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.     

Experimental investigations on a hydrogen diesel homogeneous charge compression ignition engine with exhaust gas recirculation

In this experimental study, hydrogen was inducted along with air and diesel was injected into the cylinder using a high pressure common rail system, in a single cylinder homogeneous charge compression ignition engine. An electronic controller was used to set the required injection timing of diesel for best thermal efficiency. The influences of hydrogen to diesel energy ratio, output of the engine and exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) on performance, emissions and combustion were studied in detail. An increase in the amount of hydrogen improved the thermal efficiency by retarding the combustion process. It also lowered the exhaust emissions. Large amounts of hydrogen and EGR were needed at high outputs for suppressing knock. The range of operation was brake mean effective pressures of 2–4 bar. The levels of HC and CO emitted were not significantly influenced by the amount of hydrogen that was used.     

Effect of advancing the closing angle of the intake valves on diffusion-controlled combustion in a HD diesel engine

An experimental investigation has been performed on the modification of in-cylinder gas thermodynamic conditions by advancing the intake valve closing angle in a HD diesel engine. The consequences on the diffusion-controlled combustion process have been analysed in detail, including the evolution of exhaust emissions and engine efficiency. This research has been carried out at full load (100%) and low engine speed (1200 rpm) with the aim of generating a long and stable diffusion-controlled combustion process. The intake oxygen mass concentration was kept at 17.4% to obtain low NO_x levels in all cases. The required flexibility on intake valve motion has been attained by means of an electro-hydraulic variable valve actuation system. The results obtained from advancing the intake valve closing angle (IVC) have shown an important reduction on in-cylinder gas pressure and density, whereas the gas temperature showed less sensitivity. Consequently, the diffusion-controlled combustion process is slowed down mainly due to the lower in-cylinder gas density and oxygen availability. Important effects of advancing IVC have also been observed on pollutant emissions and engine efficiency. Where NO_x production decreases, soot emissions increase. Finally, the results of pollutant emissions and engine efficiency have been compared with those obtained retarding the start of injection.     

Experimental study of stratified lean burn characteristics on a dual injection gasoline engine

Due to increasingly stringent fuel consumption and emission regulation, improving thermal efficiency and reducing particulate matter emissions are two main issues for next generation gasoline engine. Lean burn mode could greatly reduce pumping loss and decrease the fuel consumption of gasoline engines, although the burning rate is decreased by higher diluted intake air. In this study, dual injection stratified combustion mode is used to accelerate the burning rate of lean burn by increasing the fuel concentration near the spark plug. The effects of engine control parameters such as the excess air coefficient (Lambda), direct injection (DI) ratio, spark interval with DI, and DI timing on combustion, fuel consumption, gaseous emissions, and particulate emissions of a dual injection gasoline engine are studied. It is shown that the lean burn limit can be extended to Lambda= 1.8 with a low compression ratio of 10, while the fuel consumption can be obviously improved at Lambda= 1.4. There exists a spark window for dual injection stratified lean burn mode, in which the spark timing has a weak effect on combustion. With optimization of the control parameters, the brake specific fuel consumption (BSFC) decreases 9.05% more than that of original stoichiometric combustion with DI as 2 bar brake mean effective pressure (BMEP) at a 2000 r/min engine speed. The NO_x emissions before three-way catalyst (TWC) are 71.31% lower than that of the original engine while the particle number (PN) is 81.45% lower than the original engine. The dual injection stratified lean burn has a wide range of applications which can effectively reduce fuel consumption and particulate emissions. The BSFC reduction rate is higher than 5% and the PN reduction rate is more than 50% with the speed lower than 2400 r/min and the load lower than 5 bar.     

Effect of hydrogen addition on combustion and emissions performance of a spark ignition gasoline engine at lean conditions

Hydrogen has many excellent combustion properties that can be used for improving combustion and emissions performance of gasoline-fueled spark ignition (SI) engines. In this paper, an experimental study was carried out on a four-cylinder 1.6 L engine to explore the effect of hydrogen addition on enhancing the engine lean operating performance. The engine was modified to realize hydrogen port injection by installing four hydrogen injectors in the intake manifolds. The injection timings and durations of hydrogen and gasoline were governed by a self-developed electronic control unit (DECU) according to the commands from a calibration computer. The engine was run at 1400 rpm, a manifold absolute pressure (MAP) of 61.5 kPa and various excess air ratios. Two hydrogen volume fractions in the total intake of 3% and 6% were applied to check the effect of hydrogen addition fraction on engine combustion. The test results showed that brake thermal efficiency was improved and kept roughly constant in a wide range of excess air ratio after hydrogen addition, the maximum brake thermal efficiency was increased from 26.37% of the original engine to 31.56% of the engine with a 6% hydrogen blending level. However, brake mean effective pressure (Bmep) was decreased by hydrogen addition at stoichiometric conditions, but when the engine was further leaned out Bmep increased with the increase of hydrogen addition fraction. The flame development and propagation durations, cyclic variation, HC and CO₂ emissions were reduced with hydrogen addition. When excess air ratio was approaching stoichiometric conditions, CO emission tended to increase with the addition of hydrogen. However, when the engine was gradually leaned out, CO emission from the hydrogen-enriched engine was lower than the original one. NO_x emissions increased with the increase of hydrogen addition due to the raised cylinder temperature.     

CFD analysis of hydrogen injection pressure and valve profile law effects on backfire and pre-ignition phenomena in hydrogen-diesel dual fuel engine

This paper focuses on optimizing the hydrogen TMI (timed manifold injection) system through valve lift law and hydrogen injection parameters (pressure, injection inclination and timing) in order to prevent backfire phenomena and improve the volumetric efficiency and mixture formation quality of a dual fuel diesel engine operating at high load and high hydrogen energy share. This was achieved through a numerical simulation using CFD code ANSYS Fluent, developed for a single cylinder hydrogen-diesel dual fuel engine, at constant engine speed of 1500 rpm, 90% of load and 42.5% hydrogen energy share. The developed tool was validated using experimental data. As a results, the operating conditions of maximum valve lift = 10.60 mm and inlet valve closing = 30 °CA ABDC (MVL10 IVC30) prevent the engine from backfire and pre-ignition, and ensure a high volumetric efficiency. Moreover, a hydrogen start of injection of 60 °CA ATDC (HSOI60) is appropriate to provide a pre-cooling effect and thus, reduce the pre-ignition sources and helps to quench any hot residual combustion products. While, the hydrogen injection pressure of 2.7 bar and an inclination of 60°, stimulate a better quality of hydrogen-air mixture. Afterwards, a comparison between combustion characteristics of the optimized hydrogen-diesel dual fuel mode and the baseline (diesel mode) was conducted. The result was, under dual fuel mode there is an increase in combustion characteristics and NOx emissions as well as a decrease in CO2 emissions. For further improvement of dual fuel mode, retarding diesel start of injection (DSOI) strategy was used.     

The effect of injection timing and intake valve close timing on performance and emissions of diesel PCCI engine with a full engine cycle CFD simulation

A full-cycle computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation coupled with detailed chemical kinetics mechanism has been used to investigate the effect of start of injection (SOI) timing and intake valve close (IVC) timing on performance and emissions of diesel premixed charge compression ignition (PCCI) engine. By sweeping SOI timing from −35 to −5 °CA ATDC and IVC timing from −140 to −80 °CA ATDC with fixed 50% exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) and 1.8 bar intake pressure, the contour plots for ignition timing, nitric oxides (NO_x), soot, hydrocarbon (HC), carbon monoxide (CO), indicated specific fuel consumption (ISFC), and ringing intensity have been developed. The results indicate that the operating range can be divided into kinetically controlled region and mixing-controlled region, in which the ignition timing is solely controlled by IVC timing and SOI timing respectively. To Minimize HC, CO, NO_x and soot emissions, SOI timing must be carefully adjusted within a limited range. With the retarded IVC timing, the operating range of SOI becomes wider for clean combustion. The IVC timing should be optimized with consideration of ignition timing and combustion efficiency at different SOI timing in order to improve fuel economy. For purpose of avoiding engine knock, the SOI timing around −20 °CA ATDC and early IVC timing are pursued.     

Numerical investigation on combustion regulation for a stoichiometric heavy-duty natural gas engine with hydrogen addition considering knock limitation

Aiming to further improve the thermal efficiency and reduce NO_x emissions in the stoichiometric hydrogen-enriched natural gas (NG) engine, a detailed 3-D simulation model of stoichiometric operation heavy-duty NG engine is built based on the actual boundary conditions from high load bench test. The superimposed methods for knock regulation, combustion and emission control, including Miller valve timing, hydrogen volume fraction and EGR rate were proposed and investigated comprehensively. It reveals that the typically bimodal characteristic of heat release rate (HRR) curve is caused by knock, which seriously restricts the performance improvement of stoichiometric NG engine under high load condition. To predict and control the occurrence of the second peak of HHR accurately, a new parameter BI is defined. Moreover, the Miller timing with 20°CA of the intake valve late closing shows better combustion performance within the knock limit, accompanied by a slight increase in NO_x emissions. Additionally, the 5% hydrogen blend, coupled with the Miller cycle, can further enhance the indicated thermal efficiency (ITE) of the NG engine due to the stronger effects on acceleration of laminar flame propagation velocity than the promotion of end-gas auto-ignition. Besides, the great potential of EGR rate for balancing NO_x and ITE is also confirmed in the heavy-duty hydrogen-enriched NG engine adopting Miller cycle. Compared to the original indexes, combing with the regulation strategies of intake valve late closing (20°CA), hydrogen addition (5%) and EGR (17%) are proved to increase the indicated thermal efficiency by 1.89% and reduce NO_x emissions by 11.47% within the knock limit.     

Experimental investigation of combustion characteristics and NOx emission of a turbocharged hydrogen internal combustion engine

In order to alleviate the contradictions of increasingly prominent environmental pollution, greenhouse gas emissions and oil resource security issues, the search for renewable and clean alternative energy sources is getting more and more attention. Hydrogen energy is known as a future energy source because of its safety, reliability, wide range of resources and non-polluting products. Hydrogen internal combustion engine combines the technical advantages of traditional internal combustion engines and has comprehensive comparative advantages in terms of manufacturing cost, fuel adaptability and reliability. It is one of the practical ways to realize hydrogen energy utilization. In this paper, the combustion characteristics and NOx emission of a turbocharged hydrogen engine were investigated using the test data. The results showed the combustion duration (the crank angle of 10%–90% fuel burned) at 1500 rpm and 2000 rpm was equal and the combustion duration is much bigger than the other loads when the BMEP is 0.27 MPa. The reason is the effect of the turbocharger on the gas exchange process, which will influence the combustion process. The cylinder pressure and pressure rise rate were also investigated and the peak pressure rise rate was lower than 0.25 MPa/°CA at all working conditions. Moreover, the NOx emission changed from 300 ppm to 1200 ppm with engine speed increasing and the maximum value can reach to 7000 ppm when the equivalence ratio is 0.88 at 2500 rpm, maximum brake torque. The NOx emission shows different changing tendencies with different working conditions. Finally, these conclusions can be used to develop controlling strategies to solve the contradictions among power, brake thermal efficiency and NOx emission for the turbocharged hydrogen internal combustion engines.     

Direct injection of hydrogen main fuel and diesel pilot fuel in a retrofitted single-cylinder compression ignition engine

Up to 90% hydrogen energy fraction was achieved in a hydrogen diesel dual-fuel direct injection (H2DDI) light-duty single-cylinder compression ignition engine. An automotive-size inline single-cylinder diesel engine was modified to install an additional hydrogen direct injector. The engine was operated at a constant speed of 2000 revolutions per minute and fixed combustion phasing of ?10 crank angle degrees before top dead centre (°CA bTDC) while evaluating the power output, efficiency, combustion and engine-out emissions. A parametric study was conducted at an intermediate load with 20–90% hydrogen energy fraction and 180-0 °CA bTDC injection timing. High indicated mean effective pressure (IMEP) of up to 943 kPa and 57.2% indicated efficiency was achieved at 90% hydrogen energy fraction, at the expense of NO_x emissions. The hydrogen injection timing directly controls the mixture condition and combustion mode. Early hydrogen injection timings exhibited premixed combustion behaviour while late injection timings produced mixing-controlled combustion, with an intermediate point reached at 40 °CA bTDC hydrogen injection timing. At 90% hydrogen energy fraction, the earlier injection timing leads to higher IMEP/efficiency but the NO_x increase is inevitable due to enhanced premixed combustion. To keep the NO_x increase minimal and achieve the same combustion phasing of a diesel baseline, the 40 °CA bTDC hydrogen injection timing shows the best performance at which 85.9% CO₂ reduction and 13.3% IMEP/efficiency increase are achieved.     

Performance and emission studies on port injection of hydrogen with varied flow rates with Diesel as an ignition source

Automobiles are one of the major sources of air pollution in the environment. In addition CO₂ emission, a product of complete combustion also has become a serious issue due to global warming effect. Hence the search for cleaner alternative fuels has become mandatory. Hydrogen is expected to be one of the most important fuels in the near future for solving the problems of air pollution and greenhouse gas problems (carbon dioxide), thereby protecting the environment. Hence in the present work, an experimental investigation has been carried out using hydrogen in the dual fuel mode in a Diesel engine system. In the study, a Diesel engine was converted into a dual fuel engine and hydrogen fuel was injected into the intake port while Diesel was injected directly inside the combustion chamber during the compression stroke. Diesel injected inside the combustion chamber will undergo combustion first which in-turn would ignite the hydrogen that will also assist the Diesel combustion. Using electronic control unit (ECU), the injection timings and injection durations were varied for hydrogen injection while for Diesel the injection timing was 23° crank angle (CA) before injection top dead centre (BITDC). Based on the performance, combustion and emission characteristics, the optimized injection timing was found to be 5° CA before gas exchange top dead centre (BGTDC) with injection duration of 30° CA for hydrogen Diesel dual fuel operation. The optimum hydrogen flow rate was found to be 7.5 lpm. Results indicate that the brake thermal efficiency in hydrogen Diesel dual fuel operation increases by 15% compared to Diesel fuel at 75% load. The NO_X emissions were higher by 1–2% in dual fuel operation at full load compared to Diesel. Smoke emissions are lower in the entire load spectra due to the absence of carbon in hydrogen fuel. The carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions were lesser in hydrogen Diesel dual fuel operation compared to Diesel. The use of hydrogen in the dual fuel mode in a Diesel engine improves the performance and reduces the exhaust emissions from the engine except for HC and NO_X emissions.     

Study on combustion and emission characteristics of a n-butanol engine with hydrogen direct injection under lean burn conditions

The n-butanol fuel, as a renewable and clean biofuel, could ease the energy crisis and decrease the harmful emissions. As another clean and renewable energy, hydrogen properly offset the high HC emissions and the insufficient of dynamic property of pure n-butanol fuel in SI engines, because of the high diffusion coefficient, high adiabatic flame velocity and low heat value. Hydrogen direct injection not only avoids backfire and lower intake efficiency but also promotes to form in-cylinder stratified mixture, which is helpful to enhance combustion and reduce emissions. This experimental study focused on the combustion and emissions characteristics of a hydrogen direct injection stratified n-butanol engine. Three different hydrogen addition fractions (0%, 2.5%, 5%) were used under five different spark timing (10° ,15° ,20° ,25° ,30° CA BTDC). Engine speed and excess air ratio stabled at 1500 rpm and 1.2 respectively. The direct injection timing of the hydrogen was optimized to form a beter stratified mixture. The obtained results demonstrated that brake power and brake thermal efficiency are increased by addition hydrogen directly injected. The BSFC is decreased with the addition of hydrogen. The peak cylinder pressure and the instantaneous heat release rate raises with the increase of the hydrogen addition fraction. In addition, the HC and CO emissions drop while the NOx emissions sharply rise with the addition of hydrogen. As a whole, with hydrogen direct injection, the power and fuel economy performance of n-butanol engine are markedly improved, harmful emissions are partly decreased.     

Availability analysis of a syngas fueled spark ignition engine using a multi-zone combustion model

A previously developed and validated zero-dimensional, multi-zone, thermodynamic combustion model for the prediction of spark ignition (SI) engine performance and nitric oxide (NO) emissions has been extended to include second-law analysis. The main characteristic of the model is the division of the burned gas into several distinct zones, in order to account for the temperature and chemical species stratification developed in the burned gas during combustion. Within the framework of the multi-zone model, the various availability components constituting the total availability of each of the multiple zones of the simulation are identified and calculated separately. The model is applied to a multi-cylinder, four-stroke, turbocharged and aftercooled, natural gas (NG) SI gas engine running on synthesis gas (syngas) fuel. The major part of the unburned mixture availability consists of the chemical contribution, ranging from 98% at the inlet valve closing (IVC) event to 83% at the ignition timing of the total availability for the 100% load case, which is due to the presence of the combustible fuel. On the contrary, the multiple burned zones possess mainly thermomechanical availability. Specifically, again for the 100% load case, the total availability of the first burned zone at the exhaust valve opening (EVO) event consists of thermomechanical availability approximately by 90%, with similar percentages for all other burned zones. Two definitions of the combustion exergetic efficiency are used to explore the degree of reversibility of the combustion process in each of the multiple burned zones. It is revealed that the crucial factor determining the thermodynamic perfection of combustion in each burned zone is the level of the temperatures at which combustion occurs in the zone, with minor influence of the whole temperature history of the zone during the complete combustion phase. The availability analysis is extended to various engine loads. The engine in question is supplied with increasingly leaner mixtures as loads rise in order to keep the emitted nitrogen oxides (NO_x) low. Therefore, in-cylinder combustion temperatures are reduced, resulting in increased destruction of availability due to combustion and reduced availability losses due to heat transfer with the cylinder walls, when expressed as percentages of the fuel chemical availability. Specifically, when engine load increases from 40% to 100% of full load, with the relative air–fuel ratio also increasing from 1.56 to 1.83, the destroyed availability due to combustion rises from 14.19% to 15.02% of the fuel chemical availability, while the respective percentage of the cumulative availability loss due to heat transfer decreases from 13.37% to 9.05%.     

Effect of hydrogen addition on the idle performance of a spark ignited gasoline engine at stoichiometric condition

With regard to the improvement of efficiency, combustion stability, and emissions in a gasoline engine at idle condition, an experimental study aimed at improving engine idle performance through hydrogen addition was carried out on a 4-cylinder gasoline-fueled spark ignited (SI) engine. The engine was modified to be fueled with the mixture of gasoline and hydrogen injected into the intake ports simultaneously. A self-developed electronic control unit (DECU) was dedicatedly used to control the injection timings and injection durations of gasoline and hydrogen. Other parameters, such as spark timing and idle valve opening, were controlled by the original engine electronic control unit (OECU). Various hydrogen enrichment levels were selected to investigate the effect of hydrogen addition on engine speed fluctuation, thermal efficiency, combustion characteristics, cyclic variation and emissions under idle and stoichiometric conditions. The experimental results showed that thermal efficiency, combustion performance, NO_x emissions are improved with the increase of hydrogen addition level. The HC and CO emissions first decrease with the increasing hydrogen enrichment level, but when hydrogen energy fraction exceeds 14.44%, it begins to increase again at idle and stoichiometric conditions.     

Combustion and emissions characteristics of a hybrid hydrogen–gasoline engine under various loads and lean conditions

The addition of hydrogen is an effective way for improving the gasoline engine performance at lean conditions. In this paper, an experiment aiming at studying the effect of hydrogen addition on combustion and emissions characteristics of a spark-ignited (SI) gasoline engine under various loads and lean conditions was carried out. An electronically controlled hydrogen port-injection system was added to the original engine while keeping the gasoline injection system unchanged. A hybrid electronic control unit was developed and applied to govern the spark timings, injection timings and durations of hydrogen and gasoline. The test was performed at a constant engine speed of 1400 rpm, which could represent the engine speed in the typical city-driving conditions with a heavy traffic. Two hydrogen volume fractions in the total intake of 0% and 3% were achieved through adjusting the hydrogen injection duration according to the air flow rate. At a specified hydrogen addition level, gasoline flow rate was decreased to ensure that the excess air ratios were kept at 1.2 and 1.4, respectively. For a given hydrogen blending fraction and excess air ratio, the engine load, which was represented by the intake manifolds absolute pressure (MAP), was increased by increasing the opening of the throttle valve. The spark timing for maximum brake torque (MBT) was adopted for all tests. The experimental results demonstrated that the engine brake mean effective pressure (Bmep) was increased after hydrogen addition only at low load conditions. However, at high engine loads, the hybrid hydrogen–gasoline engine (HHGE) produced smaller Bmep than the original engine. The engine brake thermal efficiency was distinctly raised with the increase of MAP for both the original engine and the HHGE. The coefficient of variation in indicated mean effective pressure (COVimep) for the HHGE was reduced with the increase of engine load. The addition of hydrogen was effective on improving gasoline engine operating instability at low load and lean conditions. HC and CO emissions were decreased and NOx emissions were increased with the increase of engine load. The influence of engine load on CO₂ emission was insignificant. All in all, the effect of hydrogen addition on improving engine combustion and emissions performance was more pronounced at low loads than at high loads.     

Performance and emission comparison of a supercharged dual-fuel engine fueled by producer gases with varying hydrogen content

This study investigated the effect of hydrogen content in producer gas on the performance and exhaust emissions of a supercharged producer gas–diesel dual-fuel engine. Two types of producer gases were used in this study, one with low hydrogen content (H₂ = 13.7%) and the other with high hydrogen content (H₂ = 20%). The engine was tested for use as a co-generation engine, so power output while maintaining a reasonable thermal efficiency was important. Experiments were carried out at a constant injection pressure and injection quantity for different fuel–air equivalence ratios and at various injection timings. 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. Two-stage combustion was obtained; this is an indicator of maximum power output conditions and a precursor of knocking combustion. Better combustion, engine performance, and exhaust emissions (except NO_x) were obtained with the high H₂-content producer gas than with the low H₂-content producer gas, especially under leaner conditions. Moreover, a broader window of fuel–air equivalence ratio was found with highest thermal efficiencies for the high H₂-content producer gas.     

Comparative engine performance and emission analysis of CNG and gasoline in a retrofitted car engine

A comparative analysis is being performed of the engine performance and exhaust emission on a gasoline and compressed natural gas (CNG) fueled retrofitted spark ignition car engine. A new 1.6 L, 4-cylinder petrol engine was converted to the computer incorporated bi-fuel system which operated with either gasoline or CNG using an electronically controlled solenoid actuated valve mechanism. The engine brake power, brake specific fuel consumption, brake thermal efficiency, exhaust gas temperature and exhaust emissions (unburnt hydrocarbon, carbon mono-oxide, oxygen and carbon dioxides) were measured over a range of speed variations at 50% and 80% throttle positions through a computer based data acquisition and control system. Comparative analysis of the experimental results showed 19.25% and 10.86% reduction in brake power and 15.96% and 14.68% reduction in brake specific fuel consumption (BSFC) at 50% and 80% throttle positions respectively while the engine was fueled with CNG compared to that with the gasoline. Whereas, the retrofitted engine produced 1.6% higher brake thermal efficiency and 24.21% higher exhaust gas temperature at 80% throttle had produced an average of 40.84% higher NO_x emission over the speed range of 1500–5500 rpm at 80% throttle. Other emission contents (unburnt HC, CO, O₂ and CO₂) were significantly lower than those of the gasoline emissions.     

Effect of hydrogen addition on the performance of a biogas fuelled spark ignition engine

Hydrogen was added in small amounts (5%, 10% and 15% on the energy basis) to biogas and tested in a spark ignition engine at constant speed at different equivalence ratios to study the effects on performance, emissions and combustion. Hydrogen significantly enhances the combustion rate and extends the lean limit of combustion of biogas. There is an improvement in brake thermal efficiency and brake power. However, beyond 15% hydrogen the need to retard the ignition timing to control knock does not lead to improvements at high equivalence ratios. Significant reductions in hydrocarbon levels were seen. There was no increase in nitric oxide emissions due to the use of retarded ignition timing and the presence of carbon dioxide. Peak pressures and heat release rates are lower with hydrogen addition as the ignition timing is to be retarded to avoid knock. There is a reduction in cycle-by-cycle variations in combustion with lean mixtures. On the whole 10% hydrogen addition was found to be the most suitable.     

Effect of ignition timing and hydrogen fraction on combustion and emission characteristics of natural gas direct-injection engine

An experimental study on the combustion and emission characteristics of a direct-injection spark-ignited engine fueled with natural gas/hydrogen blends under various ignition timings was conducted. The results show that ignition timing has a significant influence on engine performance, combustion and emissions. The interval between the end of fuel injection and ignition timing is a very important parameter for direct-injection natural gas engines. The turbulent flow in the combustion chamber generated by the fuel jet remains high and relative strong mixture stratification is introduced when decreasing the angle interval between the end of fuel injection and ignition timing giving fast burning rates and high thermal efficiencies. The maximum cylinder gas pressure, maximum mean gas temperature, maximum rate of pressure rise and maximum heat release rate increase with the advancing of ignition timing. However, these parameters do not vary much with hydrogen addition under specific ignition timing indicating that a small hydrogen fraction addition of less than 20% in the present experiment has little influence on combustion parameters under specific ignition timing. The exhaust HC emission decreases while the exhaust CO₂ concentration increases with the advancing of ignition timing. In the lean combustion condition, the exhaust CO does not vary much with ignition timing. At the same ignition timing, the exhaust HC decreases with hydrogen addition while the exhaust CO and CO₂ do not vary much with hydrogen addition. The exhaust NO_x increases with the advancing of ignition timing and the behavior tends to be more obvious at large ignition advance angle. The brake mean effective pressure and the effective thermal efficiency of natural gas/hydrogen mixture combustion increase compared with those of natural gas combustion when the hydrogen fraction is over 10%.     

A comparative study on effects of homogeneous or stratified hydrogen on combustion and emissions of a gasoline/hydrogen SI engine

A comparative study on effects of homogeneous or stratified hydrogen on combustion and emissions was presented for a gasoline/hydrogen SI engine. Three kinds of injection modes (gasoline, gasoline plus homogeneous hydrogen and gasoline plus stratified hydrogen) and five excess air ratios were applied at low speed and low load on a dual fuel SI engine with hydrogen direct injection (HDI) and gasoline port injection. The results showed that, with the increase of excess air ratio, the brake thermal efficiency increases firstly then decreases and reaches the highest when the excess air ratio is 1.1. In comparison with pure gasoline, hydrogen addition can make the ignition stable and speed up combustion rate to improve the brake thermal efficiency especially under lean burn condition. Furthermore, it can reduce the CO and HC emissions because of more complete combustion, but produce more NO_X emissions due to the higher combustion temperature. Since, in the gasoline plus stratified hydrogen mode, the hydrogen concentration near the sparking plug is denser than that of homogeneous hydrogen, the ignition is more stable and faster, which further speed up the combustion rate and improve the brake thermal efficiency. In the gasoline plus stratified hydrogen mode, the brake thermal efficiency increases by 0.55%, the flame development duration decreases by 1.0°CA, rapid combustion duration decreases by 1.3°CA and the coefficient of variation (COV) decreases by 9.8% on average than that of homogeneous hydrogen. However, in the gasoline plus stratified hydrogen mode, due to the denser hydrogen concentration near the sparking plug and leaner hydrogen concentration near the wall, the combustion temperature and the wall quenching distance increase, which make the NO_X and HC emissions increase by 14.3% and 12.8% on average than that of homogeneous hydrogen.