DEUTZ engines are used in many different applications worldwide. The quality of the fuel is decisive for the service life of DEUTZ engines and for the minimisation of service costs. The fuel also plays a key role in determining the emissions produced by modern combustion engines.
Fuels of the Future
Due to their high payloads and long operating times, large tractors and construction machinery require energy sources with high energy density and short refueling times. Furthermore, in light of stricter climate protection targets, the use of alternative fuels—known as “ReFuels”—is crucial, as it allows internal combustion engines to operate in a carbon-neutral manner when fueled with renewable fuels.
ReFuels are produced using renewable energy sources. These include hydrogen, synthetically produced hydrocarbons, and advanced biofuels as defined by RED II (Renewable Energy Directive). For advanced biofuels, raw materials are used that do not compete with food crops.
On the one hand, diesel engines can use HVO (hydrotreated vegetable oil), which is produced from sustainable biogenic waste materials through hydrogenation without the use of fossil resources. This can significantly reduce CO2 emissions by up to 95 percent.
On the other hand, in the future, it may even be possible to operate engines in a nearly CO2-neutral manner using so-called e-fuels. E-fuels are synthetic fuels produced from hydrogen and carbon dioxide using renewable electricity. Synthetic fuels differ from conventional fuels in their production process and the resulting changes to their chemical structure. They can be derived from renewable sources and are then referred to as RFNBO (Renewable Fuels of Non-Biological Origin).
Conventional Fuels
Diesel fuel is a mixture of hydrocarbons. The quality of the fuel varies greatly from country to country. In countries such as the USA, Japan or the European Union, diesel fuels are optimised to meet the particular challenges of low emissions and the use of exhaust aftertreatment systems. In other countries, however, there are still fuels of lower quality (sulphur content, lubricity, contamination and cetane number as a measure of combustion behaviour).
Alternative Fuels
Paraffinic diesel fuels are produced on an industrial scale using the Fischer-Tropsch process based on synthesis gas. In principle, this process can utilize fossil feedstocks such as natural gas (GtL—Gas-to-Liquid) or biomass (BtL—Biomass-to-Liquid).
In the future, the same process is to be used to produce eDiesel using renewable hydrogen and CO₂ from combustion processes or the air, in order to enable CO₂-neutral operation of internal combustion engines. Currently, a large portion of the paraffinic fuel is produced as HVO through the hydrogenation of sustainable biogenic oil-containing residues. These so-called XtL fuels are characterized not only by reduced CO₂ emissions but also by lower emissions (NOx, particulates) and better fuel quality in terms of cold performance and oxidation stability compared to conventional diesel fuel.
The fuel / HVO produced in this way meets the specifications of EN 15940 and ASTM D975. DEUTZ offers nearly all engine series up to the EU V and US Tier 4 emissions standards. Due to their composition, these fuels can also be blended with fossil diesel in any ratio. The use of HVO in all existing engines is practically a given and—supplemented by eDiesel in the future—can make a decisive contribution to the defossilization of diesel engines.
Biodiesel or FAME (Fatty Acid Methyl Ester) is a so-called transesterified vegetable oil that has been adapted to the properties of diesel fuel. In Europe, rapeseed oil is often the raw material base, so the term rapeseed methyl ester (RME) is often used. In addition to this, recycled waste oils are also used as a raw material on a large scale.
In Europe, but also in many non-European countries such as the USA, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Malaysia and Indonesia, biodiesel is mainly used as a diesel/biodiesel blend of up to 40%, but in some cases also as a pure fuel.
All DEUTZ engines in Europe and the USA are approved to run on the following standard fuels according to EN 590 and ASTM D975, which allow blends of up to 7% and 5% respectively. In addition, there are many approvals for Tier 4, EU IV and V engines for higher biodiesel blends (e.g. EN 16734 / EN 16709 / ASTM D7467) and for pure fuels to EN 14214.
Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) refers to propane or propane-butane mixtures that are liquid at room temperature and under low compression (< 10 bar). Key advantages of LPG include its high energy density in the fuel tank and lower CO2 emissions during combustion in the engine compared to diesel engines of a similar size. LPG is typically a byproduct of petroleum refining. However, it is also produced during the manufacture of HVO (hydrotreated vegetable oils) as bio-LPG or, in the future, as ePropane, with a very low greenhouse gas emission potential.
The main component of natural gas is methane. Depending on storage, transportation, and refueling methods, the terms CNG (Compressed Natural Gas) or LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas) are used; LNG refers to natural gas that has been liquefied through intense cooling and can then be stored in a suitable tank in liquid form. Due to its clean combustion and lower CO2 emissions compared to diesel engines with comparable power output, natural gas has increasingly become the focus of internal combustion engines in recent years. In addition to fossil gas sources, methane can also be produced through the fermentation of biomass or through the methanation of renewable hydrogen with CO2. These are then referred to as biomethane or e-methane.
Hydrogen is produced by electrolysis using renewable electricity. One way of using hydrogen for transport is to produce synthetic gaseous and liquid fuels. Hydrogen is then used as an intermediate product in the production of synthetic methane (power-to-gas methane/PtG methane) or eFuels (also power-to-liquids/PtL).
Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil (HVO) is a so-called paraffinic diesel fuel produced from renewable raw materials such as vegetable oils or sustainable residual and waste materials. HVO helps reduce dependence on fossil fuels and lower CO₂ emissions in the transportation sector. It can be used in nearly all modern DEUTZ engines without any technical modifications, thus offering a sustainable alternative to fossil diesel fuel.
Under the current EN 590 diesel standard, up to 26% HVO can be used in combination with up to 7% biodiesel.
DEUTZ Fuel Requirements
