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In the engine community, gasoline compression ignition (GCI) engines are at the forefront of research and efforts are being taken to commercialize an optimized GCI engine in the near future. GCI engines are operated typically at Partially Premixed Combustion (PPC) mode as it offers better control of combustion with improved combustion stability. While the transition in combustion homogeneity from convectional Compression Ignition (CI) to Homogenized Charge Compression Ignition (HCCI) combustion via PPC has been comprehensively investigated, the physical and chemical effects of fuel on GCI are rarely reported at different combustion modes. Therefore, in this study, the effect of physical and chemical properties of fuels on GCI is investigated. In-order to investigate the reported problem, low octane gasoline fuels with same RON = 70 but different physical properties and sensitivity (S) are chosen.

Gasoline compression ignition (GCI) is widely studied for the benefits of simultaneous reduction in nitrogen oxide (NOX) and soot emissions without compromising the engine efficiency. Despite this advantage, the operational range for GCI is not widely expanded, as the auto-ignition of fuel at low load condition is difficult. The present study aims to extend the low load operational limit for GCI using negative valve overlap (NVO) strategy. The engine used for the current experimentation is a single cylinder diesel engine that runs at an idle speed of 800 rpm with a compression ratio of 17.3. The engine is operated at homogeneous charge compression ignition (HCCI) and partially premixed combustion (PPC) combustion modes with the corresponding start of injection (SOI) at −180 CAD (aTDC) and −30 CAD (aTDC), respectively.

The literature study on PPC in optical engine reveals investigations on OH chemiluminescence and combustion stratification. So far, mostly PRF fuel is studied and it is worthwhile to examine the effect of fuel properties on PPC. Therefore, in this work, fuel having different octane rating and physical properties are selected and PPC is studied in an optical engine. The fuels considered in this study are diesel, heavy naphtha, light naphtha and their corresponding surrogates such as heptane, PRF50 and PRF65 respectively. Without EGR (Intake O2 = 21%), these fuels are tested at an engine speed of 1200 rpm, fuel injection pressure of 800 bar and pressure at TDC = 35 bar. SOI is changed from late to early fuel injection timings to study PPC and the shift in combustion regime from CI to PPC is explored for all fuels. An increased understanding on the effect of fuel octane number, physical properties and chemical composition on combustion and emission formation is obtained.

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.

Light naphtha is the light distillate from crude oil and can be used in compression ignition (CI) engines; its low boiling point and octane rating (RON = 64.5) enable adequate premixing. This study investigates the combustion characteristics of light naphtha (LN) and its multicomponent surrogate under various start of injection (SOI) conditions. LN and a five-component surrogate for LN, comprised of 43% n-pentane, 12% n-heptane, 10% 2-methylhexane, 25% iso-pentane and 10% cyclo-pentane, has been tested in a single cylinder optical diesel engine. The transition in combustion homogeneity from CI combustion to homogenized charge compression ignition (HCCI) combustion was then compared between LN and its surrogate. The engine experimental results showed good agreement in combustion phasing, ignition delay, start of combustion, in-cylinder pressure and rate of heat release between LN and its surrogate.