One of the possibilities to reduce diesel fuel consumption and at the same time reduce the emission of diesel engines, is the use of alternative gaseous fuels, so far most commonly used to power spark ignition engines. The presented work concerns experimental research of a dual-fuel compression-ignition (CI) engine in which diesel fuel was co-combusted with CNG (compressed natural gas). The energy share of CNG gas was varied from 0% to 95%. The study showed that increasing the share of CNG co-combusted with diesel in the CI engine increases the ignition delay of the combustible mixture and shortens the overall duration of combustion. For CNG gas shares from 0% to 45%, due to the intensification of the combustion process, it causes an increase in the maximum pressure in the cylinder, an increase in the rate of heat release and an increase in pressure rise rate. The most stable operation, similar to a conventional engine, was characterized by a diesel co-combustion engine with 30% and 45% shares of CNG gas. Increasing the CNG share from 0% to 90% increases the nitric oxide emissions of a dual-fuel engine. Compared to diesel fuel supply, co-combustion of this fuel with 30% and 45% CNG energy shares contributes to the reduction of hydrocarbon (HC) emissions, which increases after exceeding these values. Increasing the share of CNG gas co-combusted with diesel fuel, compared to the combustion of diesel fuel, reduces carbon dioxide emissions, and almost completely reduces carbon monoxide in the exhaust gas of a dual-fuel engine.
An Experimental Study on the Performance and Emission of the diesel/CNG Dual-Fuel Combustion Mode in a Stationary CI Engine