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Research on alternative fuels is necessary to reduce CO2 emissions. Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil (HVO) of light fuel physically improves spray and combustion characteristics. Fatty Acid Methyl Ester (FAME) is an oxygenated fuel and its combustion characteristics are chemically improved, although its spray characteristics such as penetration and atomization are deteriorated. The purpose of this study is to understand the effects of blending HVO, which has carbon neutral (CN) characteristics, with FAME, which also has CN characteristics, on spray and combustion characteristics, and to further improve emission such as THC and Smoke. This report presents the effect of the combination of improved spray characteristics and oxygenated fuel on emissions. Spray characteristics such as penetration, spray angle and spray volume were investigated by shadowgraph photography.

We have proposed the application of Exhaust Gas Recirculation (EGR) gas dissolved fuel which might improve spray atomization through effervescent atomization instead of high injection pressure. Since EGR gas is included in the spray of EGR gas dissolved fuel, it directly contributes to combustion, and the further reduction of NOx emissions is expected rather than the conventional external EGR. In our research, since highly contained in the exhaust gas and highly soluble in the fuel, CO2 was selected as the dissolved gas to simulate EGR gas dissolved. In this paper, the purpose is to evaluate the influence of the application of CO2 gas dissolved fuel on the combustion characteristics and emission characteristics inside the single cylinder, direct injection diesel engine. As a result, by use of the fuel, smoke was reduced by about 50 to 70%, but NOx reduction does not have enough effect.

Bio-hydro fined diesel (BHD) oil is known as a second generation oil made from bio hydro finning process. Biodiesel in the first generation is made from transesterification process and it has several disadvantages such as high density and increased the viscosity that can cause operational problems because can make some deposits in the engine. To overcome this, the second generation process of biodiesel has been modified from the first generation oil. BHD is made from the waste cooking oil by using the hydro finning process without the trans-esterification process. The results of BHD oil has nearly the same with diesel oil. BHD oil has low viscosity and high oxidation stability. Therefore, BHD oil can be used in the diesel engine without making any modifications in the engine. In this study, the comparison of performance and emissions characteristics from BHD oil, waste cooking oil, and diesel oil are investigated.

In previous study, the model for flash-boiling spray of multicomponent fuel was constructed and was implemented into KIVA code. This model considered the detailed physical properties and evaporation process of multicomponent fuel and the bubble nucleation, growth and disruption in a nozzle orifice and injected fuel droplets. These numerical results using this model were compared with experimental data which were obtained in the previous study using a constant volume vessel. The spray characteristics from numerical simulation qualitatively showed good agreement with the experimental results. Especially, it was confirmed from both the numerical and experimental data that flash-boiling effectively accelerated the atomization and vaporization of fuel droplets. However, in this previous study, injection pressure was very low (up to 15 MPa), and the spray characteristics of high pressure injection could not be analyzed.

The purpose of this study is to achieve thermal efficiency improvement and cooling loss reduction of a diesel engine with a combustion concept of earlier evaporation, higher entrainment, and compact spray flame. In order to realize this concept, the paper focused on two-component fuel (nC5H12/nC10H22) with high evaporation. In this paper, the effects of two-component fuel on thermal efficiency and exhaust characteristics are examined by using single cylinder diesel engine. In addition, spray characteristics are revealed in an optically accessible chamber and combustion characteristics are revealed by using RCEM.

We have proposed the application of EGR gas dissolved fuel which might improve spray atomization through effervescent atomization instead of high injection pressure. In this paper, the purpose is to evaluate the influence of the application of CO2 gas dissolved fuel on the combustion characteristics and emissions inside the single cylinder, direct injection diesel engine. As a result, by use of the fuel, smoke was reduced by about 50 to 70%. The amount of NOx was reduced at IMEP=0.3 MPa, but it was increased at IMEP=0.9 MPa.

n-Tridecane is a low boiling point component of gas oil, and has been used as a single-component fuel for diesel spray and combustion experiments. However, no reduced chemical kinetic mechanisms for n-tridecane have been presented for three-dimensional modeling. A detailed mechanism developed by KUCRS (Knowledge-basing Utilities for Complex Reaction Systems), contains 1493 chemical species and 3641 reactions. Reaction paths during ignition process for n-tridecane in air computed using the detailed mechanism, were analyzed with the equivalence ratio of 0.75 and the initial temperatures of 650 K, 850 K, and 1100 K, which are located in the cool-flame dominant, negative-temperature coefficient, and blue-flame dominant regions, respectively.

Fuel design approach has been proposed as the control technique of spray and combustion processes in diesel engine to improve thermal efficiency and reduce exhaust emissions. In order to kwow if this approach is capable of controlling spray flame structure and interaction between the flame and a combustion chamber wall, the present study investigated ignition and flame characteristics of dual-component fuels, while varying mixing fraction, fuel temperature and ambient conditions. Those characteristics were evaluated through chemiluminescence photography and luminous flame photography. OH radical images and visible luminous flame images were analyzed to reveal flame shape aspect ratio and its fractal dimension.

Ignition, combustion and emissions characteristics of dual-component fuel spray were examined for ranges of injection timing and intake-air oxygen concentration. Fuels used were binary mixtures of gasoline-like component i-octane (cetane number 12, boiling point 372 K) and diesel fuel-like component n-tridecane (cetane number 88, boiling point 510 K). Mass fraction of i-octane was also changed as the experimental variable. The experimental study was carried out in a single cylinder compression ignition engine equipped with a common-rail injection system and an exhaust gas recirculation system. The results demonstrated that the increase of the i-octane mass fraction with optimizations of injection timing and intake oxygen concentration reduced pressure rise rate and soot and NOx emissions without deterioration of indicated thermal efficiency.

Methyl butanoate (MB) and methyl decanoate (MD) are surrogates for biodiesel fuels. According to computational results with their detailed reaction mechanisms, MB and MD indicate shorter ignition delays than long alkanes such as n-heptane and n-dodecane do at an initial temperature over 1000 K. The high ignitability of these methyl esters was computationally analyzed by means of contribution matrices proposed by some of the authors. Due to the high acidity of an α-H atom in a carbonyl compound, hydroperoxy radicals are generated out of the equilibrium between forward and backward reactions of O₂ addition to methyl ester radicals by the internal transfer of an α-H atom in the initial stage of an ignition process. Some of the hydroperoxy methyl ester radicals can generate OH to activate initial reactions. MB has an efficient CH₃O formation path via CH₃ generated by the β-scission of an MB radical which has a radical site on the α-C atom to the carbonyl group.

A dual fuel operation with different reactivity fuels has the possibility of optimizing performance and emissions in premixed charge compression ignition engines by controlling the spatial concentration and distribution of both fuels. In the present study, n-heptane and i-octane were independently injected through two different injectors. In-cylinder pressure analysis and emissions measurement were performed in a compression ignition engine. Injection timings, fuel quantity ratio between the injections were changed for the two cases, in which one fuel was injected using a port fuel injection system while the other was directly injected into the cylinder, in order to drastically vary mixture distributions and ignition timings. In addition, an optical diagnostic was performed in a rapid compression and expansion machine to develop an understanding of the ignition processes of the two mixtures.

A diesel engine operating in premixed charge compression ignition (PCCI) mode promises the reduction of engine-out emissions of NOx and particulate matter. A serious issue for PCCI operation with the early injection timing during the compression stroke is the difficulty of controlling the mixture formation process. In this study, a mixed fuel consisting of high volatility fuel and high ignitability one is applied in order to develop a control technique for the mixture preparation. In particular, we focuses on a flash boiling phenomenon of mixed fuel. For pure substance, the quality of flashing spray is dominated by the degree of superheat. In contrast, that of mixed fuel is affected much by low boiling point fuel.

It is thought that the synthetic gas, including hydrogen and carbon monoxide, has a potential to be an alternative fuel for internal combustion engines, because a heating value of the synthetic gas is higher than one of hydrogen or natural gas. A purpose of this study is to acquire stable auto-ignition and combustion of the synthetic gas which is supposed to be applied into a direct-injection compression ignition engine. In this study, the effects of ambient gas temperatures and oxygen concentrations on auto-ignition characteristics of the synthetic gas with changing percentage of hydrogen (H2) or carbon monoxide (CO) concentrations in the synthetic gas. An electronically-controlled, hydraulically-actuated gas injector was used to control a precise injection timing and period of gaseous fuels, and the experiments were conducted in an optically accessible, constant-volume combustion chamber under simulated quiescent diesel engine conditions.

The authors have explored the potential of fuel to control spray and its combustion processes in a diesel engine. Fuel has some potential for low emission and high thermal efficiency because its volatility and ignitability are one of the ultimate performing factors of the engines. In present study, the ignition process of mixed fuel spray was investigated in a constant volume combustion vessel and in a rapid compression and expansion machine, The ignition delay based on the diagram of rate of the heat release, the imaging of natural flame emissions and the numerical simulation were carried out to clarify the effect of the physical and chemical properties of mixed fuel on ignition characteristics.

For protecting human health and preserving the clean environment, current regulations stipulate acceptable levels of particulate emissions based on the mass collected on filters obtained by sampling in diluted exhaust. Such regulations will be imposed not only on-road engines but also off-road engines. From the point of view of human health [1], so-called nano-particle (d<50nm) is thought to be nuisance because it could reach deeper lung tissue. So, many researches have been done in this research field [2]. A series of experiments were conducted on an off-road general purpose direct Injection (DI) diesel engine using EEPS (Engine Exhaust Particle Sizer) to make real time particle size distribution measurements possible. The data presented covers whole operating conditions including the operating modes of off-road diesel engine emission test (C1mode). Additionally, PM emissions in transient (NRTC test cycle) engine operation were examined.

This paper describes the results of on-board measurement of engine performance and emissions in diesel vehicle operated with bio-diesel fuels. Here, two waste-cooking oils were investigated. One fuel is a waste-cooking oil methyl esters. This fuel is actually applied to a garbage collection vehicle with DI diesel engine (B100) and the city bus (B20; 80% gas oil is mixed into B100 in volume) as an alternative fuel of gas oil in Kyoto City. Another one is a fuel with ozone treatment by removing impurities from raw waste-cooking oils. Here, in order to improve the fuel properties, kerosene is mixed 70% volume in this fuel. This mixed fuel (i-BDF) is applied into several tracks and buses in Wakayama City. Then, these 3 bio-diesel fuels were applied to the on-board experiments and the results were compared with gas oil operation case.

The Flame structure and combustion characteristics for two waste-cooking oils were investigated in detail. One fuel is the waste-cooking oil methyl esters. This fuel is actually applied to the garbage collection vehicle with DI diesel engine (B100) and the city bus (B20; 80% gas oil is mixed into B100 in volume) as an alternative fuel of gas oil in Kyoto City. Another one is the fuel with ozone treatment by removing impurities from raw waste-cooking oils. Here, in order to improve the fuel properties, kerosene is mixed 70% volume in this fuel. This mixed fuel (i-BDF) is applied into several tracks and buses in Wakayama City. In the experiments, the used fuels were gas oil, i-BDF, B100 and B20. Spray characteristics and basic combustion properties were measured inside a rapid compression and an expansion machine (RCEM).

This work investigates the soot formation process in diesel jet flame using a detailed kinetic soot model implemented into the KIVA-3V multidimensional CFD code and 2D imaging by use of time-resolved laser induced incandescence (LII). The numerical model is based on the KIVA code which is modified to use CHEMKIN as the chemistry solver using Message Passing Interface (MPI). This allows for the chemical reactions to be simulated in parallel on multiple CPUs. The detailed soot model used is based on the method of moments, which begins with fuel pyrolysis, followed by the formation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, their growth and coagulation into spherical particles, and finally, surface growth and oxidation of the particles. The model can describe the spatial and temporal characteristics of soot formation processes such as soot precursors distributions, nucleation rate and surface reaction rate.

This work presents the ignition delay time characteristics of oxygenated fuel sprays under simulated diesel engine conditions. A constant volume combustion vessel is used for the experiments. The fuels used in the experiments were three oxygenated fuels: diethylene glycol dibutyl ether, diethylene glycol diethyl ether, and diethylene glycol dimethyl ether. JIS 2nd class gas oil was used as the reference fuel. The ambient gas temperature and oxygen concentration were ranging from 700 to 1100K and from 21 to 9%, respectively. The results show that the ignition delay of each oxygenated fuel tested in this experiments exhibits shorter than that of gas oil fuel for the wide range of ambient gas conditions. Also, NTC (negative temperature coefficient) behavior which appears under shock tube experiment for homogenous fuel-air mixture was observed on low ambient gas oxygen concentration for each fuel. And at the condition, the ignition behavior exhibits two-stage phase.

In this study, the novel fuel design concept has been proposed in order to realize the low emission and combustion control in engine systems. In this fuel design concept, the mixed fuels with a high volatility fuel (gasoline or gaseous fuel components) and a low volatility fuel (gas oil or fuel oil components) are used in order to improve the spray characteristics by flash boiling. In our previous papers on this study, the fundamental characteristics of spray and its combustion of mixed fuel were reported. In this paper, heat release and exhaust emission (smoke, NOx and THC) characteristics of single cylinder diesel engine operated with the mixed fuels were investigated under each load. The exhaust performance of diesel engine could be improved using mixed fuel, because fuel properties and spray characteristics were controlled by changing mixing fraction of the mixed fuel.