ABSTRACT
Diesel fuel combustion technology started just over 100 yr ago in Germany. In 1893, Dr Rudolf Diesel succeeded in creating spontaneous ignition by blowing fuel into a chamber containing highly compressed air [1] (Figure 43.1). The diesel engine achieves its high performance and excellent fuel economy by compressing air to much higher pressures (14:1 to 25:1) than in a gasoline-fueled engine, and then injecting a small amount of fuel into the compressed air. In the combustion chamber, the highly atomized fuel evaporates quickly while it is being mixed with this hot surrounding air. At the fuel’s auto-ignition temperature, rapid combustion occurs and it is then followed by rapid energy release. The diesel engine is designed to combust a wide variety of fuels from semisolid slurries (coal or shale derived), to commercial diesel fuel (including biodiesel), through compressed natural gas and hydrogen.
