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This dissertation, The Performance of Biodiesel in In-service Motor Vehicles in HongKong by 鄭永權, Wing-kuen, Cheng, was obtained from The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong) and is being sold pursuant to Creative Commons: Attribution 3.0 Hong Kong License. The content of this dissertation has not been altered in any way. We have altered the formatting in order to facilitate the ease of printing and reading of the dissertation. All rights not granted by the above license are retained by the author. Abstract: Abstract of the thesis entitled The Performance of Biodiesel in In-Service Motor Vehicles in Hong Kong submitted by Cheng Wing-kuen for the degree of Master of Philosophy at The University of Hong Kong in August 2003 Biodiesel is an alternative fuel produced from renewable feedstocks such as vegetable oil and animal fats. Its renewable properties can contribute to improving the atmospheric carbon cycle and diminishing greenhouse effects. Biodiesel can also be produced by using waste lipids from factories and restaurants. In this case it can also contribute to reducing pollution and cutting handling costs for landfill dumping and wastewater treatment. Other advantages of biodiesel include a reduction of air pollutants and lower consumption of petroleum diesel. Although biodiesel has been developed for more than a decade, it has not been widely utilised in automobile applications. As the potential of this fuel deserves further study, I conducted a feasibility study on the use of biodiesel as a motor fuel in Hong Kong, and my findings are reported in this thesis. In this study I evaluated the performance of local in-service motor vehicles run on biodiesel in terms of: (a) engine performance and emission behaviour; and (b) short term and long term effects on engine compatibility and durability. In this thesis I present the results of chassis dynamometer emission testing, on-road measurement, and laboratory compatibility study on elastomers. The data are used to evaluate the impact of biodiesel blends. The average results of B20 show small variations in engine power (-1%) and NOx emission (0%), but a moderate reduction in smoke (-15%), CO (-15%) and HC (-13%) emissions was noted. For B100, there was a small drop in engine power (-3%) but a very significant reduction in smoke (-52%), CO (-27%) and HC (-38%) emissions. A moderate increase in NOx emission (+9%) was observed. The results of the on-road tests showed that neat biodiesel fuels are able to reduce CO emission considerably (-26%), but a moderate increase in NOx emission was also observed. As its effects on engine power were insignificant, and it substantially reduced smoke level, biodiesel demonstrated fast and lasting effects on engine performance and exhaust emissions. However, the negative results obtained from the fuel hose compatibility test demonstrate that certain technical problems must be overcome to ensure that roadworthiness is compromised by the use of this fuel. This research covers several aspects and identifies most of the technical problems that will be encountered in the use of biodiesel fuels. Although component retrofitting and monitoring measures will be required to facilitate the introduction of biodiesel, the encouraging results of this investigation demonstrate that biodiesel has great potential as a future motor fuel in Hong Kong because of its environmental benefits. (414 words) ii DOI: 10.5353/th_b2666533 Subjects: Motor fuels - Environmental aspects - China - Hong KongBiodiesel fuels - China - Hong KongBiodiesel fuels - Testing

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