Combustion performance and emission reduction characteristics of automotive DME engine system

This article is a condensed overview of a dimethyl ether (DME) fuel application for a compression ignition diesel engine. In this review article, the spray, atomization, combustion and exhaust emissions characteristics from a DME-fueled engine are described, as well as the fundamental fuel properties including the vapor pressure, kinematic viscosity, cetane number, and the bulk modulus. DME fuel exists as gas phase at atmospheric state and it must be pressurized to supply the liquid DME to fuel injection system. In addition, DME-fueled engine needs the modification of fuel supply and injection system because the low viscosity of DME caused the leakage. Different fuel properties such as low density, viscosity and higher vapor pressure compared to diesel fuel induced the shorter spray tip penetration, wider cone angle, and smaller droplet size than diesel fuel. The ignition of DME fuel in combustion chamber starts in advance compared to diesel or biodiesel fueled compression ignition engine due to higher cetane number than diesel and biodiesel fuels. In addition, DME combustion is soot-free since it has no carbon–carbon bonds, and has lower HC and CO emissions than that of diesel combustion. The NO_x emission from DME-fueled combustion can be reduced by the application of EGR (exhaust gas recirculation). This article also describes various technologies to reduce NO_x emission from DME-fueled engines, such as the multiple injection strategy and premixed combustion. Finally, the development trends of DME-fueled vehicle are described with various experimental results and discussion for fuel properties, spray atomization characteristics, combustion performance, and exhaust emissions characteristics of DME fuel.     

Engine performance and emissions of a diesel engine operating on diesel-RME (rapeseed methyl ester) blends with EGR (exhaust gas recirculation)

The effects of biodiesel (rapeseed methyl ester, RME) and different diesel/RME blends on the diesel engine NO_x emissions, smoke, fuel consumption, engine efficiency, cylinder pressure and net heat release rate are analysed and presented. The combustion of RME as pure fuel or blended with diesel in an unmodified engine results in advanced combustion, reduced ignition delay and increased heat release rate in the initial uncontrolled premixed combustion phase. The increased in-cylinder pressure and temperature lead to increased NO_x emissions while the more advanced combustion assists in the reduction of smoke compared to pure diesel combustion. The lower calorific value of RME results in increased fuel consumption but the engine thermal efficiency is not affected significantly. When similar percentages (% by volume) of exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) are used in the cases of diesel and RME, NO_x emissions are reduced to similar values, but the smoke emissions are significantly lower in the case of RME. The retardation of the injection timing in the case of pure RME and 50/50 (by volume) blend with diesel results in further reduction of NO_x at a cost of small increases of smoke and fuel consumption.     

Combining GTL fuel,reformed EGR and HC-SCR aftertreatment system to reduce diesel NOx emissions. A statistical approach

An ultra-low sulphur diesel (ULSD) fuel and a synthetic gas-to-liquid (GTL) fuel, besides different types of standard and reformed EGR, were evaluated in a single-cylinder, direct injection, diesel engine equipped with hydrocarbon-selective catalytic reduction (HC-SCR) aftertreatment system. The results obtained were statistically analysed (at 95% statistical significance) to identify the most significant factors that affect NO_x emissions and to search for the optimum operation conditions in order to minimize these emissions. For that purpose, a fully crossed factorial experimental design was used, including two different engine speeds (1200 and 1500 rpm), two engine loads (25% and 50%), and four EGR/REGR ratios (0%, 10%, 20% and 30%) resulting in almost one hundred tests. An optimal combination of fuel type, REGR type and REGR ratio was proved to reduce around 89–95% of the reference NO_x emissions. In general, at 25% engine load GTL fuelling combined with the reformed EGR with the highest hydrogen content was found the most desirable, as the hydrogen sharply increased the NO_x conversion in the SCR catalyst. Differently, at 50% load standard EGR was sufficient to reach high NO_x reductions. These findings may be used for the implementation of a system on-board capable to switch from EGR to REGR, which will help engine manufacturers to meet the future emission regulations.     

Study on combustion and emissions of a turbocharged compression ignition engine fueled with dimethyl ether and biodiesel blends

In this study, combustion and emissions characteristics of a turbocharged compression ignition engine fueled with dimethyl ether (DME) and biodiesel blends are experimentally investigated. The effects of nozzle parameter on combustion and emissions are evaluated. The result shows that with the increase of DME proportion, ignition delay, the peak in-cylinder pressure, peak heat-release rate, peak in-cylinder temperature decrease, and their phases retard. Compared to the nozzle 6 × 0.40 mm, the peak cylinder pressure and peak heat-release rate are higher with nozzle 6 × 0.35 mm, and their phases are advanced. Increased DME proportion in fuel blends causes greater differences. Compared to biodiesel, NO_x emissions of blends significantly decrease; HC emissions and CO emissions increase slightly. DME–biodiesel blends can be used as an alternative in a turbocharged CI engine. To obtain low NO_x emissions and a soft engine operation, for high DME proportion blended fuels, nozzle of 6 × 0.40 mm adopted.     

Preparation,characterization, engine combustion and emission characteristics of rapeseed oil based hybrid fuels

In this study, hybrid fuels consisting of rapeseed oil/diesel blend, 1% aqueous ethanol and a surfactant (oleic acid/1-butanol mixture) were prepared and tested as a fuel in a direct injection (DI) diesel engine. The main fuel properties such as the density, viscosity and lower heating value (LHV) of these fuels were measured, and the engine performance, combustion and exhaust emissions were investigated and compared with that of diesel fuel. The experimental results showed that the viscosity and density of the hybrid fuels were decreased and close to that of diesel fuel with the increase of ethanol volume fraction up to 30%. The start of combustion was later than that of diesel fuel and the peak cylinder pressure, peak pressure rise rate and peak heat release rate were higher than those of diesel fuel. The brake specific fuel consumption (BSFC) of hybrid fuels was increased with the volume fraction of ethanol and higher than that of diesel. The brake specific energy consumption (BSEC) was almost identical for all test fuels. The smoke emissions were lower than those for diesel fuel at high engine loads, the NO_x emissions were almost similar to those of diesel fuel, but CO and HC emissions were higher, especially at low engine loads.     

The effects of hydrogen addition on engine power and emission in DME premixed charge compression ignition engine

Premixed-charge compression-ignition (PCCI) combustion of dimethyl-ether (DME) with double injection strategy was investigated in a single-cylinder compression-ignition engine. DME main-injection was replaced by hydrogen to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. To study the effect of hydrogen, the injected amount of hydrogen was increased. Engine performance and emission of DME PCCI combustion were compared to those of hydrogen–DME PCCI combustion. In the DME PCCI engine operation, DME was injected directly into the cylinder at −120 crank angle degrees (°CA) after top dead center (aTDC) to simulate homogeneous charge at first, and then DME was injected secondly with varied second injection timing. In this case, DME injection timing in the second stage affected the engine performance and emissions. Delayed combustion phase showed a higher indicated mean effective pressure (IMEP), while it increased NO_x emission when DME second injection is retarded. In the hydrogen–DME PCCI, hydrogen was injected at intake port with fixed injection timing. DME injection timing in hydrogen–DME PCCI combustion was also varied from −120 °CA to TDC, as in the DME PCCI engine operation. The total supplied heating value was fixed at 400 J for all cases. DME injection timing determined the start of combustion for the hydrogen–DME PCCI. With increasing the amount of hydrogen, exhaust emissions were reduced. Hydrogen–DME PCCI engine was operated with minimum amount of DME via the hydrogen addition and DME injection timing control. The optimized DME injection timing, −30 °CA aTDC, resulted in a lower exhaust emission-operation, while maintaining a higher IMEP.     

Experimental study of the performances of a modified diesel engine operating in homogeneous charge compression ignition (HCCI) combustion mode versus the original diesel combustion mode

Homogeneous charge compression ignition (HCCI) combustion mode provides very low NO_x and soot emissions; however, it has some challenges associated with hydrocarbon (HC) emissions, fuel consumption, difficult control of start of ignition and bad behaviour to high loads. Cooled exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) is a common way to control in-cylinder NO_x production in diesel and HCCI combustion mode. However EGR has different effects on combustion and emissions, which are difficult to distinguish. This work is intended to characterize an engine that has been modified from the base diesel engine (FL1 906 DEUTZ-DITER) to work in HCCI combustion mode. It shows the experimental results for the modified diesel engine in HCCI combustion mode fueled with commercial diesel fuel compared to the diesel engine mode. An experimental installation, in conjunction with systematic tests to determine the optimum crank angle of fuel injection, has been used to measure the evolution of the cylinder pressure and to get an estimate of the heat release rate from a single-zone numerical model. From these the angle of start of combustion has been obtained. The performances and emissions of HC, CO and the huge reduction of NO_x and smoke emissions of the engine are presented. These results have allowed a deeper analysis of the effects of external EGR on the HCCI operation mode, on some engine design parameters and also on NO_x emission reduction.     

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.     

Emission and performance estimation in hydrogen injection strategies on diesel engines

Recently, the increasing demand for energy requires the use of alternative fuels, especially in fossil fueled power systems. As a promising alternative fuel for next-generation diesel engines that utilize fossil fuel, hydrogen fuel is one step ahead due to its positive properties. In this study, the effects of hydrogen on the performance of a diesel engine have been numerically investigated with respect to different injection ratios and timings. The numerical results of the study for 25% load conditions on a single-cylinder, four-stroke diesel engine have been validated against experimental data taken from literature and good agreement has been observed for pressure results. Emission parameters such as NO_x, CO and performance parameters such as cylinder temperature, pressure, power, thermal efficiency and IMEP are presented comparatively.The results of numerical analyses show that the maximum pressure, temperature and heat release rate are observed with injection ratio of H15 and early injection timing (20° CA BTDC). Besides that, engine power, thermal efficiency and IMEP are greatly improved with increasing injection ratio and early injection timing. Although combustion chamber performance parameters improve with rising the hydrogen injection ratio, higher NO_x emissions have also been detected as a negative side effect. Furthermore, while early injection timing increases diesel engine performance, it also causes an increase in NO_x emissions. Therefore, precise determination of injection timing together with the optimum amount of hydrogen has revealed that it brings crucial improvement in engine performance and emissions.     

Investigation of the effects of hydrogen on cylinder pressure in a split-injection diesel engine at heavy EGR

The distinctive properties of hydrogen have initiated considerable applied research related to the internal combustion engine. Recently, it has been reported that NO_x emissions were reduced by using hydrogen in a diesel engine at low temperature and heavy EGR conditions. As the continuing study, cylinder pressure was also investigated to determine the combustion characteristics and their relationship to NO_x emissions. The test engine was operated at constant speed and fixed diesel fuel injection rate (1500 rpm, 2.5 kg/h). Diesel fuel was injected in a split pattern into a 2-L diesel engine. The cylinder pressure was measured for different hydrogen flow rates and EGR ratios. The intake manifold temperature was controlled to be the same to avoid the gas intake temperature variations under the widely differing levels (2%-31%) of EGR. The measured cylinder pressure was analyzed for characteristic combustion values, such as mass burn fraction and combustion duration.The rising crank angle of the heat release rate was unaffected by the presence of hydrogen. However, supplying hydrogen extended the main combustion duration. This longer main combustion duration was particularly noticeable at the heavy EGR condition. It correlated well with the reduced NO_x emissions.     

Influence of biodiesel on engine combustion and emission characteristics

This paper discusses the influence of biodiesel on the engine combustion characteristics. The considered fuel is neat biodiesel from rapeseed oil. The considered engine is a bus diesel engine with injection M system. The engine characteristics are obtained by experiments and numerical simulation. The results obtained with biodiesel are compared to those obtained with mineral diesel under various operating regimes. In this way, the influences of biodiesel usage on the injection pressure, injection timing, ignition delay, in-cylinder gas pressure and temperature, heat release rate, exhaust gas temperatures, harmful emissions, specific fuel consumption, and on engine power are analyzed. Furthermore, the relationships among fuel properties, injection and combustion characteristics, harmful emissions, and other engine performance are determined. Special attention is given to possible explanations of higher NO_x emission in spite of lower in-cylinder gas temperature.     

Study of combustion and emission characteristics of turbocharged diesel engine fuelled with dimethylether

An experimental study of a turbocharged diesel engine operating on dimethyl ether (DME) was conducted. The combustion and emission characteristics of the DME engine were investigated. The results show that the maximum torque and power of DME are greater than those of diesel, particularly at low speeds; the brake specific fuel consumption of DME is lower than that of diesel at low and middle engine speeds, and the injection delay of DME is longer than that of diesel. However, the maximum cylinder pressure, maximum pressure rise rate and combustion noises of the DME engine are lower than those of diesel. The combustion velocity of DME is faster than that of diesel, resulting in a shorter combustion duration of DME. Compared with the diesel engine, NO _x emission of the DME engine is reduced by 41.6% on ESC data. In addition, the DME engine is smoke free at any operating condition. __________ Translated from Transactions of CSICE, 2006, 24(3): 193–199 [译自: 内燃机学报]     

The effect of fuel injection on NOx emissions and undesirable combustion for hydrogen-fuelled piston engines

In order to determine the potential of direct cylinder injection for hydrogen-fuelled engines, an experimental study was performed with an ASTM-CFR engine. Both the standard Otto head and the standard diesel head were used. Measurements were made of power output, thermal efficiency, and oxides of nitrogen emissions. The feasibility was investigated of a scheme in which injection of gaseous hydrogen starts late in the compression stroke, ignition occurs as soon as possible thereafter, and combustion rate is determined by injection rate. This scheme prevents undesirable combustion phenomena such as pre-ignition, high rates of cylinder pressure rise, and high amplitude pressure waves in the cylinder. Furthermore, it obviates flashback into the carburetor. The potential of hydrogen as a low pollution fuel was investigated by operating the Otto head engine on both hydrogen and indolene, and by comparing the resulting NO_x, emissions. Hydrogen yielded very low NO_x emissions provided the fuel-air equivalence ratio was less than 0.5, and provided the hydrogen and air were well mixed. For equivalence ratios greater than 0.5, hydrogen yielded NO_x emissions that were higher than those obtained with indolene. The timing of hydrogen injection was found to have a significant effect on NO_x emissions. With an unthrottled air intake and hydrogen injection at equivalence ratios between 0.3 and 0.8, indicated mean effective pressures ranged from 0.3 to 0.78 MPa. Corresponding indicated thermal efficiencies ranged from 43 to 31%. By decreasing the equivalence ratio to 0.1, the IMEP could be reduced to 0.07 MPa, thus providing an indicated load range of more than a factor of 10.     

Study of antioxidant effect on oxidation stability and emissions in a methyl ester of neem oil fuelled DI diesel engine

Biodiesel as an alternative diesel fuel prepared from vegetable oils or animal fats has attracted more and more attention because of its renewable and environmental-friendly nature. But biodiesel undergoes oxidation and degenerate more quickly than mineral diesel. Further several studies report NO_x emissions increases for biodiesel fuel compared with conventional diesel fuel. In this paper, the experimental investigation of the effect of antioxidant additive (Butylated hydroxytoluene) on oxidation stability and NO_x emissions in a methyl ester of neem oil fuelled direct injection diesel engine has been reported. The antioxidant additive is mixed in various proportions (100–400 ppm) with methyl ester of neem oil. The oxidation stability was tested in Rancimat apparatus and emissions, performance in a computerized 4-stroke water-cooled single cylinder diesel engine of 3.5 kW rated power. Results show that the antioxidant additive is effective in increasing the oxidation stability and in controlling the NO_x emissions of methyl ester of neem oil fuelled diesel engines.     

The effects of turbocharger on the performance and exhaust emissions of a diesel engine fuelled with biodiesel

This paper investigates the effects of turbocharger on the performance of a diesel engine using diesel fuel and biodiesel in terms of brake power, torque, brake specific consumption and thermal efficiency, as well as CO and NO_x emissions. For this aim, a naturally aspirated four-stroke direct injection diesel engine was tested with diesel fuel and neat biodiesel, which is rapeseed oil methyl ester, at full load conditions at the speeds between 1200 and 2400 rpm with intervals of 200 rpm. Then, a turbocharger system was installed on the engine and the tests were repeated for both fuel cases. The evaluation of experimental data showed that the brake thermal efficiency of biodiesel was slightly higher than that of diesel fuel in both naturally aspirated and turbocharged conditions, while biodiesel yielded slightly lower brake power and torque along with higher fuel consumption values. It was also observed that emissions of CO in the operations with biodiesel were lower than those in the operations with diesel fuel, whereas NO_x emission in biodiesel operation was higher. This study reveals that the use of biodiesel improves the performance parameters and decreases CO emissions of the turbocharged engine compared to diesel fuel.     

Influence of high rates of supplemental cooled EGR on NOx and PM emissions of an automotive HSDI diesel engine using an LP EGR loop

Previous experimental studies on diesel engine have demonstrated the potential of exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) as an in‐cylinder NO_x control method. Although an increase in EGR at constant boost pressure (substitution EGR) is accompanied with an increase in particulate matter (PM) emissions in the conventional diesel high‐temperature combustion (HTC), the recirculation of exhaust gases supplementary to air inlet gas (supplemental EGR) by increasing the boost pressure has been suggested as a way to reduce NO_x emissions while limiting the negative impact of EGR on PM emissions. In the present work, a low‐pressure (LP) EGR loop is implemented on a standard 2.0 l automotive high‐speed direct injection (HSDI) turbocharged diesel engine to study the influence of high rates of supplemental cooled EGR on NO_x and PM emissions. Contrary to initial high‐pressure (HP) EGR loop, the gas flow through the turbine is unchanged while varying the EGR rate. Thus, by closing the variable geometry turbine (VGT) vanes, higher boost pressure can be reached, allowing the use of high rates of supplemental EGR. Furthermore, recirculated exhaust gases are cooled under 50°C and water vapour is condensed and taken off from the recirculated gases. An increase in the boost pressure at a given inlet temperature and dilution ratio (DR) results in most cases an increase in NO_x emissions and a decrease in PM emissions. The result of NO_x–PM trade‐off, while varying the EGR rate at fixed inlet temperature and boost pressure depends on the operating point: it deteriorates at low load conditions, but improves at higher loads. Further improvement can be obtained by increasing the injection pressure. A decrease by approximately 50% of NO_x emissions while maintaining PM emission level, and brake specific fuel consumption can be obtained with supplemental cooled EGR owing to an LP EGR loop, compared with the initial engine configuration (HP moderately cooled EGR). Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Effect of injection parameters on the combustion and emission characteristics in a common-rail direct injection diesel engine fueled with waste cooking oil biodiesel

The objective of this paper was to study the effects of the injection pressure and injection timing on the combustion and emission characteristics in a single-cylinder common-rail direct injection (CRDI) diesel engine fueled with waste cooking oil (WCO) biodiesel and commercial diesel fuel. The fuel property including fatty acid composition for the biodiesel were measured and compared with those of the conventional diesel fuel. The engine tests were conducted at two injection pressures (80 and 160 MPa) and different injection timings from −25 to 0 crank angle degree (CAD) after top dead center (aTDC) under two different engine loads. The results showed that the indicated specific fuel consumption (ISFC) with respect to the injection timings of the biodiesel was higher than that of the diesel fuel under all experimental conditions. The peak cylinder pressure and the peak heat release rate of the biodiesel were slightly lower, while the ignition delay was slightly longer under all operating conditions. In terms of emissions, the biodiesel had benefits in reduction of smoke, carbon monoxide (CO), hydrocarbon (HC) emissions especially with high fuel injection pressure. The nitrogen oxide (NO_x) emissions of the biodiesel were relatively higher than those of the diesel under all experimental conditions.     

Effects of Fischer-Tropsch diesel fuel on combustion and emissions of direct injection diesel engine

Effects of Fischer-Tropsch (F-T) diesel fuel on the combustion and emission characteristics of a single-cylinder direct injection diesel engine under different fuel delivery advance angles were investigated. The experimental results show that F-T diesel fuel exhibits shorter ignition delay, lower peak values of premixed burning rate, lower combustion pressure and pressure rise rate, and higher peak value of diffusion burning rate than conventional diesel fuel when the engine remains unmodified. In addition, the unmodified engine with F-T diesel fuel has lower brake specific fuel consumption and higher effective thermal efficiency, and presents lower HC, CO, NO _x and smoke emissions than conventional diesel fuel. When fuel delivery advance angle is retarded by 3 crank angle degrees, the combustion duration is obviously shortened; the peak values of premixed burning rate, the combustion pressure and pressure rise rate are further reduced; and the peak value of diffusion burning rate is further increased for F-T diesel fuel operation. Moreover, the retardation of fuel delivery advance angle results in a further significant reduction in NO _x emissions with no penalty on specific fuel consumption and with much less penalty on HC, CO and smoke emissions. __________ Translated from Chinese Internal Combustion Engine Engineering, 2007, 28(2): 19–23 [译自: 内燃机工程]     

Experimental investigation of control of NOx emissions in biodiesel-fueled compression ignition engine

Biodiesel is an alternative fuel consisting of the alkyl esters of fatty acids from vegetable oils or animal fats. Vegetable oils are produced from numerous oil seed crops (edible and non-edible), e.g., rapeseed oil, linseed oil, rice bran oil, soybean oil, etc. Research has shown that biodiesel-fueled engines produce less carbon monoxide (CO), unburned hydrocarbon (HC), and particulate emissions compared to mineral diesel fuel but higher NO_x emissions. Exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) is effective to reduce NO_x from diesel engines because it lowers the flame temperature and the oxygen concentration in the combustion chamber. However, EGR results in higher particulate matter (PM) emissions. Thus, the drawback of higher NO_x emissions while using biodiesel may be overcome by employing EGR. The objective of current research work is to investigate the usage of biodiesel and EGR simultaneously in order to reduce the emissions of all regulated pollutants from diesel engines. A two-cylinder, air-cooled, constant speed direct injection diesel engine was used for experiments. HCs, NO_x, CO, and opacity of the exhaust gas were measured to estimate the emissions. Various engine performance parameters such as thermal efficiency, brake specific fuel consumption (BSFC), and brake specific energy consumption (BSEC), etc. were calculated from the acquired data. Application of EGR with biodiesel blends resulted in reductions in NO_x emissions without any significant penalty in PM emissions or BSEC.     

The effects of injection timing on NOx emissions of a low heat rejection indirect diesel injection engine

Higher NO_x is one of the major problems to be overcomed in a low heat rejection (LHR) diesel engine as insulation leads to an increase in combustion temperature about 200–250 °C compared to an identical standard (STD) diesel engine. High combustion temperatures alter optimum injection timing of a LHR engine. With the proper adjustment of the injection timing, it is possible to partially offset the adverse effect of insulation on heat release rate and hence to obtain improved performance and lower NO_x. However, the injection timing and brake specific fuel consumption (BSFC) trade-off must be considered together in performance and NO_x emission point of view. In this study, optimum injection timing was found with 4 crank angle (34° CA) retarded before top dead centre (BTDC) in LHR diesel engine in comparison to that of STD diesel engine (38° CA BTDC). When the LHR engine was operated with the injection timing of the 38 crank angle, which is the optimum value of the STD engine, it was shown that NO_x emission increased about 15%. However, when the injection timing was retarded to 34° CA in the LHR case, it was observed a decrease on the NO_x emissions with about 40% and the brake specific fuel consumption (BSFC) with about 6% compared to that of the STD case. Thus, by retarding the injection timing, an additional 1.5% saving in fuel consumption was obtained.