Combustion analysis of a spark ignition engine fueled with gaseous blends containing hydrogen

This paper presents the combustion characteristics of a naturally aspirated spark ignition engine, intended for installation in vehicles, fueled with different hydrogen and methane blends. The experimental tests were carried out in a wide range of speeds at equivalence ratios of 1, 0.8 and 0.7 and at full load. The ignition timing was maintained for each speed, independently of the equivalence ratio and blend used as fuel. Four methane-hydrogen blends were used. In-cylinder pressure, mass fraction burned, heat released and cycle-by-cycle variations were analyzed as representative indicators of the combustion quality. It was observed that hydrogen enrichment of the blend improve combustion for the ignition timing chosen. This improvement is more appreciable at low speeds, because at high speeds hydrogen effect is attenuated by the high turbulence. Also, hydrogen addition allowed the extension of the LOL, enabling the engine to run stable in points where methane could not be tested. The main inconvenience detected was the high NO_x emissions measured, especially at stoichiometric conditions, due mainly to the increment in the combustion temperature that hydrogen produces.     

Experimental study of combustion performances and emissions of a spark ignition cogeneration engine operating in lean conditions using different fuels

This work presents an experimental study describing a six-cylinder spark ignition engine running with a lean equivalence ratio, high compression ratio, ignition delay and used in a cogeneration system (heat and electricity production). Three types of fuels; natural gas, pure methane and methane/hydrogen blend (85% CH₄ and 15% H₂ by volume), were used for comparison purposes. Each fuel has been investigated at 1500 rpm and for various engine loads fixed by electrical power output conditions. CO, CO₂, HC, and NOx emissions values, and exhaust gas temperature were measured. The effect of fuel composition on engine characteristics has been studied. The results show, that the hydrogen addition increased HC emissions (around 18%), as well as performance, whilst it reduced NO_x (around 31%), exhaust gas temperature, CO and CO₂.     

Flexible syngas-biogas-hydrogen fueling spark-ignition engine behaviors with optimized fuel compositions and control parameters

This paper presents the results research on the optimal fuel compositions and the control parameters of the spark ignition engine fueled with syngas-biogas-hydrogen for the purpose of setting up a flexible electronic control unit for the engine working in a solar-biomass hybrid renewable energy system. In syngas-biogas-hydrogen mixture, the optimal content of hydrogen and biogas is 20% and 30%, respectively. Exceeding these thresholds, the improvement of engine performance is moderate, but the pollution emission increases strongly. The optimal advanced ignition angle is 38°CA, 24°CA, and 18°CA for syngas, biogas, and hydrogen, respectively. With the same content of hydrogen or biogas in the mixture with syngas, the advanced ignition angle of the hydrogen-syngas blend is less than that of the syngas-biogas blend by about 4°CA at the engine speed of 3000 rpm. The derating power of the engine is 30% and 23% as switching from the hydrogen and biogas fueling mode to the syngas fueling mode, respectively. However, NO_x emission of the engine increase from 200 ppm (for syngas) to 2800 ppm (for biogas) and to over 6000 ppm (for hydrogen). The optimal advanced ignition angle, the optimal equivalence ratio of the syngas-biogas-hydrogen fuel mixture vary within the limits of the respective values for syngas and hydrogen. To improve the engine efficiency and reduce pollutant emissions, the loading control system of the engine should prioritize the adjustment of the fuel flow and then the adjustment of the air-fuel mixture flow.     

The effect of hydrogen on the performance and emissions of an SI engine having a high compression ratio fuelled by compressed natural gas

The aim of this paper is investigation of the effect of hydrogen on engine performance and emissions characteristics of an SI engine, having a high compression ratio, fuelled by HCNG (hydrogen enriched compressed natural gas) blend. The experiments were carried out at 1500, 2000 and 2500 rpm under full load conditions of a modified Isuzu 3.9 L engine, having a compression ratio of 12.5. The engine brake power, brake thermal efficiency, combustion analysis and emissions parameters were realized at 5, 10 15 and 20 deg. CA BTDC (crank angle before top dead center) ignition timings and in excess air ratios of 0.9–1.3 fuelled by hydrogen enriched compressed natural gas (100/0, 95/5, 90/10 and 80/20 of % natural gas/hydrogen).The experimental results showed that the maximum power values were generally obtained with HCNG5 (5% hydrogen in natural gas) fuel. The optimum ignition timing that was obtained according to the maximum brake torque was retarded by the addition of hydrogen to CNG (compressed natural gas), while it was advanced by increasing the engine speed. Furthermore, it was observed that the BTE (brake thermal efficiency) generally declined with the hydrogen addition to compressed natural gas and increasing the engine speed. Additionally, the curves of cylinder pressure and ROHR (rate of heat release values) generally closed to top dead center with the increasing of the hydrogen fraction in the blend and a decreasing engine speed. The hydrocarbon and carbon monoxide emissions generally obtained were lower than the Euro-5 and Euro-6 standards.     

Research and development of a low-BTU gas-driven engine for waste gasification and power generation

Combustion characteristics of low-BTU gases (about 1000 kcal/N m³) were experimentally investigated in order to develop engine generators for waste gasification and power generation systems. Two simulated low-BTU gases, obtained from one-step high temperature gasification (hydrogen rich) and two-step pyrolysis/reforming gasification (methane rich), as well as natural gas, were tested in a small-scale spark ignition engine. Compared to the natural gas driven engine, the hydrogen rich low-BTU gas driven engine showed similar thermal efficiency but with significantly lower NO_x and hydrocarbon emissions and wider equivalence ratio range for stable engine operation. On the other hand, the methane rich low-BTU gas engine showed narrower equivalence ratio range for stable operation. The test results show engine performance more depends on combustion characteristics than on the heating value of the fuel gas. For better engine performance, hydrogen rich fuel gas is desirable.     

Influence of operating parameters on performance and emissions for a compression-ignition engine fueled by hydrogen/diesel mixtures

Hydrocarbon exhaust emissions are mainly recognized as a consequent of carbon-based fuel combustion in compression ignition (CI) engines. Alternative fuels can be coupled with hydrocarbon fuels to control the pollutant emissions and improve the engine performance. In this study, different parameters that influence the engine performance and emissions are illustrated with more details. This numerical work was carried out on a dual-fuel CI engine to study its performance and emission characteristics at different hydrogen energy ratios. The simulation model was run with diesel as injected fuel and hydrogen, along with air, as inducted fuel. Three-dimensional CFD software for numerical simulations was implemented to simulate the direct-injection CI engine. A reduced-reaction mechanism for n-heptane was considered in this work instead of diesel. The Hiroyasu-Nagel model was presented to examine the rate of soot formation inside the cylinder. This work investigates the effect of hydrogen variation on output efficiency, ignition delay, and emissions. More hydrogen present inside the engine cylinder led to lower soot emissions, higher thermal efficiency, and higher NO_x emissions. Ignition timing delayed as the hydrogen rate increased, due to a delay in OH radical formation. Strategies such as an exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) method and diesel injection timing were considered as well, due to their potential effects on the engine outputs. The relationship among the engine outputs and the operation conditions were also considered.     

Performance and combustion characteristic of CI engine fueled with hydrogen enriched diesel

The combustion of hydrogen–diesel blend fuel was investigated under simulated direct injection (DI) diesel engine conditions. The investigation presented in this paper concerns numerical analysis of neat diesel combustion mode and hydrogen enriched diesel combustion in a compression ignition (CI) engine. The parameters varied in this simulation included: H₂/diesel blend fuel ratio, engine speed, and air/fuel ratio. The study on the simultaneous combustion of hydrogen and diesel fuel was conducted with various hydrogen doses in the range from 0.05% to 50% (by volume) for different engine speed from 1000 – 4000 rpm and air/fuel ratios (A/F) varies from 10 – 80. The results show that, applying hydrogen as an extra fuel, which can be added to diesel fuel in the (CI) engine results in improved engine performance and reduce emissions compared to the case of neat diesel operation because this measure approaches the combustion process to constant volume. Moreover, small amounts of hydrogen when added to a diesel engine shorten the diesel ignition lag and, in this way, decrease the rate of pressure rise which provides better conditions for soft run of the engine. Comparative results are given for various hydrogen/diesel ratio, engine speeds and loads for conventional Diesel and dual fuel operation, revealing the effect of dual fuel combustion on engine performance and exhaust emissions.     

Improving burning speed by using hydrogen enrichment and turbulent jet ignition system in a rotary engine

Low flame speed restrains engine efficiency and increases HC emissions in rotary engines. Hydrogen addition and turbulent jet ignition have a great potential in increasing engine performance as they increase fuel burning speed. In this study, the classical R13b-Renesis Wankel engine and a modified one with a turbulent jet ignition configuration are numerically investigated by using hydrogen as a supplement. Eccentric motion of the rotor was generated by using User Defined Function in ANSYS-Fluent software. Pure methane and methane blended with 3% and 6% hydrogen energy fractions were used as fuels in the calculations. Combustion was modeled by using reduced mechanism of hydrogen-methane combustion having 22 species and 104 reactions. The Wankel engine was simulated at 2000 rpm speed and partial load conditions. At first, classical engine configuration having two spark plugs was simulated with pure methane. Then, hydrogen blended methane simulations were conducted to investigate the benefits of the hydrogen addition. Similar procedure was applied for the turbulent jet ignition application. The results show that both approaches are effective on increasing the burning speed of the fuel. It is revealed that hydrogen addition increases the indicated mean effective pressure (IMEP) by 1.8% and 5.2% for 3% and 6% hydrogen fraction cases respectively in the classical engine. Turbulent jet ignition with pure methane increases IMEP by 4.7% compared to the classical engine. Hydrogen addition only in pre-chamber is effective as much as 6% hydrogen fraction of classical engine. As the burning speed is increased by the application of these methods, CO and HC emissions are reduced and NO emission is increased. It is concluded that benefits of hydrogen addition and turbulent jet ignition applications can be optimized for both reducing harmful emissions and increasing engine performance.     

S.I. engine fuelled with gasoline,methane and methane/hydrogen blends: Heat release and loss analysis

Experiments were carried out to investigate the performance of different fuels used in a internal combustion engine: gasoline, methane and fuel blends containing methane with 5%, 10% and 15% hydrogen by volume, respectively. A two-litre naturally aspirated bi-fuel engine with port fuel injection was used. The engine was operated stoichiometrically. For each fuel the spark advance for best efficiency was determined. Experiments were conducted at 2000 rpm and 2 bar brake mean effective pressure. A heat release analysis and a loss analysis were performed for all fuels. The main findings are that increasing the hydrogen fraction of the methane hydrogen fuel blend decreases the overall burn duration. This decrease is predominantly achieved by a shortened duration of the fist stage of combustion (ignition to 5% mass fraction burned). The faster combustion comes along with an increase in fuel conversion efficiency. The different losses for gasoline and pure methane operation interact such that equal fuel conversion efficiencies result. However, care has to be taken when comparing fuel conversion efficiencies among the different fuels as the relative error in fuel conversion efficiency for the gaseous fuels is 0.2% at most, whereas it is about 1% for gasoline.     

二甲醚发动机燃烧特性的试验与数值模拟研究

在一台直喷式压燃发动机上开展了二甲醚燃烧与排放特性的试验与数值模拟研究。测量了二甲醚在高压燃油泵内的泄漏量及其与发动机转速之间的定量关系,并就发动机分别燃用二甲醚和柴油的运转性能进行了对比试验研究,结果表明,发动机燃用二甲醚要比燃用柴油具有更好的性能与排放水平;另从二甲醚低温着火的化学反应机理人手,开展了其自燃着火过程的数值模拟研究,进而建立了计及温度、压力和燃空当量比因素的DME滞燃期数据库;通过将该数据库与发动机循环模拟程序相耦合,对DME发动机的运转性能进行了变参数预测分析,预测结果与试验结果吻合较好。     

Experimental and modeling study on ignition delay of ammonia/methane fuels

Ammonia mixed with methane is a potential clean fuel for engine applications toward a low carbon economy. Studies are scarce on ignition phenomenon for ammonia/methane fuels in literature. In the present study, the ignition characteristics for ammonia–methane–air mixtures have been investigated by both experimental measurements and numerical simulations. Ignition processes of a 60%ammonia/40%methane (mol%) fuel blend were investigated with shock-tube experiments. Measurements of the ignition delay times were performed behind reflected shock waves for such fuel/air mixtures with different equivalence ratios of 0.5, 1, and 2, at pressures around 2 and 5 atm within the temperature range of 1369 to 1804 K. Experimental results were then compared with numerical prediction results employing detailed kinetic mechanism, which showed satisfactory agreement within most of the range of the temperatures, equivalence ratios, and pressures investigated. Within the temperature range of 1300 to 1900 K, pressure range of 1 to 10 atm, equivalence ratio range of 0.5 to 2, and methane proportion range of 0% to 50% in fuel blends, the impacts of temperature, pressure, equivalence ratio, and methane additive were simulated on the ignition delay times of the fuel blends based upon the numerical model. It was found that the improvement of ammonia/methane ignition is significant with the increase of temperature, pressure, and methane additive while it is relatively not sensitive to equivalence ratio within the studied conditions. This suggests a promising potential of such fuel blends in real engine application. In addition to the calculations, reaction sensitivity analyses were also performed to have a deep insight into the observed differences between ammonia/methane/air ignition delay times with variation of conditions.     

Effect of hydrogen addition on the performance of methane-fueled vehicles. Part I: effect on S.I. engine performance

Mixtures of hydrogen and natural gas are considered viable alternative fuels to gasoline due to lower overall pollutant emissions but suffer from problems associated with on-board storage resulting in limited vehicle range. To date, vehicle engines have run on Hythane using a fixed hydrogen–natural gas fraction of 20% and fixed air-to-fuel ratio but it may be possible to leverage greater advantage from hydrogen addition due to its unique lean-burn properties. This study presents the results of a one-cylinder CFR engine test with mixtures of hydrogen in methane of 0, 20, 40 and 60% by volume. Each fuel was tested at speeds of 700 and 900 rpm, full and part loads, and equivalence ratios from stoichiometric to the partial burn limit. These results are used in a driving cycle simulation which is presented in a companion paper.     

Synergistic effect of hydrogen and waste lubricating oil on the performance and emissions of a compression ignition engine

The demand for energy is increasing every year. For a long time, fossil fuels have been used to satiate this energy demand. However, using hydrocarbon-based fossil fuels has led to an enormous rise of carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere resulting in global warming. It is therefore necessary to look for alternatives to fossil fuels. The research carried out till date have shown biomass and waste-derived fuels as plausible alternatives to fossil fuels. The biomass feedstock includes jatropha oil, Karanja oil, cottonseed oil, and hemp oil among others and wastes include used cooking oil, used engine oil, used tire and used plastics etc. In this study, the authors aim to explore waste lubrication oil as a fuel for the diesel engine. The used lubrication oil was pyrolyzed and diesel-like fuel with 80% conversion efficiency was obtained. A blend of the fuel and diesel in the ratio of 80:20 on volume basis was prepared. Engine experiments at various load conditions was carried out with the blend. As compared to diesel, a 2% increase in thermal efficiency, 6.3%, 16.1% and 13.6% decrease in smoke, CO and HC emissions & 3.2% and 1.8% increase in NOx and CO₂ emission were observed at full load with the blend. With an aim to further improve the engine performance and reduce the overall emissions from the engine exhaust, a zero-carbon fuel namely gaseous hydrogen was inducted in the intake manifold. The flow rate of hydrogen was varied from 3 to 12 Litres per minute (LPM). As compared to diesel, at maximum hydrogen flow rate the thermal efficiency increased by 12.2%. HC, CO and smoke emissions decreased by 42.4%, 51.6% and 16.8%, whereas NOx emissions increased by 22%. The study shows that the combination of pyrolyzed waste lubricant and hydrogen were found to be suitable as a fuel for an unmodified diesel engine. Such fuel combination can be used for stationary applications such as power backups.     

Using HHO (Hydroxy) and hydrogen enriched castor oil biodiesel in compression ignition engine

Hydrogen and HHO enriched biodiesel fuels have not been investigated extensively for compression ignition engine. This study investigated the performance and emissions characteristics of a diesel engine fueled with hydrogen or HHO enriched Castor oil methyl ester (CME)-diesel blends. The production and blending of CME was carried out with a 20% volumetric ratio (CME20) using diesel fuel. In addition, the enrichment of intake air was carried out using pure HHO or hydrogen through the intake manifold with no structural changes – with the exception of the reduction of the amount of diesel fuel – for a naturally aspirated, four cylinder diesel engine with a volume of 3.6 L. Hydrogen amount was kept constant with a ratio of 10 L/min throughout the experiments. Engine performance parameters, including Brake Power, Brake Torque, Brake Specific Fuel Consumption and exhaust emissions – including NOx and CO, – were tested at engine speeds between 1200 and 2600 rpm. It is seen that HHO enriched CME has better results compared to pure hydrogen enrichment to CME. An average improvement of 4.3% with HHO enriched CME20 was found compared to diesel fuel results while pure hydrogen enriched CME20 fuel resulted with an average increase of 2.6%. Also, it was found that the addition of pure hydrogen to CME had a positive effect on exhaust gas emissions compared to that adding HHO. The effects of both enriched fuels on the engine performance were minimal compared to that of diesel fuel. However, the improvements on exhaust gas emissions were significant.     

A numerical study on the effects of constant volume combustion phase on performance and emissions characteristics of a diesel-hydrogen dual-fuel engine

A detailed numerical study is carried out to investigate the performance of a diesel-hydrogen dual fuel (DF) compression ignition engine operating under a novel combustion strategy in which diesel injection and most of the combustion occur at a constant volume. A detailed validation of the numerical model for diesel-hydrogen DF engine operation has been carried out. Then a parametric study has been performed to investigate the effects of the constant volume combustion phase (CVCP) at up to 90% hydrogen energy share (HES) on engine performance and emissions at low and high load with comparisons to the conventional engine. The results demonstrate that the CVCP strategy can improve thermal efficiency at all HESs and load conditions with far lower carbon-based emissions. Conventional DF engines struggle at low load high HESs due to the reduced diesel injection failing to ignite the leaner premixed charge. Through use of a CVCP thermal efficiency at low load 90% HES increased from 11% to 38% with considerably reduced hydrogen emission due to the increased temperatures and pressures allowing for the wholesale ignition of the hydrogen-air mix. It was also found that increasing the time allowed for combustion within the CVCP, by advancing the diesel injection, can lead to even further thermal efficiency gains while not negatively impacting emissions.     

A computational study to analyze the effect of equivalence ratio and hydrogen volume fraction on the ultra-lean burning of the syngas-fueled HCCI engine

This computational study investigates the equivalence ratio and hydrogen volume fraction effect on the ultra-lean burning of the syngas-fueled homogeneous charge compression ignition (HCCI) engine. In this research, low calorific syngas, composed of different compositions of H2, CO, and CO2, is used as a fuel in the HCCI engine that is operated under an overly lean air-fuel mixture. ANSYS Forte CFD package with Gri-Mech 3.0 chemical kinetics was used to analyze the in-cylinder combustion phenomena, and the simulation results were validated with experimental tests in the form of in-cylinder pressure and heat release rate at different equivalence ratios.The results indicate that changing the equivalence ratio produces a negligible change in combustion phasing, while it positively impacts the combustion and thermal efficiency of this syngas-fueled HCCI engine under lean conditions due to the high burning rate in the squish region. Moreover, an increased equivalence ratio increases MPRR due to the rich mixture combustion. The results also represent that the high-volume fraction of H2 in syngas fuel causes an advanced burning phase, improves the combustion performance of the HCCI engine at all equivalence ratio conditions, and causes slightly high NOx emissions.     

燃料设计改善发动机燃烧和排放的研究(2)--对柴油机燃烧与排放影响的分析

根据本文第一部分提出的含氧燃料设计思想与方法，以碳酸二甲脂(DMC)为例，研究了较宽比例范围内的DMC柴油混合燃料对柴油机的燃烧与排放特性的影响。在一台高速柴油机上测量了各种混合燃料在最高转速下的负荷特性和速度特性，以及主要工况下的示功图，并对燃烧特性进行了分析。试验结果发现：在柴油中加入一定比例的DMC后，由于物性参数的变化和喷雾特性的改善，混合燃料能够改善柴油机的燃烧与排放——热效率得到明显的提高，尤其在低转速下改善显著；烟度和氮氧化物排放同时降低，外特性线上的一氧化碳降低，碳氢排放仍然很低。对燃烧特性的分析发现：DMC柴油混合燃料的着火延迟延长，燃烧速率加快，燃烧持续期缩短。     

Studies on the effect of hydrogen induction on performance,emission and combustion behaviour of a WCO emulsion based dual fuel engine

This paper aims at studying the effect of hydrogen induction on engine performance, emission and combustion behaviour of a diesel engine fuelled with the emulsion of used palm oil (called as WCO-waste cooking oil) as pilot fuel and hydrogen as primary fuel. A single cylinder water-cooled direct injection diesel engine was tested at 100% and 40% loads. Results were compared with neat diesel, neat WCO and WCO emulsion at both loads in single fuel operation. WCO emulsion in single fuel mode indicated improvement in performance and reduction in all emissions as compared to neat WCO. Dual fuel operation with hydrogen induction further reduced the emissions of smoke HC and CO with WCO as pilot fuel at all power outputs. However, hydrogen induction resulted in reduced thermal efficiency at 40% load. WCO emulsion showed higher ignition delay as compared to neat WCO. Dual fuel operation with hydrogen induction increased the ignition delay further. Heat release pattern showed higher premixed combustion rate with hydrogen induction mainly at high power outputs. Premixed combustion rate became very high at higher rates of hydrogen admission mainly at high power output. In general, hydrogen induction showed superior performance at high power output and inferior performance at low power output with WCO emulsion as injected fuel.     

On road experimental tests of hydrogen/natural gas blends on transit buses

The promise of reducing harmful and CO₂ emissions by focusing on hydrogen-methane blends (HCNG) have recently attracted the interest of vehicle manufacturers and transport operators. Several experiments have been conducted in laboratory facilities to assess the potential of HCNG blends in order to decrease the exhaust emissions. This paper reports the results of experimental tests performed at the ENEA Casaccia Research Center aiming to evaluate the energy and environmental performances of a CNG vehicle when fuelled with a hydrogen-methane blend. Two buses for urban transit service were fuelled with HCNG blends with different percentage of hydrogen (5%, 10%, 15%, 20% and 25% of hydrogen by volume). A 100% methane gas was used as reference to compare the advantages and disadvantages that can be derived from the use of HCNG blends. Road tests have been carried out by running fixed tracks, which are representative of urban and suburban driving cycles. Vehicles were powered with a lean burn engine whose setup - based on ignition advance angle, has been tuned for controlling the NO_x emissions. CO₂ emissions have been investigated to evaluate the leverage effect based on an increased CO₂ reduction resulting from an increased engine efficiency.     

An experimental investigation on engine performance and emissions of a supercharged H2-diesel dual-fuel engine

This study investigated the engine performance and emissions of a supercharged engine fueled by hydrogen and ignited by a pilot amount of diesel fuel in dual-fuel mode. The engine was tested for use as a cogeneration engine, so power output while maintaining a reasonable thermal efficiency was important. Experiments were carried out at a constant pilot injection pressure and pilot quantity for different fuel-air equivalence ratios and at various injection timings without and with charge dilution. The experimental strategy was to optimize the injection timing to maximize engine power at different fuel-air equivalence ratios without knocking and within the limit of the maximum cylinder pressure. The engine was tested first with hydrogen-operation condition up to the maximum possible fuel-air equivalence ratio of 0.3. A maximum IMEP of 908 kPa and a thermal efficiency of about 42% were obtained. Equivalence ratio could not be further increased due to knocking of the engine. The emission of CO was only about 5 ppm, and that of HC was about 15 ppm. However, the NOx emissions were high, 100–200 ppm or more. The charge dilution by N₂ was then performed to obtain lower NOx emissions. The 100% reduction of NOx was achieved. Due to the dilution by N₂ gas, higher amount of energy could be supplied from hydrogen without knocking, and about 13% higher IMEP was produced than without charge dilution.