. Moreover, the results indicate that a state-of-the-art aftertreatment system removes most of the particle emission, regardless of whether it is volatile or solid. Selective catalytic reduction using aqueous urea dosing increases solid particle emission, especially in the sub-23 nm range. However, a PMP-conformant measurement of PN₂₃ and PN₁₀ during WHSC and WHTC runs demonstrated that the PN emission of an OME-fueled engine falls below the average immission level of urban and regional background in Germany.