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Advanced combustion concepts such as reactivity controlled compression ignition (RCCI) have been proven to be capable of fundamentally improve the conventional Diesel combustion by mitigating or avoiding the soot-NOx trade-off, while delivering comparable or better thermal efficiency. To further facilitate the development of the RCCI technology, a robust and possibly computationally efficient simulation framework is needed. While many successful studies have been published using 3D-CFD coupled with detailed combustion chemistry solvers, the maturity level of the 0D/1D based software solution offerings is relatively limited. The close interaction between physical and chemical processes challenges the development of predictive numerical tools, particularly when spatial information is not available.

Worldwide, there is the demand to reduce harmful emissions from non-road vehicles to fulfill European Stage V+ and VI (2022, 2024) emission legislation. The rules require significant reductions in nitrogen oxides (NOx), methane (CH4) and formaldehyde (CH2O) emissions from non-road vehicles. Compressed natural gas (CNG) engines with appropriate exhaust aftertreatment systems such as three-way catalytic converter (TWC) can meet these regulations. An issue remains for reducing emissions during the engine cold start where the CNG engine and TWC yet do not reach their optimum operating conditions. The resulting complexity of engine and catalyst calibration can be efficiently supported by numerical models. Hence, it is required to develop accurate simulation models which can predict cold start emissions. This work presents a real-time engine model for transient engine-out emission prediction using tabulated chemistry for CNG.

During cold start of natural gas engines, increased methane and formaldehyde emissions can be released due to flame quenching on cold cylinder walls, misfiring and the catalyst not being fully active at low temperatures. Euro 6 legislation does not regulate methane and formaldehyde emissions. New limits for these two pollutants have been proposed by CLOVE consortium for Euro 7 scenarios. These proposals indicate tougher requirements for aftertreatment systems of natural gas engines. In the present study, a zero-dimensional model for real-time engine-out emission prediction for transient engine cold start is presented. The model incorporates the stochastic reactor model for spark ignition engines and tabulated chemistry. The tabulated chemistry approach allows to account for the physical and chemical properties of natural gas fuels in detail by using a-priori generated laminar flame speed and combustion chemistry look-up tables.