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Biodiesel Fleet Test - B5RANGER PROJECT

Leandro H. Benvenutti

Fuels & Lubricants - Ford Motor Company BrasilJune 10, 2008

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● Project Participants● Project Objectives● Project Structure● Vehicle Equipments● Test Plan and Timing● Control Items● Preliminary Results● Preliminary Conclusions

Summary

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Ranger Project Participants

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Project Objectives

● Ranger Project was designed with the following objectives: Test the use of B5 blends from Soya and Castor seed oil in

real world conditions (as close as possible);

Evaluate overall engine performance with these fuels compared to petroleum diesel: power, torque, fuel consumption and emissions;

Evaluate potential effects on durability of: engine, injection system and fuel system;

Evaluate B5 degradation during storage periods.

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Project Structure - Test Fleet

● Vehicles selected for this test meet EURO 3 emission standard and are equipped with modern Common Rail Injection Systems.

● Test fleet is composed by: 2 vehicles running with petroleum diesel

(reference vehicles); 2 vehicles running with 5% of Castor seed

(Mamona) Methyl Ester (B5); 2 vehicles running with 5% of Soya Methyl Ester

(B5).

Common Rail System by Continental (former Siemens/VDO)

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● Exclusive dedication to the project: 1 Mechanical Engineer; 1 Supervisor; 2 Chemical technicians; 4 Aux. of vehicular research; 2 Chemical analysts; 1 secretary.

● Partial Dedication: 7 Mechanical Engineers; 2 PhD Chemists. 2 Chemical analysts.

Project Structure - Team

Operational vehicle Team was specially trained by Ford engineers to be able to correctly operate all vehicle systems and also perform basic maintenance, without risks to the project.

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Vehicles Equipments

Additional tank for 310 liters allows:

• improved autonomy (more than 4.000 km) and

• better control over fuels to be used.

Onboard equipments used to record operational conditions: vehicle speed and engine speed.

Also allows instant written communication with base.

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Example of reports generated by vehicles monitoring systems

Vehicles Equipments

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Infra-Red portable equipment used Infra-Red portable equipment used to measure the biodiesel to measure the biodiesel concentration in diesel.concentration in diesel.

Vehicles Equipments

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Remote Monitoring system – Remote Monitoring system – Via Satellite:Via Satellite:

Allows to follow the Allows to follow the instantaneous position of the instantaneous position of the fleet.fleet.

- Autotrac / Software Supervisor -- Autotrac / Software Supervisor -

Vehicles Equipments

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Vehicles – Project Launching Event

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Test Plan

● Vehicles planned to accumulate 100,000 km running in 9 different routes to cover all regions of Bahia State. Drives to other regions in the southwest were also included.

● In order to guarantee that all 6 vehicles will be submitted to the same test conditions, following rules were created: All vehicles runs together all the time, following a leader;

Same regular diesel is used for both B5 blends preparation and also to fill up the reference vehicles;

Drivers are rotated among vehicles;

Vehicles position are rotated in the fleet.

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Project Timing

Vehicles and components

preparation phase

Vehicles and components

preparation phase

Run 100.000 km – Generate Partial ReportsRun 100.000 km – Generate Partial Reports

Analysis andreports

Analysis andreports

200820072006Jun MayAprMarFebJanDecNovOctSepAugJulJunMayAprMarFebJanDecNovOctSep Jul

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Control Items Before and After the Test

● Components dimensioned: Engines, Injection Systems, Filters, Fuel Delivery Modules

● Injection System Mapped

● Torque and Power curves

● Fuel Consumption

● Emissions levels measured for following gases

NOx - HC - CO - PM

● Fuel System Components

Lines, tank, connectors, rubbers, sealers, joints, etc.

● Exhaust System

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FUEL B100 Soya

Complete characterization every new batch and ageing properties after stored.B100 Castor Seed Oil

B5 Soya Same diesel is used for reference vehicles and blends preparation.Every batch blended is submitted to analysis along with pure diesel.

B5 Castor Oil

Petroleum Diesel

LUBRICANTSAE 15W-40, API CI-4

New All properties are monitored in order to verify potential effects of biodieselEvery 2.500 km

FILTERS Fuel Visual analysis, differential pressure and water separation performance for fuel filters.Lubricant

VEHICLES Position (via satellite)Fleet monitoring to avoid misuse or abuse.Speed

Engine rpm

Control Items During the Test

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View of the On-Board Diary.

This document was filled every days by the vehicle operator.

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● Engine: Before test start all engines were submitted to following

measurements, with regular diesel and B5 blend of Soya or Castor seed oil (depending on the fuel that such engine was suppose to run during the test):

− Torque, Power, Oil and Fuel Consumption and Emissions

Same measurements were performed after the test.

There were no measurable differences between different fuels in a same engine, for all characteristics under study.

Comparisons of results obtained before and after the one year test also does not show measurable differences.

Preliminary Results - ENGINE

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Red: B5 SoyaBlue: Mineral Diesel

Test Start – Torque and Power Curves

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Red: B5 Castor Seed (Mamona)

Blue: Mineral Diesel

Test Start – Torque and Power Curves

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● Fuels:

B100 was produced by Petrobras in their

Guamaré/RN plant.

All properties were determined and meet current

Brazilian biodiesel regulation.

All blends produced using local regular diesel with

biodiesel meet all requirements of Brazilian diesel

specification.

Fuel consumption was not affected by fuel type.

Preliminary Results - FUELS

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● Lubricants: Engine oil is changed every 10.000 km, according to normal vehicle

service recommendation. 200 engine oil samples were collected and analyzed in order to

check physical-chemical properties. All properties analyzed showed excellent performance.

Higher viscosity increase observed was lower than 5%. TBN decrease was lower than 10%. Oxidation and insoluble were very low. Soot according to acceptance criteria. Fuel dilution data is not available yet, but other analysis indicate that

this contamination was not significant:− No fuel smell from samples;− No viscosity reduction;− No significant varnish formation;− No significant levels of wear metals.

Preliminary Results - LUBRICANT

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● Filters:

Oil filters did not show any issue. Differential pressure

increase after test was very low.

Fuel filters also presented very good results. Differential

pressure increase was low and water separation efficiency

after test was within the limits for a new system (>93%).

However the results of differential pressure of filters that

used Castor Seed (Mamona) oil were significantly higher

then the others.

Preliminary Results - FILTERS

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Fuel Filters – Differential Pressure

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Deposits removed from the fuel tank pre-filter of one of thecastor oil B5 fueled vehicle

Deposits Analysis Result:Fat acid methyl-esther of high melting point (solid at ambient temperature), typical of castor seed biodiesel.

Deposits - Castor Seed B100

Castor Oil B100before the purification stepof the productionprocess

Castor Oil B100after the purification step of the production process.High melting pointBiodiesel was removed.

This result indicated the need for an additional purification step in the production of biodiesel – Cold Filtration

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Before purification step of Castor Seed B100

After purification step of Castor Seed B100

Fuel Filters – Differential Pressure

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Preliminary Conclusions

● Considering the results available in this stage of the project,

there are no evidences that B5 will cause problems to the vehicles

being tested.

● Final report of component analysis are required to confirm this

information.

Project website:http://www2.petrobras.com.br/minisite/biodieselb5/index.asp?pinicio=swf

Contacts:

Leandro H. Benvenutti - Fuels & Lubricants

Phone: 55-71-3649-3455

E-mail: Lbenvenu@ford.com