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This paper focusses on the application of bioalcohols (ethanol and butanol) derived from seaweed in Heavy-Duty (HD) Compression Ignition (CI) combustion engines. Seaweed-based fuels do not claim land and are not in competition with the food chain. Currently, the application of high octane bioalcohols is limited to Spark Ignition (SI) engines. The Reactivity Controlled Compression Ignition (RCCI) combustion concept allows the use of these low carbon fuels in CI engines which have higher efficiencies associated with them than SI engines. This contributes to the reduction of tailpipe CO2 emissions as required by (future) legislation and reducing fuel consumption, i.e. Total-Cost-of-Ownership (TCO). Furthermore, it opens the HD transport market for these low carbon bioalcohol fuels from a novel sustainable biomass source. In this paper, both the production of seaweed-based fuels and the application of these fuels in CI engines is discussed.

Reaching EUROVI Heavy Duty emission limits will result in more testing time for developing control and OBD algorithms than to reach EUROV emissions. It is likely that these algorithms have to be adapted for a WHTC (World Heavy Duty Transient Cycle) for EUROVI. This cycle when started cold can only be performed a limited times a day on the engine testbench, because of the cooling down time. The development time and cost increases to reach EUROVI emission levels. Accurate simulation tools can reduce the time and costs by reducing the amount of tests required on the testbench. In order to use simulation tools to develop pre calibrations, the models must be fitted and validated. This paper will focus on the fit process of an SCR (Selective Catalytic Reduction) model. A unique test procedure has been developed to characterize an SCR catalyst using an engine testbench in ±2 days. This data is used in an automatic SCR fit tool to obtain the model parameters in a few days.

The goal of this work was to investigate the possibilities of applying high EGR rates with low NOx and PM emission levels on a two-stage turbocharged 12 liter heavy duty diesel engine. The EGR is applied by using a long and short route EGR system. For the ESC operating points A25 and C100 EGR is applied, such that the NOx emission is 0.5 g/kWh. Lowest PM level and BSFC are achieved when long route EGR is applied in A25 and short route is applied in C100. Increasing the fuel line pressure is an effective way to reduce PM at high EGR rate engine running conditions. At a fuel line pressure of 2400 bar PM emission are 0.06 g/kWh for A25 and 0.54 g/kWh for C100. At C100 the PM reduction coincides with also a significant fuel consumption improvement. Retarding the injection timing at C100 can improve the PM emission further to a level of 0.13 g/kWh at the expense of an increase in BSFC.

Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) is the dominant solution for meeting future NOx reduction regulations for heavy-duty diesel powertrains. SCR systems benefit from closed-loop control if an appropriate exhaust gas sensor were available. An ammonia sensor has recently been developed for use as a feedback element in closed-loop control of urea dosing in a diesel SCR aftertreatment system. Closed-loop control of SCR dosing enables the SCR system to be robust against disturbances and to meet conformity of production (COP) and in-use compliance norms. The ammonia sensor is based on a non-equilibrium electrochemical principle and outputs emf signals. The sensor performs well when tested in a diesel engine exhaust environment and has minimum cross interference with CO, HC, NO, NO2, SO2, H2O and O2. Previous work, done in a simulation environment, demonstrated that an ammonia sensor provides the optimal feedback for urea dosing control algorithms in closed-loop SCR systems.

This paper presents a start algorithm that is able to control the air/fuel ratio (AFR) during the cranking phase and immediately hereafter, where the ordinary λ-control is not yet enabled. The control is based on the ion sense principle, which means that a current through the spark plug is measured directly after the spark has disappeared. This current is a measure for the temperature and therefore of the combustion in the cylinder. This is an excellent way to start a CNG (Compressed Natural Gas) engine with unknown gas qualities. A typical example of application is when the vehicle is almost out of fuel and is refueled at a motel stop. The small amount of old fuel that is left in the system will mix with the new fuel resulting in an unknown fuel quality. The control system shall then be able to start the engine directly or after an accommodation over night. During the last condition, the oxygen sensor is still cold and thus not able to correct for fuel quality changes.

With the adoption of the Worldwide harmonized Light Vehicles Test Procedure (WLTP) and the Real Driving Emissions (RDE) regulations for testing and monitoring the vehicle pollutant emissions, as well as CO2 and fuel consumption, the gap between real world and type approval performances is expected to decrease to a large extent. With respect to CO2, however, WLTP is not expected to fully eliminate the reported 40% discrepancy between real world and type approval values. This is mainly attributed to the fact that laboratory tests take place under average controlled conditions that do not fully replicate the environmental and traffic conditions experienced over daily driving across Europe. In addition, any uncertainties of a pre-defined test protocol and the vehicle operation can be optimized to lower the CO2 emissions of the type approval test. Such issues can be minimized in principle with the adoption of a real-world test for fuel consumption.