EXHAUST GAS EMISSIONS AND EFFECTS OF ENVIRONMENT AND HUMAN HEALTH OF RAPE SEED OIL BASED FUELS

ABSTRACT Ecological aspects, the finiteness of fossil resources and the effort to maintain the agricultural structures motivate the use of renewable materials. Since the seventies, the German Federal Agricultural Research Centre (FAL) has been dealing with the technical use of rape seed oil as alternative fuel ( Batel et al., 1980 ; Vellguth, 1982 ). It was easy to demonstrate that pure rape seed oil is not suitable for long–term use in conventional Diesel engines, because of the severe engine troubles that occurred. Nevertheless, the use of rape seed oil is possible if either the engine design or the fuel is modified. Via a non–conventional combustion concept or the transesterification of the vegetable oil – mostly to rape seed oil methylester (RME) – rape seed oil can successfully be used as fuel. RME resembles Diesel fuel (DF) in its main physical properties. Since 1982, an agricultural tractor with unmodified engine has been running in a long term experiment at the FAL. No problems caused by this fuel have occurred. To judge the environmental and health effects, the exhaust gases of 7 probationers, fueled with DF, RME or rape seed oil were examined. Differences in the exhaust gas composition are markable that depend on the specific combustion designs.

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