Matthias Thees, Michael Günthner, Jonas Fuhrmeister

• In the non-road mobile machinery (NRMM) sector, long operating hours combined with specific high-load operating conditions place high performance requirements on the propulsion system. The established propulsion systems in the field of NRMM meet these requirements through diesel engines powered by liquid fuels with high energy density – a requirement which cannot be met by current battery electric drive systems. However, in order to reduce fossil CO2 emissions as fast as possible, fuels produced from regenerative sources must be introduced for these purposes, which also have to be compatible with existing vehicle fleets. These requirements were addressed in the project presented here through the development of a multi-fuel engine concept, which is suitable for the fully flexible use of pure rapeseed oil in any blending ratio with diesel fuel. In addition to the use of rapeseed oil/diesel blends, also the use of rapeseed oil/e-fuel blends (using hydrated vegetable oil – HVO – and oxymethylene ether – OME) has been investigated. For existing vehicles, such concepts could also provide the opportunity of retrofit solutions. The flexible use of vegetable oil, diesel fuel and e-fuels makes the customer independent of current fuel availability. As a prototype, a John Deere 4045 engine was optimized for the use of vegetable oil. In addition to the development of a DPF regeneration concept suitable for vegetable oil, the project focused on the potential for emission reduction and the impact on engine efficiency.