Exhaust gas emissions and fuel consumption

Effects of FWE on the exhaust gas emissions of a medium speed diesel engine
Effects of FWE on the exhaust emissions with Diesel-fuel and RME (small truck engine)

The diagram demonstrates the efficiency of the FWE-system. Displayed are test results from a medium speed engine @ 1000rpm.

NOx-formation is reduced by app. 1% / % injected water. Particulate matters are reduced up to 90%.  CO and HC are reduced to a large extent.

Generally fuel consumption is unchanged for water contents up to 45%. In special cases a improved fuel consumption can be observed, but this is apparently limited to older engines with inferior injection systems.

Fuel-Water-Emulsion can be applied to production engines running with more or less all known fuels. Not only fuels like gas oil or HFO can be burned, but also vegetable oils like RME, rape seed, sun flower and palm oil can be emulsified to improve combustion and emissions.

Among all possibilities to reduce the emissions of diesel engines the application of diesel-water fuel is the most economic one.

  • NOx-emissions can be reduced by approximately 1% NOx per % water. Higher values are possible, depending on the engine.
  •  Adding more than 10% of water to the fuel can reduce smoke emission by about 80-90%.
  •  At least up to app. 45% water in fuel a increase in BSFC is not to be expected. Actually in case of non optimized combustion systems even a improvement in BSFC can be experienced.
  • By experience it can be stated, that this applies to all engines. This means the method can be applied  to all engines, regardless of size and design age.
  • The design of the engines in question for application of the Aqua-Fuel system is not to be changed. The emulsion unit can be integrated into the existing fuel system
  • Basically the application of water fuel emulsion is not a after treatment of the exhaust, but a internal influence on the combustion process.

Overall a NOx-reduction between 20-35% and a PM reduction of 80-90% in large power range can be achieved without larger changes to the engine installation and fuel consumption penalty.

This, in combination with the clean exhaust gas, gives a new degree of freedom for additional internal and external emission reduction measures (EGR, Exhaust gas aftertreatment).