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Duffman · 06-12-2010, 08:05 PM

At work we have been conducting a test on the effect of increasing the cetane of our diesel fuel on our Paratransit Bus fleet. The test fleet are 2005-07 Ford Econoline Chassis with the 6.0L diesel engines. The base fuel is 40-42 cetane and we have been using a commercial additive to increase the cetane by 3 points on a small test group. Of note the powerstroke calls for a 45 cetane for cold weather operation but we missed the cold weather in this test. The buses are not assigned regular routes or regular drivers eliminating those variables from the study, the enhanced fuel group and non enhanced fuel group operate at the same time eliminating weather factors from the test.

Cetane enhanced group
Unit/km/Liters/(L/100km)/MPG (US)
N5010/8123/2104/25.9/9.01
N5058/6524/1428/21.9/10.7
N5062/5072/1542/30.4/7.67
N5067/5490/1261/23.0/10.2
N5089/5812/1242/21.4/10.9
Sum /31021/7577/24.4/9.55

Normal Fuel group
Unit/km/Liters/(L/100km)/MPG (US)
N5055/5490/1505/27.4/8.51
N5090/7880/2046/26.0/8.99
N5072/8571/2213/25.8/9.04
N5073/7624/1871/24.5/9.51
N5060/5603/1271/22.7/10.3
N5061/9052/2125/23.5/9.94
Sum /44220/11031/24.9/9.35

You can draw your own conclusions but we felt unit N5062 may have had other issues and was obtaining abnormally low fuel economy relative to the rest of the test units. If that unit is pulled from the test the cetane group averages 23.3 L/100km or 10.03 MPG. The increase in economy from the cetane was 2.12% counting unit N5062 and 7.26% not counting that unit.

06-12-2010, 08:05 PM	#1 (permalink)
Duffman Master EcoModder Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Edmonton, AB, Canada Posts: 531 Thanks: 11 Thanked 12 Times in 11 Posts	Effect of Cetane on the 6.0L Diesel At work we have been conducting a test on the effect of increasing the cetane of our diesel fuel on our Paratransit Bus fleet. The test fleet are 2005-07 Ford Econoline Chassis with the 6.0L diesel engines. The base fuel is 40-42 cetane and we have been using a commercial additive to increase the cetane by 3 points on a small test group. Of note the powerstroke calls for a 45 cetane for cold weather operation but we missed the cold weather in this test. The buses are not assigned regular routes or regular drivers eliminating those variables from the study, the enhanced fuel group and non enhanced fuel group operate at the same time eliminating weather factors from the test. Cetane enhanced group Unit/km/Liters/(L/100km)/MPG (US) N5010/8123/2104/25.9/9.01 N5058/6524/1428/21.9/10.7 N5062/5072/1542/30.4/7.67 N5067/5490/1261/23.0/10.2 N5089/5812/1242/21.4/10.9 Sum /31021/7577/24.4/9.55 Normal Fuel group Unit/km/Liters/(L/100km)/MPG (US) N5055/5490/1505/27.4/8.51 N5090/7880/2046/26.0/8.99 N5072/8571/2213/25.8/9.04 N5073/7624/1871/24.5/9.51 N5060/5603/1271/22.7/10.3 N5061/9052/2125/23.5/9.94 Sum /44220/11031/24.9/9.35 You can draw your own conclusions but we felt unit N5062 may have had other issues and was obtaining abnormally low fuel economy relative to the rest of the test units. If that unit is pulled from the test the cetane group averages 23.3 L/100km or 10.03 MPG. The increase in economy from the cetane was 2.12% counting unit N5062 and 7.26% not counting that unit.