Ulf Olsson

The phase behavior of water, diesel, limonene, and ethanol was investigated at ambient temperature using single nonionic alkyl polyglycol ethers (C₁₄E₃). Visual inspection as well as crosspolarizers was used to detect transparency and anisotropy. Ternary phase diagrams were determined. Combustion experiments using a four-cylinder diesel engine were carried out. Isotropic water in diesel microemulsion region (L₂) and anisotropic liquid crystalline region (LC) were found with all combinations. Increasing the ratio of limonene to diesel reduced the microemulsion region while the presence of ethanol increased it on the expense of the LC region. Combustion tests performed on a selected formulation from the ternary phase diagram of water, diesel, ethanol, and C₁₄E₃ revealed substantial reduction of soot, NO_x, and CO₂ emissions compared to neat diesel.