Emissions and fuel consumption characteristics of an HCNG-fueled heavy-duty engine at idle

The idle performance of an 11-L, 6-cylinder engine equipped with a turbocharger and an intercooler was investigated for both compressed natural gas (CNG) and hydrogen-blended CNG (HCNG) fuels. HCNG, composed of 70% CNG and 30% hydrogen in volume, was used not only because it ensured a sufficient travel distance for each fueling, but also because it was the optimal blending rate to satisfy EURO-6 emission regulation according to the authors' previous studies. The engine test results demonstrate that the use of HCNG enhanced idle combustion stability and extended the lean operational limit from excess air ratio (λ) = 1.5 (CNG) to 1.6. A decrease of more than 25% in the fuel consumption rate was achieved in HCNG idle operations compared to CNG. Total hydrocarbon and carbon monoxide emissions decreased when fueled with HCNG at idle because of the low carbon content and enhanced combustion characteristics. In particular, despite hydrogen enrichment, less nitrogen oxides (NO_x) were emitted with HCNG operations because the amount of fuel supplied for a stable idle was lower than with CNG operations, which eventually induced lower peak in-cylinder combustion temperature. This low HCNG fuel quantity in idle condition also induced a continuous decrease in NO_x emissions with an increase in λ. The idle engine test results also indicate that cold-start performance can deteriorate owing to low exhaust gas temperature, when fueled with HCNG. Therefore, potential solutions were discussed, including combustion strategies such as retardation of spark ignition timing combined with leaner air/fuel ratios.     

Experimental investigation of varying composition of HCNG on performance and combustion characteristics of a SI engine

With rapid depletion of petroleum resources, researchers are investigating alternate fuels to meet global transportation energy demand. Gaseous fuels such as compressed natural gas (CNG) and hydrogen are of special interest because of their cleaner combustion characteristics compared to liquid petroleum based fossil fuels. However both these gaseous fuels have some technical issues when they are used as stand-alone alternate fuel in conventional spark ignition (SI) engines. CNG suffers from lower energy density and narrow flammability range whereas backfiring tendency is highly pronounced in hydrogen fueled engines. Hydrogen enriched compressed natural gas (HCNG) mixtures are observed to be good alternative to these individual fuels since these mixtures do not pose the issues experienced by the constituent fuels i.e. CNG and hydrogen. In this study, experiments were conducted in a spark ignited gas engine using various compositions of HCNG mixtures having 0, 10, 20, 30, 50, 70 and 100% (v/v) hydrogen fraction. The performance and combustion characteristics of these test fuels were compared with that of baseline CNG, in order to find an optimum HCNG mixture composition for a single cylinder gas engine. Results obtained showed that 30HCNG mixture delivered superior engine performance compared to other HCNG mixtures and baseline CNG, which is in sharp contrast to 15HCNG being advocated globally.     

Comparative evaluation of performance,emission, lubricant and deposit characteristics of spark ignition engine fueled with CNG and 18% hydrogen-CNG

Gaseous fuels such as CNG and hydrogen are promising alternative fuels which receive more attention all over the world. This paper investigates the effect of compressed natural gas (CNG) and 18% hydrogen blended compressed natural gas (HCNG) on a retrofitted gasoline genset engine’s performance, emissions, deposits and lubricants under long duration testing. During the 60 h test, lower BSFC, CO and HC are observed for HCNG with the penalty of NOx values. The deposits of iron on spark plug and cylinder liner are higher for HCNG compared to CNG. As kinematic viscosity and TBN values of lubricant decreased significantly with HCNG, it has resulted in higher concentration of wear metals (iron and copper) in the used oil.     

Performance and emission assessment of a multi-cylinder S.I engine using CNG & HCNG as fuels

The present study was carried out to assess the possibility of using the HCNG in the commercially available CNG vehicles, as the available literature indicated the benefits of adding hydrogen to CNG in small percentages by volume, leading to improved combustion characteristics of CNG and yielding sizeable benefits, regarding improved engine performance and reduced engine emissions in automotive applications. In the present study, a commercially available CNG manifold carburation kit, commonly known as “sequential injection” in the market, is evaluated for its operation characteristics, on a Spark Ignited (SI), MPFI automotive engine, of a mass-produced passenger vehicle, converted for gas operation, using, gasoline, CNG, HCNG 10% and HCNG 18% as fuels. In the study, the following performance parameters, torque, power, thermal efficiency, brake specific energy consumption (BSEC), lambda, engine oil temperature, exhaust gas species were measured. After exhaustive engine testing, a comparison of engine performance emission characteristics for gasoline, CNG and HCNG 10% and HCNG 18% is presented. The engine performance using the optimized MAP tables demonstrated torque and power improvements for HCNG 10% and HCNG 18% in comparison to CNG. The torque benefits up-to 6% and power benefits up-to 4% were observed. The fuel energy consumption was measured to be reduced, and improvement in fuel conversion efficiency was also observed. Hydrogen substitution in CNG helped in reducing CO, HC, CO₂ emissions for HCNG in comparison to CNG. Increase in NO_x emission was observed for HCNG in comparison with CNG. Superior engine emission characteristics in comparison to gasoline and CNG is also demonstrated. The commercially available sequential gas manifold carburation was found to be suitable for HCNG 10% and HCNG 18%.     

Experimental study of hydrogen enriched compressed natural gas (HCNG) engine and application of support vector machine (SVM) on prediction of engine performance at specific condition

The effect of excess air ratio (λ) and ignition advance angle (θ_ig) on the combustion and emission characteristics of hydrogen enriched compressed natural gas (HCNG) on a 6-cylinder compressed natural gas (CNG) engine has been experimental studied in an engine test bench, aiming at enriching the sophisticated calibration of HCNG fueled engine and increasing the prediction accuracy of the SVM method on automobile engines. Three different fuel blends were selected for the experiment: 0%, 20% and 40% volumetric hydrogen blend ratios. It is noted that combustion intensity varies with the excess air ratio and the ignition advance angle, so are the emissions. The optimal value of λ or θ_ig has been explored in the specific engine condition. Results show that blending hydrogen can enhance and advance the combustion and stability of CNG engine, and it also has some benefic influence on the emissions such as reducing the CO and CH₄. Meanwhile, a simulation research on forecasting the engine performance by using the support vector machine (SVM) method was conducted in detail. The torque, brake specific fuel consumption and NO_x emission have been selected to characterize the power, economic and emissions of the engine with various HCNG fuels, respectively. It can be seen that the optimal model built by the SVM method can highly describe the relationship of the engine properties and condition parameters, since the value of the complex correlation coefficient is larger than 0.97. Secondly, the prediction performance of the optimal model for torque or BSFC is much better than the case of NO_x. Besides, the optimal model built by the PSO optimization method has the best prediction accuracy, and the accuracy of the model obtained based on the training group with 20% hydrogen blend ratio is the best compared with those of others. The upshots in this article provide experimental support and theoretical basis for the adoption of HCNG fuel on internal combustion engines as well as the application of intelligent algorithmic in the engine calibration technology field.     

Particulate characteristics of laser ignited hydrogen enriched compressed natural gas engine

Laser ignition (LI) is emerging as a strong technology to control the oxides of nitrogen (NOx) emissions from spark ignition (SI) engines without the need for any significant exhaust gas after-treatment and is an appropriate technology for meeting future emission norms in the automotive sector. In this study, particulate characteristics of LI engine fuelled with different compressed natural gas (CNG) and hydrogen mixtures [100% CNG, 10HCNG (10% v/v hydrogen with 90% v/v CNG), 30HCNG (30% v/v hydrogen with 70% v/v CNG), 50HCNG (50% v/v hydrogen with 50% v/v CNG) and 100% hydrogen] were investigated. Experiments were performed in a suitably modified single cylinder engine, which operated in LI mode at constant engine speed (1500 rpm) at five different engine loads (5, 10, 15, 20 and 25 Nm). Particulate characteristics were determined using an engine exhaust particle sizer (EEPS). Results showed that particle number concentration increased with increasing engine load. Number-size, surface area-size and mass-size distributions of particulates reflected that addition of hydrogen in the CNG improved particulate emission characteristics especially in nucleation mode particle (NMP) size range (10 nm < Dp < 50 nm). Among the test fuels, hydrogen-fuelled engine emitted the lowest number of particles. It was observed that the difference between particulate characteristics emitted by different test fuels reduced at higher engine loads. Significant contribution of lubricating oil in particulate emissions from both hydrogen as well as HCNG fuelled LI engine was an important finding of this study. Dominant contribution of larger particles (Dp > 50 nm) in total particle mass (TPM) was an important observation of this study. The qualitative correlation between total particle number (TPN) and TPM indicated that suitable fuel composition at different engine loads yielded cleaner exhaust from the LI engine. Overall, this study demonstrated that addition of hydrogen in CNG is advantageous from particulate reduction point of view, however, optimum fuel composition should be adjusted according to engine operating condition in order to reduce particulate emissions.     

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.     

Engine characteristics of emissions and performance using mixtures of natural gas and hydrogen

An evaluation was performed on the efficiency and emissions from an engine fuelled with compressed natural gas (CNG) and a mixture of natural gas and hydrogen, respectively. The mixtures of CNG and hydrogen were named HCNG.     

Combustion analysis of a spark ignition i. c. engine fuelled alternatively with natural gas and hydrogen-natural gas blends

This paper describes an experimental activity performed on a passenger car powered by a spark ignition engine fuelled alternatively with natural gas (CNG) and hydrogen-natural gas blends, with 15% (HCNG15) and 30% (HCNG30) of hydrogen by volume. The vehicle was tested on a chassis dynamometer over different driving cycles, allowing the investigation of more realistic operating conditions than those examined on an engine test bed at steady state conditions. Fuel consumption was estimated using the carbon balance methodology, allowing the comparison of engine average efficiency over the driving cycles for the tested fuels. Furthermore, cylinder pressure was measured and, by processing the pressure signal, a combustion analysis was performed allowing to estimate the burning rate and combustion phasing. Ignition timing was the same for all the tested fuels, in order to assess their interchangeability on in-use vehicles. Results showed CO₂ emission reduction between 3% and 6% for HCNG15 and between 13% and 16% for HCNG30 respect to natural gas. Fuel consumption in MJ/km did not show significant differences between CNG and HCNG15, while reductions between 3% and 7% have been observed with HCNG30. The heat release rate increased with hydrogen content in the blends, reaching values higher than those attained using CNG. The combustion duration, calculated as the angle between 10% and 90% of heat released, has been shortened, with 16% reduction for HCNG15 and 21% for HCNG30 respect to CNG at 2.5 bar imep and 2400 rpm. As a consequence, hydrogen addition resulted in a combustion phasing advance respect to CNG. Cycle-by-cycle variability decreased, particularly at low loads, due to the positive effect of hydrogen on combustion stability.     

Effects of hydrogenation of fossil fuels with hydrogen and hydroxy gas on performance and emissions of internal combustion engines

Energy security is an important consideration for development of future transport fuels. Among the all gaseous fuels hydrogen or hydroxy (HHO) gas is considered to be one of the clean alternative fuels. Hydrogen is very flammable gas and storing and transporting of hydrogen gas safely is very difficult. Today, vehicles using pure hydrogen as fuel require stations with compressed or liquefied hydrogen stocks at high pressures from hydrogen production centres established with large investments.Different electrode design and different electrolytes have been tested to find the best electrode design and electrolyte for higher amount of HHO production using same electric energy. HHO is used as an additional fuel without storage tanks in the four strokes, 4-cylinder compression ignition engine and two-stroke, one-cylinder spark ignition engine without any structural changes. Later, previously developed commercially available dry cell HHO reactor used as a fuel additive to neat diesel fuel and biodiesel fuel mixtures. HHO gas is used to hydrogenate the compressed natural gas (CNG) and different amounts of HHO-CNG fuel mixtures are used in a pilot injection CI engine. Pure diesel fuel and diesel fuel + biodiesel mixtures with different volumetric flow rates are also used as pilot injection fuel in the test engine. The effects of HHO enrichment on engine performance and emissions in compression-ignition and spark-ignition engines have been examined in detail. It is found from the experiments that plate type reactor with NaOH produced more HHO gas with the same amount of catalyst and electric energy. All experimental results from Gasoline and Diesel Engines show that performance and exhaust emission values have improved with hydroxy gas addition to the fossil fuels except NO_x exhaust emissions. The maximum average improvements in terms of performance and emissions of the gasoline and the diesel engine are both graphically and numerically expressed in results and discussions. The maximum average improvements obtained for brake power, brake torque and BSFC values of the gasoline engine were 27%, 32.4% and 16.3%, respectively. Furthermore, maximum improvements in performance data obtained with the use of HHO enriched biodiesel fuel mixture in diesel engine were 8.31% for brake power, 7.1% for brake torque and 10% for BSFC.     

Experimental study on combustion and emission characteristics of a hydrogen-enriched compressed natural gas engine under idling condition

This paper investigates the effect of various hydrogen ratios in HCNG (hydrogen enriched compressed natural gas) fuels on combustion and emission characteristics of a turbocharged spark ignition natural gas engine at idling conditions. The experiments were taken at hydrogen fractions of 0%, 30%, 55% and 75% by volume and were conducted under various operating conditions including different excess air ratio λ and spark timing θ_ig. It is found that under various λ and θ_ig, the addition of hydrogen can significantly reduce CH₄ emission and CO emission, although NO_x emission increased with the hydrogen addition, it was relatively low at idle conditions compared to other emissions. Meanwhile the addition of hydrogen can significantly reduce COV_imep (coefficient of variation of the indicated mean effective pressure), extend the lean burn limit, decrease the combustion duration, achieve higher thermal efficiency and reduce fuel consumption.     

Effect of mixer type on cylinder-to-cylinder variation and performance in hydrogen-natural gas blend fuel engine

Compressed natural gas (CNG) buses were adopted in urban areas as a promising alternative to diesel buses, which emitted plenty of harmful emissions. Although CNG can meet the current emission standards, satisfying the requirements of the next EURO-VI emission regulation without an additional peripheral device may be impossible. The use of a hydrogen-compressed natural gas (HCNG) blend can help achieve a reduction in automotive exhaust emissions as well as prepare for an upcoming hydrogen economy through the construction of hydrogen infrastructure. Moreover, an HCNG engine has higher thermal efficiency than a CNG engine, producing lesser harmful emissions.     

Experimental based comparative exergy analysis of a multi-cylinder spark ignition engine fuelled with different gaseous (CNG,HCNG, and hydrogen) fuels

The experimental investigation was carried out on a multi-cylinder spark ignition (SI) engine fuelled with compressed natural gas (CNG), hydrogen blended CNG (HCNG) and hydrogen with varying load at 1500 rpm in order to perform comparative exergy analysis. The exergy analysis indicates that work exergy, heat transfer exergy and exhaust exergy were the highest with hydrogen at all loads due to its high flame temperature, low quenching distance, and high flame speed. The engine's exergy efficiency was the highest with hydrogen (34.23%), and it was about 24.23% and 24.08% with CNG and HCNG respectively at high load (20.25 kW). This indicates a higher potential of hydrogen to convert chemical energy input of fuel into heat and then power output. The exergy destruction was observed minimum with hydrogen at all loads, and it was drastically reduced at high loads. The combustion irreversibility which was calculated using species present during combustion, was the main contributor to exergy destruction, and it decreased with hydrogen. The minimum combustion irreversibility was 11.75% with hydrogen, followed by HCNG and CNG with 16.46% and 18.88% respectively at high load. The high quality of heat due to high in-cylinder temperature and low entropy generation during combustion caused by less number of chemical species in hydrogen combustion are the main reasons for lower combustion irreversibility with hydrogen.     

Effect of fuel injection timing of hydrogen rich syngas augmented with methane in direct-injection spark-ignition engine

The product of gasification of solid biomass, also called syngas is believed to be good fuel for internal combustion engines in the move from the carbon based fuel to zero emission fuels. The only problem is its lower calorific value which is placed at one third of that of compressed natural gas (CNG). There are latest efforts to enhance the hydrogen rich syngas by augmenting it with methane so that the calorific value can be improved. This paper presents experimental results of the effect of the start of fuel injection timing (SOI) on the combustion characteristics, performance and emissions of a direct-injection spark-ignition engine fueled with a 20% methane augmented hydrogen rich syngas of molar ratio of 50% H₂ and 50% CO composition. The engine was operated at fully open throttle and the start of fuel injection (SOI) was varied at 90, 120 and 180° before top dead center (BTDC). The experiment was conducted at lean mixture conditions in the low and medium engine speed ranges (1500–2400 RPM). The spark advance was set to the minimum advance for a maximum brake torque in all the test parameters. The methane augmented hydrogen rich syngas was observed to perform well over wide range of operation with SOI = 180°CA BTDC. However, SOI = 120°CA BTDC performed well at lower speeds recording improved performance and emissions. Limitation of operable load was observed for both SOI = 120°CA BTDC and 90°CA BTDC due to an insufficient time for complete injection of fuel at lower relative air–fuel ratio (λ) with higher speeds.     

Toward hydrogen enriched natural gas “HCNG” fuel on the algerian road

The Algerian transport sector is still largely dependent on petroleum. Pollution emitted by this sector is constantly increasing with the expansion of the automobile fleet. Thus, there is a pressing need for use of cleaner and economically viable alternative fuels. Therefore, the use of Hydrogen enriched Compressed Natural Gas (HCNG) is expected to play a significant role to reach this target. When hydrogen and natural gas are used together in an internal combustion engine, large benefits are possible. Algeria has significant resources and potential to introduce this new fuel. The development of HCNG as a transportation fuel allows an entry point for hydrogen in the transportation sector. The aim of this paper is to discuss strategic ways to introduce HCNG as road fuel, in Algeria. Two fundamental strategic elements were designed to introduce the Hydrogen Enriched Natural Gas as a transportation fuel. These are, the development of compressed natural gas as a road fuel, and the completion of the MedHySol project. The MedHySol project includes the production and the distribution of solar produced hydrogen, and involves the project HySolThane intended for the development of HCNG fuel road with 8% vol of Hydrogen in Natural Gas.     

Performance and emission characteristics of a turbocharged spark-ignition hydrogen-enriched compressed natural gas engine under wide open throttle operating conditions

This paper investigates the effect of various hydrogen ratios in HCNG (hydrogen-enriched compressed natural gas) fuels on performance and emission characteristics at wide open throttle operating conditions using a turbocharged spark-ignition natural gas engine. The experimental data was taken at hydrogen fractions of 0%, 30% and 55% by volume and was conducted under different excess air ratio (λ) at MBT operating conditions. It is found that under various λ, the addition of hydrogen can significantly reduce CO, CH₄ emissions and the NO_x emission remain at an acceptable level when ignition timing is optimized. Using the same excess air ratio, as more hydrogen is added the power, exhaust temperatures and max cylinder pressure decrease slowly until the mixture’s lower heating value remains unchanged with the hydrogen enrichment, then they rise gradually. In addition, the early flame development period and the flame propagation duration are both shorter, and the indicated thermal efficiency and maximum heat release rate both increase with more hydrogen addition.     

Characterization of HCNG combustion and emission characteristics in a constant volume chamber with a single and a dual spark plug configuration

In an effort to reduce the dependency on crude oil based fuels and to decrease pollutant emissions, hydrogen-CNG (HCNG) attracted a considerable attention with its low HC/CO₂ emission and fast burn rate. In this study, a constant volume chamber with a single spark plug and a dual spark plug configuration was designed to obtain fundamental combustion characteristics of HCNG and to evaluate possible advantages of the dual spark plug over the single spark plug ignition setup. Various mixtures of hydrogen and CNG were systematically experimented to evaluate effects of hydrogen fraction to lean burn limit, combustion pressure, rate of heat release and emission characteristics for both configurations. With the current experimental results, it was clearly demonstrated that an appropriate mixture of HCNG along with a suitable spark plug configuration, could become a promising candidate to replace the crude oil based IC engine fuels to alleviate the dependency on the depleting petroleum resource and to meet the stricter emission regulation.     

Numerical analysis of performance and emissions behavior of a bi-fuel engine with compressed natural gas enriched with hydrogen using variable compression ratio strategy

The increase in the compression ratio reduces the fuel consumption and improves the performance. These effects of compression ratio could be observed in all of the engines, such as compression or spark ignition engines. Moreover, due to the compression ratio constraint based on the knocking phenomenon in spark ignition engines, there will always be an optimal compression ratio, which is one of the most fundamental factors in engine design. The optimum compression ratio could be achieved depending on the type of fuel, but in the case of bi-fuel engines, since the nature of each fuel is different, the design must be relatively optimal for both fuels. In this work, by using the VCR (variable compression ratio) strategy, the bi-fuel EF7 engine performance, combustion, and emissions were investigated in different compression ratios when the engine uses gasoline or HCNG (hydrogen enriched compressed natural gas) as fuel. The results revealed that by changing the compression ratio from 11.05 (actual compression ratio of engine) to 11.80 in HCNG mode, an increase of 13% in power could be achieved. Also CO formation, at the compression ratio of 11.80, was slightly lower (7%) than the compression ratio of 11.05. In addition, by reducing the compression ratio from 11.05 to 10.50 in gasoline mode, there was a significant increase in emissions; that was 44% for the NO_x and 16% for the CO, which could be one of the limiting factors of the advance in spark timing. Moreover, due to the VCR strategy and the significant optimization of the compression ratio, the combinatory method of VCR – HCNG can be used as an effective method for the bi-fuel engines in order to improve the performance and reduce emissions.     

The influences of hydrogen on the performance and emission characteristics of a heavy duty natural gas engine

Because blending hydrogen with natural gas can allow the mixture to burn leaner, reducing the emission of nitrogen oxide (NO_x), hydrogen blended with natural gas (HCNG) is a viable alternative to pure fossil fuels because of the effective reduction in total pollutant emissions and the increased engine efficiency.In this research, the performance and emission characteristics of an 11-L heavy duty lean burn engine using HCNG were examined, and an optimization strategy for the control of excess air ratio and of spark advance timing was assessed, in consideration of combustion stability. The thermal efficiency increased with the hydrogen addition, allowing stable combustion under leaner operating conditions. The efficiency of NO_x reduction is closely related to the excess air ratio of the mixture and to the spark advance timing. With the optimization of excess air ratio and spark advance timing, HCNG can effectively reduce NO_x as much as 80%.     

Reducing the idle speed of an SI CNG engine fueled by HCNG with high hydrogen ratio

This paper presents an experimental study aimed at idle characteristics of a CNG engine fueled by HCNG with 55% hydrogen blend. The idle speed was reduced from original 800 r/min to 750 r/min and 700 r/min, and the characteristics of combustion & emissions at reduced idle speed were investigated. It is found that, for the HCNG engine, only reducing idle speed cannot reduce fuel consumption at conditions of fixed λ. In order to reduce fuel consumption and keep the COV at rather low levels, the excess air ratio must be increased properly while reducing the engine idle speed. Due to the large valve overlap (30°) of this inlet inject HCNG engine, CH₄ emissions are mainly caused by scavenging, which account for the vast majority of THC emissions. The emissions of CO, THC and NOx are reduced with the decrease of ignition advance angle at a fixed λ.