This project has covered research and demonstration on 2nd generation vegetable oil fuels in advanced engines. It has responded to the mentioned challenges while keeping the principle advantages of pure vegetable oil compared to other biofuels. The concept of this work has included the following central elements:
  • combining the adaptation of the engine with an adaptation of the fuel;
  • widening the potential for pure vegetable oil fuels by considering a broader range of oil seeds, in particular camelina sativa which can be grown in combined culture (mixed-cropping) with cereals or leguminosae, thus increasing the fuel potential tremendously in EU, and jatropha which increases considerably the fuel potential in hot arid and tropical countries (also important for EU Mediterranean countries once climate change will have turned these countries into rather arid areas) without harming the environment;
  • introducing additives to the oil filtering process in small decentralized oil-presses for achieving ultra-pure vegetable oil with reduction of undesired substances to the limit of traceability;
  • introducing fuel additives without giving up the non-toxicity and to rise the flammability in a controlled manner (additives rising the flammability could be added at a very late stage, e.g. just when fuelling the vehicle, thus keeping the flammability low during the major part of the logistics chain);
  • introducing engine oil additives to better adapt with the corresponding vegetable oil fuel;
  • focussing on engine concepts allowing profiting from the advantages of vegetable oil under quasi-steady-state conditions, such as hybrid engines, thereby exploiting to the maximum the specific advantages of vegetable oil compared to other biofuels.

The specific objectives were:

  • to widen the range of considered oils, in order to increase the available fuel potential;
  • to investigate and demonstrate cleaning and fuel additives for vegetable oils and engine oil additives, in order to better adapt the oil properties to present and future diesel engines and to ensure a homogeneously high quality;
  • to investigate and demonstrate improved engine oils;
  • to achieve EU Stage 4 (US TIER4) emission levels in medium-scale demonstration fleets;
  • to transfer the engine and fuel concepts to hybrid engines, preparing the base to achieve EURO 6 emission levels in road vehicles (comparable to EU Stage 4/ US TIER 4);
  • to prepare proposals for future European fuel standards.

Seventh Framework Programme
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