Numerical investigations of low load diesel-methane dual fuel combustion at early diesel injection timings

Diesel-ignited gasoline dual fuel combustion experiments were performed in a single-cylinder research engine (SCRE), outfitted with a common-rail diesel injection system and a stand-alone engine controller. Gasoline was injected in the intake port using a port-fuel injector. The engine was operated at a constant speed of 1500 rev/min, a constant load of 5.2 bar indicated mean effective pressure (IMEP), and a constant gasoline energy substitution of 80%. Parameters such as diesel injection timing (SOI), diesel injection pressure, and boost pressure were varied to quantify their impact on engine performance and engine-out indicated specific nitrogen oxide emissions (ISNOx), indicated specific hydrocarbon emissions (ISHC), indicated specific carbon monoxide emissions (ISCO), and smoke emissions. Advancing SOI from 30 degrees before top dead center (DBTDC) to 60 DBTDC reduced ISNOx from 14 g/kW h to less than 0.1 g/kW h; further advancement of SOI did not yield significant ISNOx reduction. A fundamental change was observed from heterogeneous combustion at 30 DBTDC to “premixed enough” combustion at 50–80 DBTDC and finally to well-mixed diesel-assisted gasoline homogeneous charge compression ignition (HCCI)-like combustion at 170 DBTDC. Smoke emissions were less than 0.1 filter smoke number (FSN) at all SOIs, while ISHC and ISCO were in the range of 8–20 g/kW h, with the earliest SOIs yielding very high values. Indicated fuel conversion efficiencies were ∼ 40–42.5%. An injection pressure sweep from 200 to 1300 bar at 50 DBTDC SOI and 1.5 bar intake boost showed that very low injection pressures lead to more heterogeneous combustion and higher ISNOx and ISCO emissions, while smoke and ISHC emissions remained unaffected. A boost pressure sweep from 1.1 to 1.8 bar at 50 DBTDC SOI and 500 bar rail pressure showed very rapid combustion for the lowest boost conditions, leading to high pressure rise rates, higher ISNOx emissions, and lower ISCO emissions, while smoke and ISHC emissions remained unaffected by boost pressure variations.

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Impact of low reactivity fuel type on low load combustion, emissions, and cyclic variations of diesel-ignited dual fuel combustion

International Journal of Engine Research ◽

10.1177/14680874211041993 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 146808742110419

Author(s):

Prabhat R Jha ◽

Kendyl R Partridge ◽

Sundar R Krishnan ◽

Kalyan K Srinivasan

Keyword(s):

Fuel Combustion ◽

Operating Conditions ◽

Dual Fuel ◽

Boost Pressure ◽

Brake Mean Effective Pressure ◽

Start Of Injection ◽

Crank Angle ◽

Low Load ◽

Cyclic Variations ◽

Dual Fuel Combustion

In this study, cyclic variations in dual fuel combustion with diesel ignition of three different low reactivity fuels (methane, propane, and gasoline) are examined under identical operating conditions. Experiments were performed on a single cylinder research engine (SCRE) at a low load of 3.3 bar brake mean effective pressure (BMEP). The start of injection (SOI) of diesel was varied from 280 to 330 absolute crank angle degrees (CAD). Engine speed, rail pressure, and boost pressure were held constant at 1500 rpm, 500 bar, and 1.5 bar, respectively. The energy substituted by the low reactivity fuel was fixed at 80% of the total energy input. It was found that diesel-methane (DM) and diesel-propane (DP) combustion were affected by diesel mixing to a greater extent than diesel-gasoline (DG) combustion due to the higher reactivity of gasoline. The magnitude of low temperature heat release was greatest for DG combustion followed by DM and DP combustion for all SOIs. The ignition delay for DG combustion was the shortest, followed by DM and DP combustion. DM and DP combustion exhibited more cyclic variations than DG combustion. Cyclic variations decreased for DM and DP combustion when SOI was advanced; however, DG combustion cyclic variations remained essentially constant for all SOIs. Earlier SOIs (280, 290, 300, and 310 CAD) for DM and (280, 290, and 300 CAD) for DP combustion indicated some prior-cycle effects on the combustion and IMEP (i.e. some level of determinism).

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Combustion and Emission Characteristics of a CI Engine Operating in Diesel-1-Butanol/CNG Dual Fuel Mode With Low and High CNG Substitution Rates in Light Load Operation

ASME 2016 Internal Combustion Engine Fall Technical Conference ◽

10.1115/icef2016-9456 ◽

2016 ◽

Author(s):

Xiangyu Meng ◽

Yuanxu Li ◽

Karthik Nithyanandan ◽

Wuqiang Long ◽

Chia-Fon F. Lee

Keyword(s):

Thermal Efficiency ◽

Substitution Rate ◽

Fuel Combustion ◽

Dual Fuel ◽

Injection Timing ◽

Combustion Mode ◽

Substitution Rates ◽

Low Load ◽

Pilot Fuel ◽

Dual Fuel Combustion

Dual-fuel combustion mode with direct injection of diesel as the pilot fuel and port injection of compressed natural gas (CNG) in compression ignition (CI) engines has been widely investigated to comply with the latest emission regulations. The diesel-CNG dual-fuel combustion mode shows some potential to decrease NOx and soot emissions simultaneously, while it reveals a lower thermal efficiency compared to the pure diesel combustion mode under low load condition. The purpose of the current study is to investigate the possibility of using diesel blended with 1-butanol as the pilot fuel to enhance the engine performance and reduce emissions. Three pilot fuels — B0 (pure diesel), B10 (90% diesel and 10% 1-butanol by volume) and B20 (80% diesel and 20% 1-butanol) with the CNG substitution rates of 50% and 80% were compared at an engine speed of 1200 rpm. The experiments were conducted by sweeping the pilot fuel injection timing from −3 to −18 ° CA ATDC with an equivalent total energy (∼5 bar IMEP). The results illustrated that, for the 50% CNG substitution rate, the dual-fuel operation mode revealed a higher indicated thermal efficiency (ITE) under low load conditions, and B10 can significantly improve the ITE due to the shorter combustion duration. The emission results of B10 showed that it obtained lower THC and CO emissions, but a slightly higher NOx emission. For the 80% CNG substitution rate, the results presented lower ITE, higher THC and lower NOx emissions, comparatively.

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Combustion Performance and Unburned Hydrocarbon Emissions of a Natural Gas–Diesel Dual Fuel Engine at a Low Load Condition

Volume 1: Large Bore Engines; Fuels; Advanced Combustion ◽

10.1115/icef2017-3585 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Hongsheng Guo ◽

Brian Liko ◽

Luis Luque ◽

Jennifer Littlejohns

Keyword(s):

Natural Gas ◽

Internal Combustion Engines ◽

Load Condition ◽

Fuel Combustion ◽

Dual Fuel ◽

Injection Timing ◽

Unburned Hydrocarbon ◽

Diesel Injection ◽

Dual Fuel Engines ◽

Dual Fuel Combustion

The combustion of natural gas reduces fuel cost and generates less emissions of carbon dioxide and particulate matter than diesel and gasoline. Replacing diesel by natural gas in internal combustion engines is of great interest for transportation and stationary power generation. Dual fuel combustion is an efficient way to burn natural gas in internal combustion engines. In natural gas–diesel dual fuel engines, unburned hydrocarbon emissions increase with increasing natural gas fraction. Many studies have been conducted to improve the performance of natural gas–diesel dual fuel engines and reported the performance of combustion and emissions of regulated pollutants and total unburned hydrocarbon at various engine operating strategies. However, little has been reported on the emissions of different unburned hydrocarbon components. In this paper, an experimental investigation was conducted to investigate the combustion performance and emissions of various unburned hydrocarbon components, including methane, ethane, ethylene, acetylene, propylene, formaldehyde, acetaldehyde and benzaldehyde, at a low engine load condition. The operating conditions, such as engine speed, load, intake temperature and pressure, were well controlled during the experiment. The combustion and emissions performance of pure diesel and natural gas–diesel dual fuel combustion were compared. The effect of diesel injection timing was analyzed. The results show that appropriately advancing diesel injection timing to form a homogeneous charge compression ignition-like combustion is beneficial to natural gas–diesel dual fuel combustion at low load conditions. The emissions of different unburned hydrocarbon components changed in dual fuel combustion, with emissions of some unburned hydrocarbon components being primarily due to the combustion of natural gas, while those of others being more related to diesel combustion.

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Diesel-Like Efficiency Using Compressed Natural Gas/Diesel Dual-Fuel Combustion

Journal of Energy Resources Technology ◽

10.1115/1.4032621 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 138 (5) ◽

Cited By ~ 29

Author(s):

Karthik Nithyanandan ◽

Jiaxiang Zhang ◽

Yuqiang Li ◽

Xiangyu Meng ◽

Robert Donahue ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Natural Gas ◽

Substitution Rate ◽

Fuel Combustion ◽

Dual Fuel ◽

Injection Timing ◽

Diesel Combustion ◽

Compressed Natural Gas ◽

Diesel Injection ◽

Dual Fuel Combustion ◽

Ci Engines

The use of natural gas in compression ignition (CI) engines as a supplement to diesel under dual-fuel combustion mode is a promising technique to increase efficiency and reduce emissions. In this study, the effect of dual-fuel operating mode on combustion characteristics, engine performance and pollutant emissions of a diesel engine using natural gas as primary fuel and neat diesel as pilot fuel, has been examined. Natural gas (99% methane) was port injected into an AVL 5402 single cylinder diesel research engine under various engine operating conditions and up to 90% substitution was achieved. In addition, neat diesel was also tested as a baseline for comparison. The experiments were conducted at three different speeds—1200, 1500, and 2000 rpm, and at different diesel-equivalent loads (injection quantity)—15, 20 (7 bar IMEP), and 25 mg/cycle. Both performance and emissions data are presented and discussed. The performance was evaluated through measurements of in-cylinder pressure, power output and various exhaust emissions including unburned hydrocarbons (UHCs), carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen oxides (NOx), and soot. The goal of these experiments was to maximize the efficiency. This was done as follows—the compressed natural gas (CNG) substitution rate (based on energy) was increased from 30% to 90% at fixed engine conditions, to identify the optimum CNG substitution rate. Then using that rate, a main injection timing sweep was performed. Under these optimized conditions, combustion behavior was also compared between single, double, and triple injections. Finally, a load and speed sweep at the optimum CNG rate and timings were performed. It was found that a 70% CNG substitution provided the highest indicated thermal efficiency (ITE). It appears that dual-fuel combustion has a maximum brake torque (MBT) diesel injection timing for different conditions which provides the highest torque. Based on multiple diesel injection tests, it was found that the conditions that favor pure diesel combustion, also favor dual-fuel combustion because better diesel combustion provides better ignition and combustion for the CNG-air mixture. For 70% CNG dual-fuel combustion, multiple diesel injections showed an increase in the efficiency. Based on the experiments conducted, diesel-CNG dual-fuel combustion is able to achieve similar efficiency and reduced emissions relative to pure diesel combustion. As such, CNG can be effectively used to substitute for diesel fuel in CI engines.

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Influence of Swirl Ratio on Diesel-Methane Dual Fuel Combustion: A CFD Investigation

Volume 1: Large Bore Engines; Fuels; Advanced Combustion ◽

10.1115/icef2017-3683 ◽

2017 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

P. R. Jha ◽

K. K. Srinivasan ◽

S. R. Krishnan

Keyword(s):

Carbon Monoxide ◽

Heat Release ◽

Fuel Combustion ◽

Dual Fuel ◽

Injection Timing ◽

Cylinder Pressure ◽

Swirl Ratio ◽

Cycle Simulation ◽

Low Load ◽

Dual Fuel Combustion

Dual fuel combustion has garnered attention in recent years because of its potential for reducing emissions of oxides of nitrogen (NOx) and particulate matter (PM) while sustaining diesel-like fuel conversion efficiencies. However, most dual fuel combustion strategies suffer from higher engine-out hydrocarbon (HC) and carbon monoxide (CO) emissions, leading to poor combustion efficiencies, especially at low loads. The present work examined computationally the effect of in-cylinder swirl on diesel-ignited methane dual fuel combustion with a focus on devising strategies for improving part-load combustion efficiencies. For this purpose, diesel-methane dual fuel combustion was studied on a heavy-duty single cylinder research engine (SCRE) platform using CONVERGE computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software. A typical low load condition (IMEP = 5.1 bar) was selected at an engine speed of 1500 rpm and a relatively high methane percentage energy substitution (PES) of 80 percent (because experiments show poorer combustion efficiencies at high methane PES) at a nominal diesel injection timing of 2 degrees BTDC (358 CAD). The closed cycle simulation was first validated with experimental results (cylinder pressure and heat release histories as well as engine-out exhaust emissions) for neat diesel and diesel-methane dual fuel combustion, respectively. Subsequently, the influence of increasing swirl ratio from 0 to 1.5 on diesel-methane dual fuel combustion was characterized. Analysis of the computational results showed that peak cylinder pressure and heat release rate increased with increasing swirl ratio while the combustion duration (as determined by CA10-80) decreases from 25 CAD at a swirl ratio of 0.05 to nearly 15 CAD at a swirl ratio of 1.5. Indicated-specific hydrocarbon (ISHC) and indicated-specific carbon monoxide (ISCO) emissions decreased by about 60 percent and 50 percent, respectively, when swirl ratio was increased from 0.05 to 1.2; however, these reductions were accompanied by a 26 percent increase in indicated-specific NOx (ISNOx) emissions under these conditions. Therefore, the present study indicates that swirl optimization is a potentially viable strategy for reducing engine-out HC and CO emissions and for improving low-load combustion efficiencies in dual fuel engines, assuming additional NOx mitigation strategies are also employed simultaneously.

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Performance and Emissions Characteristics of Diesel-Ignited Gasoline Dual Fuel Combustion in a Single Cylinder Research Engine

Volume 1: Large Bore Engines; Advanced Combustion; Emissions Control Systems; Instrumentation, Controls, and Hybrids ◽

10.1115/icef2013-19108 ◽

2013 ◽

Author(s):

U. Dwivedi ◽

C. D. Carpenter ◽

E. S. Guerry ◽

A. C. Polk ◽

S. R. Krishnan ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Injection Pressure ◽

Fuel Combustion ◽

Injection System ◽

Dual Fuel ◽

Heterogeneous Combustion ◽

Boost Pressure ◽

Fuel Injector ◽

Single Cylinder ◽

Diesel Injection ◽

Dual Fuel Combustion

Diesel-ignited gasoline dual fuel combustion experiments were performed in a single-cylinder research engine (SCRE), outfitted with a common-rail diesel injection system and a stand-alone engine controller. Gasoline was injected in the intake port using a port-fuel injector. The engine was operated at a constant speed of 1500 rev/min, a constant load of 5.2 bar IMEP, and a constant gasoline energy substitution of 80%. Parameters such as diesel injection timing (SOI), diesel injection pressure, and boost pressure were varied to quantify their impact on engine performance and engine-out ISNOx, ISHC, ISCO, and smoke emissions. Advancing SOI from 30 DBTDC to 60 DBTDC reduced ISNOx from 14 g/kWhr to less than 0.1 g/kWhr; further advancement of SOI did not yield significant ISNOx reduction. A fundamental change was observed from heterogeneous combustion at 30 DBTDC to “premixed enough” combustion at 50–80 DBTDC and finally to well-mixed diesel-assisted gasoline HCCI-like combustion at 170 DBTDC. Smoke emissions were less than 0.1 FSN at all SOIs, while ISHC and ISCO were in the range of 8–20 g/kWhr, with the earliest SOIs yielding very high values. Indicated fuel conversion efficiencies were ∼ 40–42.5%. An injection pressure sweep from 200 to 1300 bar at 50 DBTDC SOI and 1.5 bar intake boost showed that very low injection pressures lead to more heterogeneous combustion and higher ISNOx and ISCO emissions, while smoke and ISHC emissions remained unaffected. A boost pressure sweep from 1.1 to 1.8 bar at 50 DBTDC SOI and 500 bar rail pressure showed very rapid combustion for the lowest boost conditions, leading to high pressure rise rates, higher ISNOx emissions, and lower ISCO emissions, while smoke and ISHC emissions remained unaffected by boost pressure variations.

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