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Pilot-ignited direct injection of natural gas fuelling of a heavy-duty compression ignition engine while using recirculated exhaust gas (EGR) has been shown to significantly reduce NOx emissions. To further investigate emissions reductions, the combustion timing, injection pressure, and relative delay between the pilot and main fuel injections were varied over a range of EGR fractions while engine speed, net charge mass, and oxygen equivalence ratio were held constant. PM emissions were reduced by higher injection pressures without significantly affecting NOx at all EGR conditions. By delaying the combustion, NOx was reduced at the expense of increased PM for a given EGR fraction. By reducing the delay between the pilot and main fuel injections at high EGR, PM emissions were substantially reduced at the expense of increased total hydrocarbon (tHC) emissions. In this research, no attempt was made to optimize the injector or combustion chamber for natural gas fuelling with EGR.

The effect of large exhaust gas re-circulation (EGR) quantities on NOx production in a natural-gas-fueled direct-injection heavy-duty diesel engine has been tested over a range of speed, load, and timing in controlled experiments with a single-cylinder engine. At the highest EGR ratio, as much as 50% of the cylinder- out NOx was NO2. NOx results correlated well with oxygen mole fraction in the unburned gas because of the direct dependence of flame temperature on this quantity. Within the range of measurements, speed and load had little or no effect on the relationship between oxygen mole fraction and NOx production. A multi-zone model for estimating combustion rate, flame temperature, wall heat transfer, and NOx production from engine operating conditions and the record of cylinder pressure development with crank angle, was used to interpret experimental measurements.

The use of pilot-ignited, direct-injected natural gas in a heavy-duty compression-ignition engine has been shown to reduce emissions while maintaining performance and efficiency. Adding recirculated exhaust gas (EGR) has been shown to further reduce emissions of nitric oxides (NOx), albeit at the cost of increased hydrocarbons (tHC), carbon monoxide (CO), and particulate matter (PM) emissions at high EGR fractions. Previous tests have suggested that reducing the delay between the diesel and natural gas injections, increasing the injection pressure, or adjusting the combustion timing have individually achieved substantial emissions benefits. To investigate the effectiveness of combining these techniques, and of using them over a wide range of operating conditions, a series of tests were carried out. The first set of tests investigated the interactions between these effects and the EGR fraction.

In recent years there has been a growing awareness that particulate matter, especially fine diesel particulate, is a health concern. This has stimulated research to develop new technologies to reduce particulate emissions without increasing nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions or fuel consumption. Westport Innovations has developed a technology involving high pressure direct injection and combustion of natural gas for medium and heavy-duty engine platforms. At practical compression ratios, the natural gas will not auto-ignite, so a diesel pilot injection is used for ignition. Thus, the soot emissions can have contributions from the combustion of natural gas, diesel pilot, or lubricating oil. While the soot emissions with natural gas as the main fuel are significantly lower than in a conventional diesel engine, it remains important to determine where the soot is coming from to aid in emission reduction strategies.

Determining what exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) control parameters have the largest impact on engine performance and emissions is of critical importance when developing an EGR-equipped engine. These tests studied the effects of varying the net charge mass, the fresh air charge mass, the indicated power, and the oxygen equivalence ratio at various EGR fractions. The research was carried out on a direct-injection, natural gas fuelled, pilot-ignited four-stroke heavy-duty engine using Westport Innovations Inc.'s pilot-ignited, direct injection of natural gas technology. The testing was carried out using a prototype injector and the standard diesel-fuelled engine's combustion chamber. The results indicate that fuel efficiency, as well as emissions of Nitrogen Oxides (NOx) and Carbon Monoxide (CO) depend primarily on the EGR level, and not on the values of the EGR control parameters.