Dimethoxymethane, also known as methylal, is an oxygenated additive that contains approximately 42% oxygen content and is soluble in diesel fuel. Experiments were conducted by using the five kinds of blended fuels with different volumetric percentage of DMM in a diesel fuel. The test engine was used four stroke, single cylinder, DI diesel engine. Also, data was collected at 24 kinds of various engine speed-load conditions. The aim of this study was to examine the effects of the addition of oxygenated additive to diesel fuel on the emissions and the performance. Smoke emissions of all DMM blended fuels were reduced substantially in comparison with diesel fuel. In addition, this study showed that simultaneous reduction of NOx and smoke emissions could be achieved by oxygenated additive and EGR method that was applied to decrease smoke emissions increasing with NOx emissions reduction.

The fuel used in this study, DMM is an oxygen additive containing 42.5% oxygen by weight and dissolved in diesel fuel, also known as methyl alcohol or Dimethoxymethane (CH3-O-CH2-O-CH3). DMM, which is a colorless liquid, shows chemical characteristics of gas-liquid and is also used as a diesel fuel component. In this study, five mixtures were added to the common diesel fuel at DMM addition rates of 2.5, 5, 7.5, 10 and 12.5% by volume. A single cylinder, four strokes, DI diesel engine was used as the test engine. Experimental data were also collected at 24 engine speed-load conditions operating in steady state. The purpose of this experiment was to study the effect of the addition ratio of oxidized fuel mixed in diesel fuel on engine power and exhaust performance. When compared with the common diesel fuel, the exhaust of Smoke was substantially reduced in all DMM mixing ratios. These results indicate that DMM can be an effective blend of diesel fuel and is an environmentally friendly alternative fuel. This study also shows that smoke and NOx emissions can be reduced at the same time through the application of oxygen fuel and EGR.