Experimental Assessment of Drop-In Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil (HVO) in a Medium-Duty B7 Diesel Engine for Low-Emissions Marine Applications

Nowadays, the push for more ecological low-carbon propulsion systems is high in all mobility sectors, including the recreational or light-commercial boating, where propulsion is usually provided by internal combustion engines derived from road applications. In this work, the effects of replacing conventional fossil-derived B7 diesel with Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil (HVO) were experimentally investigated in a modern Medium-Duty Diesel Engine, using the advanced biofuel as ‘drop-in’ and testing according to the ISO 8178 marine standard. The compounded results showed significant benefits in terms of NOx, Particulate Matter, mass fuel consumption and especially Well-to-Wake (WtW) CO₂ thanks to the inner properties of the aromatic-free, hydrogen-rich renewable fuel, with no impact on the engine power and minimal deterioration of the volumetric fuel economy.