Utilisation of Ethyl Levulinate as Diesel Fuel Additive

The world is going through a radical phase of energy conversion, due to both environmental and socio-economic factors, which will lead to a progressive transition from fossil to renewable energy sources. As regards the light land transport sector (cars), the abandonment of propulsion systems based on the use of internal combustion engines (ICEs) in favour of electrification seems the preferred solution. On the contrary, for heavy land (trucks and trains), marine and air transport sectors the path to follow is not yet clear. A possible alternative to fossil fuels is certainly represented by bio-fuels, which should allow a drastic reduction of CO2 emissions and, to a lesser extent, of CO and particulate matter. The use of bio-fuels does not involve a drastic change in the systems of distribution and use of energy, as the existing infrastructures can remain unchanged. In particular, second generation bio-fuels (obtained from non-food matrices) are attracting more and more attention and, among these ones, oxygenated alcohols obtained from residual lignocellulosic biomasses appear extremely promising for the use in diesel engine. The present study analyses the utilisation of ethyl levulinate (EL), a versatile second generation bio-fuel that can be used in Diesel/gasoline engines. EL can be conveniently obtained from the sustainable one-pot acid-catalyzed conversion of waste lignocellulosic feedstocks, employing bioethanol as the solvent/reagent. EL has been tested in a small DI Diesel engine, blended up to 25% by volume with a commercial Diesel fuel, without significative changes in engine performance, moderately increasing NOx and HC emissions but significantly lowering soot and CO emissions by more than 50%.