Synthetic
diesel fuel produced from natural gas via gas-to-liquid
(GTL) technology is referred to as ultraclean fuel but is still challenged
for full certification as diesel fuel. GTL diesel lacks certain hydrocarbons
and chemical constituents, which although are benign to the environment,
result in a trade-off in performance when used in a diesel engine.
To boost GTL diesel physicochemical properties and thereby enable
its use in conventional diesel engines, GTL diesel needs improvement.
This can be achieved by mixing suitable additives to the GTL diesel
and through the development of surrogate fuels that have fewer components.
Screening of thousands of additives is a tedious task and can be done
efficiently via computer based modeling to quickly and reliably identify
a small number of promising candidates. These models are used to guide
the formulation of five surrogates and predict their physicochemical
properties. These surrogates are further verified using rigorous mathematical
tools as well as through advanced experimental techniques. An optimal
surrogate MI-5 is identified, which closely mimics GTL diesel-conventional
diesel blends in terms of its physicochemical properties. An engine
study for the surrogate is also performed to understand the effect
of physicochemical properties on combustion as well as the emission
behavior of the fuel. MI-5 exhibited an optimal torque at higher load
conditions. A reduction of 11.26% NOx emission for MI-5 is observed
when compared to conventional fuel. At higher loads, diesel fuel surpasses
the total hydrocarbon (THC) emissions for both the surrogate and the
GTL fuel. No significant variation in CO and CO2 emissions
for MI-5, GTL diesel and conventional diesel is observed. Analysis
of combustion as well as emission behavior of the fuels helps to understand
the role of physicochemical properties on the performance of the fuel.