Performance of a Diesel Engine with Ethyl Levulinate- Diesel Blends: A Study using Grey Relational Analysis

The combustion and emission characteristics of ethyl levulinate (EL)– diesel blended fuels were investigated using engine bench tests. Blended fuels properties, including the kinematic viscosity (KV), density, EL proportions, oxygen content, cetane number (CN), and lower heating value (LHV) were considered. The combustion and emission characteristics of brake-specific fuel consumption (BSFC), as well as hydrocarbon (HC), nitrogen oxide (NOx), carbon monoxide (CO), and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, as well as smoke opacity, were tested. The relationship between the blended fuel properties and the combustion–emission characteristics were analyzed using grey relational analysis (GRA). The correlation degree between the fuel properties and the combustion–emission results indicated that the BSFC was influenced most by the density of the blended fuels. NOx, CO, and CO2 emissions were influenced most by the oxygen content. The KV was the most influential parameter for HC emissions and the opacity of the blended fuels. The oxygen content was the foremost influential parameter. The results show that GRA could be used to increase the comprehensiveness of combustion–emission blended-fuel studies, by providing a reference for the reasonable use of biofuel-diesel mixtures.