A new research and testing facility at the Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane, Australia, will test new technologies for producing industrial and transportation engines that are designed specifically for using biofuels. The first project in the new Biofuel Engine Research Facility, which opened Nov. 6, is to enable diesel engines to use both petroleum diesel (or biodiesel) and ethanol at the same time, according to Dr. Richard Brown, a senior lecturer in mechanical engineering at the university’s School of Engineering Systems.
Brown said the engine is currently being tested using petroleum diesel and ethanol, which are introduced to the engine separately. The ethanol is mixed with air in the intake manifold before it’s introduced into the cylinder. The mixture is then compressed in the cylinder before diesel fuel is introduced to initiate combustion. “So far, we have reduced diesel consumption by about 40 percent,” Brown said. The engine is also able to use hydrous ethanol and ethanol with up to 25 percent water content has been tested
with no reduction in thermal efficiency, he added.
Read more
(The success of the biodiesel fuel industry relies heavily on biodiesel testing, not only at the production level but at the consumer level, where degraded fuel may cause engine failures.  Fleet Biodiesel's family of inexpensive biodiesel test kits is just a click away on the internet)