This study describes the effects of canola oil biodiesel (BD) blended fuel on the combustion performance and emission characteristics in a 4-cylinder common-rail direct injection diesel engine. In this study, with the increasing of engine loads, the biodiesel blend fuels(100 vol.% ULSD and 0 vol.% biodiesel blend, BD0; 80 vol.% ULSD and 20 vol.% biodiesel blend, BD20; 0 vol.% ULSD and 100 vol.% biodiesel blend, BD100; ULSD: ultra low sulfur diesel) were used at an engine speed of 1,500rpm. The experimental results showed that with the increasing of biodiesel blend rate, the combustion pressure decreased slightly at engine load of 20~60Nm. However, the rate of heat release (ROHR) increased clearly and ignition delay time was shortened. With the increasing of biodiesel blend rate, the carbon monoxide (CO) and particulate matter (PM) emissions were more decreased at all of the engine loads.

This study was performed to investigate the effect of fuel combustion enhancing apparatus(FCEA) for ionization of intaking air into cylinder combustion chamber on the combustion performance and emissions characteristics in a 4-cylinder common-rail direct injection diesel engine. The experiments were applied to the engine at an engine speed of 1,500rpm under 20Nm, 40Nm, 60Nm and 80Nm conditions. The test results were compared to each other with or without the FCEA. In the case of the FCEA, the combustion pressure, peak combustion pressure and rate of heat release were increased slightly and the brake specific fuel consumption(BSFC) was decreased slightly when compared to that without the FCEA under all loads at an engine speed of 1,500rpm. However, in the case of the FCEA, the nitrogen oxide(NOx) were increased slightly, the carbon monoxide(CO) and particulate matter(PM) were decreased slightly when compared to that without the FCEA under all loads at an engine speed of 1,500rpm.