Experimental investigation of the performance and emissions of diesel engines by a novel emulsified diesel fuel

•A novel bio-fuel, glucose solution emulsified diesel fuel, is evaluated.•Emulsified diesel has comparable brake thermal efficiency.•NOX emissions decrease with emulsified fuel at all loads.•Soot emissions decrease with emulsified fuel except at a few operating points. The subject of this paper was to study the performance and emissions of two typical diesel engines using glucose solution emulsified diesel fuel. Emulsified diesel with a 15% glucose solution by mass fraction was used in diesel engines and compared with pure diesel. For the agricultural diesel engine, performance and emission characteristics were measured under various engine loads. The results showed that the brake thermal efficiencies were improved using emulsified diesel fuel. Emulsified fuel decreased NOx and soot emissions except at a few specific operating conditions. HydroCarbon (HC) and CO emissions were increased. For the automotive diesel engine, performance and emissions were measured using the 13-mode European Stationary Cycle (ESC). It was found that brake thermal efficiencies of emulsified diesel and pure diesel were comparable at 75% and 100% load. Soot emissions decreased significantly while NOx emissions decreased slightly. HC emissions increased while CO emissions decreased at some operating conditions.