Quantitative Evaluation of an On-Highway Trucking Fleet to Compare #2ULSD and B20 Fuels and their Impact on Overall Fleet Performance
2009
McKinley, Cody R. | Lumkes, John H. Jr
A study was performed on 20 Class-8 trucks paired by make, model, mileage, and drive cycles. Ten trucks were operated using #2 Ultra-Low Sulfur Diesel and 10 using a 20% soy methyl ester blend (B20). All trucks were equipped with data collection units that monitored engine information including fuel consumption, idle time, truck speed, engine load, and engine speed. Data collection occurred over a continuous span of 12 months. In addition to operating data, laboratory-based fuel and engine oil testing was performed to quantify the analytical differences between the two fuel types. Cetane number, energy content, density, kinematic viscosity, and lubricity was measured for both fuels and at every oil service interval engine oil samples were evaluated based on fuel dilution, soot content, wear metals, contaminant metals, viscosity, oxidation, and acid/base number. Operational and maintenance issues such as cold start reliability, fuel filter service intervals, and general engine maintenance was also analyzed for each fleet. Statistical analysis was performed to determine significant differences in the performance of engines on these #2ULSD and B20 fuels. At the conclusion of the study minimal differences were found with most comparisons, the exceptions primarily found in differences between the engine oil samples based on the two fuel types used in the study. These differences included viscosity, acid/base number, oxidation, and lead wear which indicated slightly higher oil degradation levels with B20 use.
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