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The European Union aims to be climate neutral by 2050 and requires the transport sector to reduce their emissions by 90%. The deployment of H2ICE to power vehicles is one of the solutions proposed. Indeed, H2ICEs in vehicles can reduce local pollution, reduce global emissions of CO2 and increase efficiency. Although H2ICEs could be rapidly introduced, investigations on hydrogen combustion in ICEs are still required. This paper aims to experimentally compare a flat piston and a bowl piston in terms of performances, emissions and abnormal combustions. Tests were performed with the help of a single cylinder Diesel engine which has been modified. In particular, a center direct injector dedicated to H2 injection and a side-mounted spark plug were installed, and the compression ratio was reduced to 12.7:1. Several exhaust gas measurement systems complete the testbed to monitor exhaust NOx and H2.

Biogas is a gas resulting from biomass, with a volumetric content of methane (CH4) usually ranging between 50% and 70%, and carbon dioxide (CO2) content between 30% and 50%; it can also contain hydrogen (H2) depending on the feedstock. Biogas is generally used to generate electricity or produce heat in cogeneration system. Due to its good efficiency through the rapid combustion and lean air-fuel mixture, Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition (HCCI) engine is a good candidate for such application. However, the engine load must be kept low to contain the high-pressure gradients caused by the simultaneous premixed combustion of the entire in-cylinder charge. The homogenous charge promotes low particulate emissions, and the dilution helps in containing maximum in-cylinder temperature, hence reducing nitrogen oxide emissions. However, HC and CO levels are in general higher than in SI combustion.

The improvement of the indicated thermal efficiency of an argon power cycle (replacing nitrogen with argon in the combustion reaction) is investigated in a CFR engine at high compression ratios in homogeneous charge compression ignition (HCCI) mode. The study combines the two effects that can increase the thermodynamic efficiency as predicted by the ideal Otto cycle: high specific heat ratio (provided by argon), and high compression ratios. However, since argon has relatively low heat capacity (at constant volume), it results in high in-cylinder temperatures, which in turn, leads to the occurrence of knock. Knock limits the feasible range of compression ratios and further increasing the compression ratio can cause serious damage to the engine due to the high pressure rise rate caused by advancing the combustion phasing.

Textbook engine thermodynamics predicts that SI (Spark Ignition) engine efficiency η is a function of both the compression ratio CR of the engine and the specific heat ratio γ of the working fluid. In practice the compression ratio of the SI engine is often limited due to “knock”. Knock is in large part the effect of end gases becoming too hot and auto-igniting. Knock results in increase in heat transfer to the walls which negatively affects efficiency. Not to mention damages to the piston. One way to lower the end-gas temperature is to cool the intake gas before inducting it into the combustion chamber. With colder intake gases, higher CR can be deployed, resulting in higher efficiencies. In this regard, we investigated the efficiency of a standard Waukesha CFR engine. The engine is operated in the SI engine mode, and was operated with two differing mixtures at different temperatures.

This study examined the octane boosting effects of γ-valerolactone, a fuel derived from lignocellulosic biomass, under Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition (HCCI) combustion mode. The experiments were performed in a Cooperative Fuel Research (CFR) engine under four sets of conditions defined by the combinations of intake temperatures and rotation speed. Octane boosting effects were rated with FACE (Fuel for Advanced Combustion Engine) J gasoline as a base fuel. Due to the non-miscibility of γ-valerolactone into FACE J, a new approach was proposed in which the octane boosting effect of a mixture comprised up of two-third γ-valerolactone and one-third ethanol was investigated. To evaluate the effect of γ-valerolactone, the octane boosting effect of pure ethanol into FACE J was also investigated such that comparison can be drawn. Further attempts were made to extract the octane boosting effects of pure γ-valerolactone.

Global warming and the increasingly stringent emission regulations call for alternative combustion techniques to reduce CO2 emissions. Oxy-fuel combustion is one of those techniques since the combustion products are easily separated by condensing the water and storing CO2. A problem associated with the burning of fuel using pure oxygen as an oxidant is that it results in high adiabatic flame temperature. This high flame temperature is decreased by introducing a thermal buffer to the system. A thermal buffer in this context is any gas that does not participate in combustion but at the same time absorbs some of the released heat and thus decreases the temperature of the medium. Many experiments have been conducted to study oxy-fuel combustion in ICE using noble gases as thermal buffers. However, those experiments focused on using hydrogen as a fuel to avoid any build-up of CO2 in the system.

A new approach for investigating combustion behavior of practical fuels under homogeneous charge compression ignition (HCCI) conditions was developed with the help of a cooperative fuel research (CFR) engine. The method uses a set of two pressure-temperature diagrams and two charts, each with an octane number scale based on primary reference fuels (PRF), created from experimental results by sweeping the intake temperature. The two pressure-temperature diagrams report conditions leading to the start of the low temperature combustion and the start of the main combustion, respectively. Additional two charts -- required compression ratio and fraction of low temperature heat release charts -- describe global combustion behavior and the importance of the low temperature combustion. Each diagram and chart, together with their respective octane number scale, allow to examine the combustion behavior of practical fuels by comparing their combustion behavior with those of the PRFs.

Argon replacing Nitrogen has been examined as a novel engine cycle reaching higher efficiency. Experiments were carried out under Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition (HCCI) conditions using a single cylinder variable compression ratio Cooperative Fuel Research (CFR) engine. Isooctane has been used as the fuel for this study. All the parameters were kept fixed but the compression ratio to make the combustion phasing constant. Typical engine outputs and emissions were compared to conventional cycles with both air and synthetic air. It has been found that the compression ratio of the engine must be significantly reduced while using Argon due to its higher specific heat ratio. The resulting in-cylinder pressure was lower but combustion remains aggressive. However, greater in-cylinder temperatures were reached. To an end, Argon allows gains in fuel efficiency, in unburned hydrocarbon and carbon monoxide, as well as in indicated efficiency.

Homogeneous charge compression ignition (HCCI) experiments were run with the aid of a Cooperative fuel research (CFR) engine, operating at 600 rpm and under very lean conditions (ϕ = 0.3). This study seeks to examine the combustion behavior of different fuels by finding the pressure-temperature (p-t) conditions that instigate the start of combustion, and the transition from low temperature combustion to principal combustion. The pressure-temperature diagram emphasizes p-t conditions according to their traces through the compression stroke. In each fuel tested, p-t traces were examined by a sweep of the intake temperature; and for each experimental point, combustion phasing was maintained at top dead center by adjusting the compression ratio of the engine. In addition to the p-t diagram, results were analyzed using a compression ratio-intake temperature diagram, which showed the compression ratio required with respect to intake temperature.

Due to their physical and chemical properties, alcohols such as ethanol and methanol when blended with gasoline provide high anti-knock quality and hence efficient engines. However, there are few promising properties of 1-butanol similar to conventional gasoline which make it a favorable choice for internal combustion engines. Previously the author showed that by blending ethanol and methanol with low octane fuels, non-linear increase in the HCCI fuel number occurs in HCCI combustion mode. Very few studies have been conducted on the use of 1-butanol in HCCI combustion mode, therefore for this work, 1-butanol with a RON 96 was selected as the high octane fuel. Three low octane fuels with octane number close to 70 were used as a base fuel. Two of the low octane fuels are Fuels for Advanced Combustion Engines (FACE gasolines), more specifically FACE I and FACE J and also primary reference fuel (PRF 70) were selected.

The present study experimentally examines the low-temperature autoignition area of isooctane within the in-cylinder pressure-in-cylinder temperature map. Experiments were run with the help of a Cooperative Fuel Research (CFR) engine. The boundaries of this engine were extended so that experiments could be performed outside the domain delimited by research octane number (RON) and motor octane number (MON) traces. Since homogeneous charge compression ignition (HCCI) combustion is governed by kinetics, the rotation speed for all the experiments was set at 600 rpm to allow time for low-temperature heat release (LTHR). All the other parameters (intake pressure, intake temperature, compression ratio, and equivalence ratio) were scanned, such as the occurrence of isooctane combustion. The principal results showed that LTHR for isooctane occurs effortlessly under high intake pressure (1.3 bar) and low intake temperature (25 °C).

Future internal combustion engines demand higher efficiency but progression towards this is limited by the phenomenon called knock. A possible solution for reaching high efficiency is Octane-on-Demand (OoD), which allows to customize the antiknock quality of a fuel through blending of high-octane fuel with a low octane fuel. Previous studies on Octane-on-Demand highlighted efficiency benefits depending on the combination of low octane fuel with high octane booster. The author recently published works with ethanol and methanol as high-octane fuels. The results of this work showed that the composition and octane number of the low octane fuel is significant for the blending octane number of both ethanol and methanol. This work focuses on toluene as the high octane fuel (RON 120). Aromatics offers anti-knock quality and with high octane number than alcohols, this work will address if toluene can provide higher octane enhancement.

The blending behavior of ethanol in five different hydrocarbon base fuels with octane numbers of approximately 70 and 84 was examined under Spark-Ignited (SI) and Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignited (HCCI) operating conditions. The Blending octane number (BON) was used to characterize the blending behavior on both a volume and molar basis. Previous studies have shown that the blending behavior of ethanol generally follows several well-established rules. In particular, non-linear blending effects are generally observed on a volume basis (i.e. BON > RON or MON of pure ethanol; 108 and 89, respectively), while linear blending effects are generally observed on a molar basis (i.e. BON = RON or MON of pure ethanol). This work firstly demonstrates that the non-linear volumetric blending effects traditionally observed under SI operating conditions are also observed under HCCI operating conditions.

In-cylinder visualization, combustion stratification, and engine-out particulate matter (PM) emissions were investigated in an optical engine fueled with Haltermann straight-run naphtha fuel and corresponding surrogate fuel. The combustion mode was transited from homogeneous charge compression ignition (HCCI) to conventional compression ignition (CI) via partially premixed combustion (PPC). Single injection strategy with the change of start of injection (SOI) from early to late injections was employed. The high-speed color camera was used to capture the in-cylinder combustion images. The combustion stratification was analyzed based on the natural luminosity of the combustion images. The regulated emission of unburned hydrocarbon (UHC), carbon monoxide (CO) and nitrogen oxides (NOX) were measured to evaluate the combustion efficiency together with the in-cylinder rate of heat release.

The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of aromatic on combustion stratification and particulate emissions for PRF60. Experiments were performed in an optical CI engine at a speed of 1200 rpm for TPRF0 (100% v/v PRF60), TPRF20 (20% v/v toluene + 80% PRF60) and TPRF40 (40% v/v toluene + 60% PRF60). TPRF mixtures were prepared in such a way that the RON of all test blends was same (RON = 60). Single injection strategy with a fuel injection pressure of 800 bar was adopted for all test fuels. Start of injection (SOI) was changed from early to late fuel injection timings, representing various modes of combustion viz HCCI, PPC and CDC. High-speed video of the in-cylinder combustion process was captured and one-dimensional stratification analysis was performed from the intensity of images. Particle size, distribution and concentration were measured and linked with the in-cylinder combustion images.

The blending of ethanol with PRF (Primary reference fuel) 84 was investigated and compared with FACE (Fuels for Advanced Combustion Engines) A gasoline surrogate which has a RON of 83.9. Previously, experiments were performed at four HCCI conditions but the chemical effect responsible for the non-linear blending behavior of ethanol with PRF 84 and FACE A was not understood. Hence, in this study the experimental measurements were simulated using zero-dimensional HCCI engine model with detailed chemistry in CHEMKIN PRO. Ethanol was used as an octane booster for the above two base fuels in volume concentration of 0%, 2%, 5% and 10%. The geometrical data and the intake valve closure conditions were used to match the simulated combustion phasing with the experiments. Low temperature heat release (LTHR) was detected by performing heat release analysis.

The present investigation examines a new way to control the homogeneous charge compression ignition (HCCI) process. An ozone generator was set up to seed the intake of a single-cylinder engine with low concentrations of ozone. Two kinds of gas supply were tested: an oxygen supply and an air supply; as well as two kinds of injection: a plenum injection and an injection inside one of the intake pipes. The results showed that air can easily be used and that the second injection mode is the best way to achieve an on-road application. Moreover, experiments demonstrated that each combustion parameter such as the phasing, the indicated mean effective pressure and the pollutants can be controlled by varying the capacity of the ozone generator. Then, from experimental results, two dynamic control approaches on the maximum pressure phasing were proposed.

Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition (HCCI) is generally considered as an efficient solution to reduce fuel consumption and meet the pollutant requirements of internal combustion engines. Furthermore, the HCCI combustion strategy delivers drastically reduced levels of NOx and particulate matter, and combined with a post treatment device, low levels of unburned hydrocarbons (HC) and carbon monoxide (CO) can be achieved. However, affordable and widely used three-way catalytic converters require the engine to be run under stoichiometric conditions. Running an HCCI engine under an increased equivalence ratio leads to advanced combustion phasing and an excessive in-cylinder pressure rate that can affect engine operation. The dilution effect of Exhaust Gas Recirculation (EGR) represents a way to delay ignition of the mixture and reduce excessive in-cylinder pressure gradients.

Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition (HCCI) is among the new generation of combustion modes which can be applied to internal combustion engines. It is currently the topic of numerous studies in various fields. Due to its operating process, HCCI ensures a good efficiency, similar to that of compression ignition (CI) engines, and low particulate and nitric oxide (NOx) emissions. However, before promoting the use of this kind of engine, several challenges must be addressed, in particular controlling the combustion. Recent work showed that the combustion phasing can be controlled using low concentrations of ozone, an oxidizing chemical species. As ozone generators become increasingly compact, the integration of this kind of device in passenger cars can be considered. The present study investigates the effect of ozone on the combustion of different fuel mixtures. The engine was fuelled with various blends: a 95%methane/5%propane mixture and three different methane/hydrogen mixtures.

Nowadays, the main objectives in the automobile engine field are to reduce fuel consumption and pollutant emissions. HCCI engines can be a good solution to meet pollutant emission requirements and to achieve high combustion efficiency. However, before an HCCI engine is used as a conventional engine, several problems must be overcome, in particular control of the progression of combustion. Many studies have been conducted into possible control methods. A new strategy consists in using oxidizing chemical species such as ozone to seed the intake of a HCCI engine. As increasingly smaller ozonizers are now being designed, this kind of device could be integrated on a vehicle and on a HCCI engine, in order to control combustion phasing and promote the future use of this engine as a conventional engine. In the present study, experiments on a HCCI engine fuelled with iso-octane were carried out with ozone seeding in the intake.