Innovative Hydrocarbon-Based Additives for Diesel Engines in Oil Field Operations: Mitigating GHG Emissions, Improving Performance, and Advancing Sustainability

Abstract Over the years, in most countries, more strict regulations are being implemented on the emissions resulting from fossil fuels combustion. Among all the conventional fuels used, diesel is considered the one being highly polluting in terms of soot emissions. Therefore many researchers and organizations are continuously looking for technologies to reduce the concentration of particulates produced from diesel burning activities. One of the promising solutions is the hydrocarbon-based additives for Diesel fuel (DF) that can reduce the soot emissions and other harmful pollutants from diesel engine. Diesel as a fuel and its applications The fossil fuel mainly diesel and gasoline, are blends of hydrocarbons produced by fractional distillation of crude oil in petroleum refineries [1-3]. Based on the fuel used, the engines were classified into gasoline and diesel engines, which use gasoline and diesel fuels, respectively. Both are internal combustion engines, where chemical energy from the fuel is converted to mechanical energy. The main difference between the two engines is their mechanism of operation. In the gasoline engine, fuel and air are mixed first, and then, the mixture is compressed by pistons before ignition take place by spark generated from the spark plugs. On the other hand, the air is initially compressed in the diesel engine, before the fuel is injected, and then the autoignition of the fuel takes place in hot compressed air [4]. Despite of the fuel type, fossil fuels are generally witnessing an increase in their demand all over the world because of their high energy content and combustion efficiency, consequently, the level of pollutants in the atmosphere is rising as well [5, 6]. DF is mainly used due to their excellent drivability and high durability for many applications such as electric power generation, transportation (including road trucks, military, marine shipping and rail transportation) and off-road uses (e.g., mining, farming and construction) [7]. However, the main concern with the using DF is the pollution caused and its impact on environment [8]. Pollutants are formed as a result of the incomplete combustion in internal engines. Such as soot which known as particulate matter as well, carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen oxides (NOx), sulfur oxides (SOx) and volatile organic compounds (VOC) [4, 9].