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The soot distribution as function of ambient O₂ mole fraction in a heavy-duty diesel engine was investigated at low load (6 bar IMEP) with laser-induced incandescence (LII) and natural luminosity. A Multi-YAG laser system was utilized to create time-resolved LII using 8 laser pulses with a spacing of one CAD with detection on an 8-chip framing camera. It is well known that the engine-out smoke level increases with decreasing oxygen fraction up to a certain level where it starts to decrease again. For the studied case the peak occurred at an O₂ fraction of 11.4%. When the oxygen fraction was decreased successively from 21% to 9%, the initial soot formation moved downstream in the jet. At the lower oxygen fractions, below 12%, no soot was formed until after the wall interaction. At oxygen fractions below 11% the first evidence of soot is in the recirculation zone between two adjacent jets.

High-load HCCI operation is typically limited by rapid pressure-rise rates (PRR) and engine knock caused by an overly rapid heat-release rate (HRR). Exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) is commonly used in HCCI engines, and it is often stated in the literature that charge dilution with EGR (or high levels of retained residuals) is beneficial for reducing the PRR to allow higher loads without knock. However, EGR/retained-residuals affect other operating parameters such as combustion phasing, which can in turn influence the PRR independently from any effect of the EGR gases themselves. Because of the multiple effects of EGR, its direct benefit for reducing the PRR is not well understood. In this work, the effects of EGR on the PRR were isolated by controlling the combustion phasing independently from the EGR addition by adjusting the intake temperature. The experiments were conducted using gasoline as the fuel at a 1200 rpm operating condition.

The potential of boosted HCCI for achieving high loads has been investigated for intake pressures (Piⁿ) from 100 kPa (naturally aspirated) to 325 kPa absolute. Experiments were conducted in a single-cylinder HCCI research engine (0.98 liters) equipped with a compression-ratio 14 piston at 1200 rpm. The intake charge was fully premixed well upstream of the intake, and the fuel was a research-grade (R+M)/2 = 87-octane gasoline with a composition typical of commercial gasolines. Beginning with Piⁿ = 100 kPa, the intake pressure was systematically increased in steps of 20 - 40 kPa, and for each Piⁿ, the fueling was incrementally increased up to the knock/stability limit, beyond which slight changes in combustion conditions can lead to strong knocking or misfire. A combination of reduced intake temperature and cooled EGR was used to compensate for the pressure-induced enhancement of autoignition and to provide sufficient combustion-phasing retard to control knock.

Ammonia/urea-SCR is a mature technology, applied worldwide for the control of NOx emissions in combustion exhausts from thermal power plants, cogeneration units, incinerators and stationary diesel engines and more recently also from mobile sources. However a greater DeNOx activity at low temperatures is desired in order to meet more and more restrictive legislations. In this paper we report transient and steady state data collected over commercial Fe-ZSM-5 and V₂O₅-WO₃/TiO₂ catalysts showing high NOx reduction efficiencies in the 200 - 350°C T-range when NO and ammonia react with nitrates, e.g., in the form of an aqueous solution of ammonium nitrate. Under such conditions a new reaction occurs, the so-called "Enhanced SCR" reaction, 2 NH₃ + 2 NO + NH₄NO₃ → 3 N₂ + 5 H₂O.

Low-temperature gasoline combustion (LTGC), based on the compression ignition of a premixed or partially premixed dilute charge, can provide thermal efficiencies (TE) and maximum loads comparable to those of turbo-charged diesel engines, and ultra-low NOx and particulate emissions. Intake boosting is key to achieving high loads with dilute combustion, and it also enhances the fuel's autoignition reactivity, reducing the required intake heating or hot residuals. These effects have the advantages of increasing TE and charge density, allowing greater timing retard with good stability, and making the fuel ϕ- sensitive so that partial fuel stratification (PFS) can be applied for higher loads and further TE improvements. However, at high boost the autoignition reactivity enhancement can become excessive, and substantial amounts of EGR are required to prevent overly advanced combustion.

In the next years, the upcoming emission legislations are expected to introduce further restrictions on the admittable level of pollutants from vehicles measured on homologation cycles and real drive tests. In this context, the strict control of pollutant emissions at the cold start will become a crucial point to comply with the new regulation standards. This will necessarily require the implementation of novel strategies to speed-up the light-off of the reactions occurring in the after-treatment system, since the cold start conditions are the most critical one for cumulative emissions. Among the different possible technological solutions, this paper focuses on the evaluation of the potential of a burner system, which is activated before the engine start. The hypothetical burner exploits the lean combustion of an air-gasoline mixture to generate a high temperature gas stream which is directed to the catalyst section promoting a fast heating of the substrate.

Fuel lean combustion and exhaust gas dilution are known to increase the thermal efficiency and reduce NOx emissions. In this study, experiments are performed to understand the effect of equivalence ratio on flame kernel formation and flame propagation around the spark plug for different low turbulent velocities. A series of experiments are carried out for propane-air mixtures to simulate engine-like conditions. For these experiments, equivalence ratios of 0.7 and 0.9 are tested with 20 percent mass-based exhaust gas recirculation (EGR). Turbulence is generated by a shrouded fan design in the vicinity of J-spark plug. A closed loop feedback control system is used for the fan to generate a consistent flow field. The flow profile is characterized by using Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) technique. High-speed Schlieren visualization is used for the spark formation and flame propagation.

The downsizing of internal combustion engines to increase fuel economy leads to challenges in both obtaining ignition and stabilizing combustion at boosted intake pressures and high exhaust gas recirculation dilution conditions. The use of non-thermal plasma ignition technologies has shown promise as a means to more reliably ignite dilute charge mixtures at high pressures. Despite progress in fundamental research on this topic, both the capabilities and operation implications of emerging non-thermal plasma ignition technologies in internal combustion engine applications are not yet fully explored. In this work, we document the effects of using a corona discharge ignition system in a single cylinder gasoline direct injection research engine relative to using a traditional inductive spark ignition system under conditions associated with both naturally aspirated (8 bar BMEP) and boosted (20 bar BMEP) loads at moderate (2000 rpm) and high (4000 rpm) engine speeds.

Pursuing a sustainable energy scenario for transportation requires the blending of renewable oxygenated fuels such as alcohols into commercial hydrocarbon fuels. From a chemical kinetic perspective, this requires the accurate description of both hydrocarbon reference fuels (n-heptane, iso-octane, toluene, etc.) and oxygenated fuels chemistry. A recent systematic investigation of linear C2-C5 alcohols ignition in a rapid compression machine at p = 10-30 bar and T = 650- 900 K has extended the scarcity of fundamental data at such conditions, allowing for a revision of the low temperature chemistry for alcohol fuels in the POLIMI mechanism. Heavier alcohols such as n-butanol and n-pentanol present ignition characteristic of interest for application in HCCI engines, due to the presence of the hydroxyl moiety reducing their low temperature reactivity compared to the parent linear alkanes (i.e. higher octane number).

Reactivity Controlled Compression Ignition (RCCI) is an approach to increase engine efficiency and lower engine-out emissions by using in-cylinder stratification of fuels with differing reactivity (i.e., autoignition characteristics) to control combustion phasing. Stratification can be altered by varying the injection timing of the high-reactivity fuel, causing transitions across multiple regimes of combustion. When injection is sufficiently early, combustion approaches a highly-premixed autoignition regime, and when it is sufficiently late it approaches more mixing-controlled, diesel-like conditions. Engine performance, emissions, and control authority over combustion phasing with injection timing are most favorable in between, within the RCCI regime.

Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) systems are nowadays widely applied for the reduction of NOx emitted from Diesel engines. The typical process is based on the injection of aqueous urea in the exhaust gases before the SCR catalyst, which determines the production of the ammonia needed for the catalytic reduction of NOx. However, this technology is affected by two main limitations: a) the evaporation of the urea water solution (UWS) requires a sufficiently high temperature of the exhaust gases and b) the formation of solid deposits during the UWS evaporation is a frequent phenomenon which compromise the correct operation of the system. In this context, to overcome these issues, a technology based on the injection of gaseous ammonia has been recently proposed: in this case, ammonia is stored at the solid state in a cartridge containing a Strontium Chloride salt and it is desorbed by means of electrical heating.

This work explores how the high-load limits of HCCI are affected by fuel autoignition reactivity, EGR quality/composition, and EGR unmixedness for naturally aspirated conditions. This is done for PRF80 and PRF60. The experiments were conducted in a single-cylinder HCCI research engine (0.98 liters) with a CR = 14 piston installed. By operating at successively higher engine loads, five load-limiting factors were identified for these fuels: 1) Residual-NOx-induced run-away advancement of the combustion phasing, 2) EGR-NOx-induced run-away, 3) EGR-NOx/wall-heating induced run-away 4) EGR-induced oxygen deprivation, and 5) excessive partial-burn occurrence due to EGR unmixedness. The actual load-limiting factor is dependent on the autoignition reactivity of the fuel, the EGR quality level (where high quality refers to the absence of trace species like NO, HC and CO, i.e. simulated EGR), the level of EGR unmixedness, and the selected pressure-rise rate (PRR).

This work explores the high-load limits of HCCI for naturally aspirated operation. This is done for three fuels with various autoignition reactivity: iso-octane, PRF80, and PRF60. The experiments were conducted in a single-cylinder HCCI research engine (0.98 liter displacement), mostly with a CR = 14 piston installed, but with some tests at CR = 18. Five load-limiting factors were identified: 1) NOx-induced combustion-phasing run-away, 2) wall-heating-induced run-away, 3) EGR-induced oxygen deprivation, 4) wandering unsteady combustion, and 5) excessive exhaust NOx. These experiments at 1200 rpm show that the actual load-limiting factor is dependent on the autoignition reactivity of the fuel, the selected CA50, and in some cases, the tolerable level of NOx emissions. For iso-octane, which has the highest resistance to autoignition of the fuels tested, the NOx emissions become unacceptable at IMEPg = 473 kPa.

Negative valve overlap (NVO) is a valve strategy employed to retain and recompress residual burned gases to assist HCCI combustion, particularly in the difficult regime of low-load operation. NVO allows the retention of large quantities of hot residual burned gases as well as the possibility of fuel addition for combustion control purposes. Reaction of fuel injected during NVO increases charge temperature, but in addition could produce reformed fuel species that may affect main combustion phasing. The strategy holds potential for controlling and extending low-load HCCI combustion. The goal of this work is to demonstrate the feasibility of applying two-wavelength PLIF of 3-pentanone to obtain simultaneous, in-cylinder temperature and composition images during different parts of the HCCI/NVO cycle. Measurements are recorded during the intake and main compression strokes, as well as during the more challenging periods of NVO recompression and re-expansion.

Transient and steady-state kinetic data are herein presented to analyze the inhibiting effect of ammonia on the NH₃-SCR of NO at low temperatures over a Fe-zeolite commercial catalyst for vehicles. It is shown that in SCR converter models a rate expression accounting for NH₃ inhibition of the Standard SCR reaction is needed in order to predict the specific dynamics observed both in lab-scale and in engine test bench runs upon switching on and off the ammonia feed. Two redox, dual site kinetic models are developed which ascribe such inhibition to the spill-over of ammonia from its adsorption sites, associated with the zeolite, to the redox sites, associated with the Fe promoter. Better agreement both with lab-scale intrinsic kinetic runs and with engine test-bench data, particularly during transients associated with dosing of ammonia to the SCR catalyst, is obtained assuming slow migration of NH₃ between the two sites.

Partially premixed low-temperature combustion (LTC) using exhaust-gas recirculation (EGR) has the potential to reduce engine-out NOx and soot emissions, but increased unburned hydrocarbon (UHC) emissions need to be addressed. In this study, we investigate close-coupled post injections for reducing UHC emissions. By injecting small amounts of fuel soon after the end of the main injection, fuel-lean mixtures near the injector that suffer incomplete combustion can be enriched with post-injection fuel and burned to completion. The goal of this work is to understand the in-cylinder mechanisms affecting the post-injection efficacy and to quantify its sensitivity to operational parameters including post-injection duration, injection dwell, load, and ignition delay time of the post-injection mixture.

Ethanol and ethanol/gasoline blends are being widely considered as alternative fuels for light-duty automotive applications. At the same time, HCCI combustion has the potential to provide high efficiency and ultra-low exhaust emissions. However, the application of HCCI is typically limited to low and moderate loads because of unacceptably high heat-release rates (HRR) at higher fueling rates. This work investigates the potential of lowering the HCCI HRR at high loads by using partial fuel stratification to increase the in-cylinder thermal stratification. This strategy is based on ethanol's high heat of vaporization combined with its true single-stage ignition characteristics. Using partial fuel stratification, the strong fuel-vaporization cooling produces thermal stratification due to variations in the amount of fuel vaporization in different parts of the combustion chamber.

A single-cylinder, light-duty, diesel engine was used to investigate the effect of changes in intake pressure (boost) on engine performance and emissions in low-temperature combustion (LTC) regimes. Two different LTC strategies were examined: a dilution-controlled regime characterized by high rates of exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) with early-injection (roughly 30° BTDC), and a late-injection (near TDC) regime employing moderate EGR levels. For both strategies, moderate (8 bar IMEP) and low (3 bar IMEP) load conditions were tested at intake pressures of 1.0, 1.5, and 2.0 bar. For both LTC strategies, increased intake pressure reduces emissions of unburned hydrocarbons (UHC) and CO, with corresponding improvements in combustion efficiency and indicated specific fuel consumption (ISFC), particularly at high load. Depending on the operating condition, UHC and CO emissions can stem from either over-lean or over-rich mixtures.

In-cylinder and exhaust soot mass were measured in an optically accessible heavy duty diesel engine under various intake oxygen concentrations from 8 vol% to 21 vol% to gain insight into soot formation and destruction processes. Exhaust-gas recirculation (EGR) in the optical engine was simulated by dilution of intake gases with nitrogen. In-cylinder soot, measured by 2-color optical pyrometry, was compared to engine-out soot, measured by a commercial optical smoke meter. Each EGR rate was studied under two separate fueling conditions: (i) constant injection duration, and (ii) constant global equivalence ratio. The in-cylinder and exhaust soot measurements of the current study agree well with findings of previous studies in the literature. Under both fueling conditions, in-cylinder soot temperatures decreased with the reduction of in-cylinder oxygen concentration.

Engine combustion strategies that preserve high cycle efficiency while minimizing engine-out pollutant emissions are the focus of major research efforts around the world. Such high efficiency clean combustion (HECC) strategies typically employ compression ignition of a charge that exhibits an elevated degree of fuel/air premixing and/or dilution with combustion products. Prior studies have shown that a highly dilute, mixing-controlled combustion strategy using a high-cetane, oxygenated fuel can achieve HECC while avoiding the control, high-load knock, and light-load incomplete combustion difficulties that are often experienced with approaches that use a high degree of charge premixing. On the other hand, employing high dilution levels (e.g., by using large amounts of cooled exhaust gas recirculation, EGR) can place excessive burdens on engine heat exchangers and air-handling systems.