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The effects of different biodiesel blends on engine-out emissions under various transient conditions were investigated in this study using fast response diagnostic equipment. The experimental work was conducted on a modern 3.0 L, V6 high pressure common rail diesel engine fuelled with mineral diesel (B0) and three different blends of rapeseed methyl esters (RME) (B30, B60, B100 by volume) without any modifications of engine parameters. DMS500, Fast FID and Fast CLD were used to measure particulate matter (PM), total hydrocarbon (THC) and nitrogen monoxide (NO) respectively. The tests were conducted during a 12 seconds period with two tests in which load and speed were changed simultaneously and one test with only load changing. The results show that as biodiesel blend ratio increased, total particle number (PN) and THC were decreased whereas NO was increased for all the three transient conditions.

In this study, the particle emission characteristics of 10% alternative diesel fuel blends (Rapeseed Methyl Ester and Gas-to-Liquid) were investigated through the tests carried out on a light duty common-rail Euro 4 diesel engine. Under steady engine conditions, the study focused on particle number concentration and size distribution, to comply with the particle metrics of the European Emission Regulations (Regulation NO 715/2007, amended by 692/2008 and 595/2009). The non-volatile particle characteristics during the engine warming up were also investigated. They indicated that without any modification to the engine, adding selected alternative fuels, even at a low percentage, can result in a noticeable reduction of the total particle numbers; however, the number of nucleation mode particles can increase in certain cases.

Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition (HCCI) has emerged as a promising technology for reduction of exhaust emissions and improvement of fuel economy of internal combustion engines. There are generally two proposed methods of realizing the HCCI operation. The first is through the control of gas temperature in the cylinder and the second is through the control of chemical reactivity of the fuel and air mixture. EGR trapping, i.e., recycling a large quantity of hot burned gases by using special valve-train events (e.g. negative valve overlap), seems to be practical for many engine configurations and can be combined with any of the other HCCI enabling technologies. While this method has been widely researched, it is understood that the operating window of the HCCI engine with negative valve overlap is constrained, and the upper and lower load boundaries are greatly affected by the in-cylinder temperature.

n-butanol has been recognized as a promising alternative fuel for gasoline and may potentially overcome the drawbacks of methanol and ethanol, e.g. higher energy density. In this paper, the spray characteristics of gasoline and n-butanol have been investigated using a high pressure direct injection injector. High speed imaging and Phase Doppler Particle Analyzer (PDPA) techniques were used to study the spray penetration and the droplet atomization process. The tests were carried out in a high pressure constant volume vessel over a range of injection pressure from 60 to 150 bar and ambient pressure from 1 to 5 bar. The results show that gasoline has a longer penetration length than that of n-butanol in most test conditions due to the relatively small density and viscosity of gasoline; n-butanol has larger SMD due to its higher viscosity. The increase in ambient pressure leads to the reduction in SMD by 42% for gasoline and by 37% for n-butanol.

Liquefied alternative fuels offer great potential benefits in reducing exhaust emissions and improving fuel economy of automotive engines. In order to achieve the best performance of the engine running with such fuels, it is critical to have an appropriate fuel system. In the present work, a new electronically controlled common-rail injection system has been specially designed and tested for the direct injection of liquefied alternative fuels, since a conventional pump-line-injector injection system in the conventional diesel engine was not suitable for the purpose. Experimental work has been carried out to examine and improve matching of the fuel injection system on a new fuel injection pump test bench. The preliminary engine bench test has demonstrated that this arrangement meets the requirement for the operating characteristics of a fuel injection system in a direct injection diesel engine operating with dimethyl ether (DME).

Atomization of fuel sprays is a key factor in controlling the combustion quality in the direct-injection engines. In this present work, the effect of saturation ratio (Rs) on the near nozzle spray patterns of ethanol was investigated using an ultra-high speed imaging technique. The Rs range covered both flash-boiling and non-flash boiling regions. Ethanol was injected from a single-hole injector into an optically accessible constant volume chamber at a fixed injection pressure of 40 MPa with different fuel temperatures and back pressures. High-speed imaging was performed using an ultrahigh speed camera (1 million fps) coupled with a long-distance microscope. Under non-flash boiling conditions, the effect of Rs on fuel development was small but observable. Clear fuel collision can be observed at Rs=1.5 and 1.0. Under the flash boiling conditions, near-nozzle spray patterns were significant different from the non-flash boiling ones.

Gasoline Direct Injection (GDI) vehicles now make up the majority of European new car sales and a significant share of the existing car parc. Despite delivering measurable engine efficiency benefits, GDI fuel systems are not without issues. Fuel injectors are susceptible to the formation of deposits in and around the injector nozzles holes. It is widely reported that these deposits can affect engine performance and that different fuels can alleviate the buildup of those deposits. This project aims to understand the underlying mechanisms of how deposit formation ultimately leads to a reduction in vehicle performance. Ten GDI fuel injectors, with differing levels of coking were taken from engine testing and consumer vehicles and compared using a range of imaging and engine tests. At the time of writing, a new GDI engine test is being developed by the Co-ordinating European Council (CEC) to be used by the fuel and fuel additive industry.

2,5-dimethylfuran (DMF) is currently regarded as a potential alternative fuel to gasoline due to the development of new production technology. In this paper, the spray characteristics of DMF and its blends with gasoline were studied from a high pressure direct injection gasoline injector using the shadowgraph and Phase Doppler Particle Analyzer (PDPA) techniques, This includes the spray penetration, droplet velocity and size distribution of the various mixtures. In parallel commercial gasoline and ethanol were measured in order to compare the characteristics of DMF. A total of 52 points were measured along the spray so that the experimental results could be used for subsequent numerical modeling. In summary, the experimental results showed that DMF and its blends have similar spray properties to gasoline, compared to ethanol. The droplet size of DMF is generally smaller than ethanol and decreases faster with the increase of injection pressure.

It is well known that direct injection (DI) is a technology enabler for stratified combustion in spark-ignition (SI) engines. At full load or wide-open throttle (WOT), partial charge stratification can suppress knock, enabling greater spark advance and increased torque. Such split-injection or double-pulse injection strategies are employed when using gasoline in DI (GDI). However, as the use of biofuels is set to increase, is this mode still beneficial? In the current study, the authors attempt to answer this question using two gasoline-alternative biofuels: firstly, ethanol; the widely used gasoline-alternative biofuel and secondly, 2,5-dimethylfuran (DMF); the new biofuel candidate. These results have been benchmarked against gasoline in a single-cylinder, spray-guided DISI research engine at WOT (λ = 1 and 1500 rpm). Firstly, single-pulse start of injection (SOI) timing sweeps were conducted with each fuel to find the highest volumetric efficiency and IMEP.

With the high auto ignition temperature of natural gas, various approaches such as high compression ratios and/or intake charge heating are required for auto ignition. Another approach utilizes the trapping of internal residual gas (as used before in gasoline controlled auto ignition engines), to lower the thermal requirements for the auto ignition process in natural gas. In the present work, the achievable engine load range is controlled by the degree of internal trapping of exhaust gas supplemented by intake charge heating. Special valve strategies were used to control the internal retention of exhaust gas. Significant differences in the degree of valve overlap were necessary when compared to gasoline operation at the same speeds and loads, resulting in lower amounts of residual gas observed. The dilution effect of residual gas trapping is hence reduced, resulting in higher NOx emissions for the stoichiometric air/fuel ratio operation as compared to gasoline.

In the automotive industry, engine downsizing has been widely accepted as an enabler to improving the fuel economy and reducing the CO₂ emissions. The Atkinson cycle is one of the key technologies. In this paper, the Atkinson cycle with different expansion ratios are compared and analyzed. The investigation is compared with the benchmark whose expansion and compression ratio are identical. The aim is to understand the inherent characteristics of the over-expansion and its effect on the engine performance and emissions. The simulation results show that, the Atkinson cycle produces higher efficiency due to over-expansion. The Atkinson cycle has higher internal EGR compared with the benchmark at equivalent conditions, which contributes to lower the NOx and CO emissions.

It is well-known that gasoline is a poor fuel for HCCI operation due to its high autoignation temperature, while the major problem for diesel HCCI is that the ignition temperature of diesel fuel is too low so that diesel autoignites too early. Interestingly a blend of gasoline and diesel fuel could have desirable characteristics for HCCI operation. The negative valve overlap (NVO) is a practical and feasible control mode for production applications of the HCCI concept. At present, the most serious problem is the difficulty to control the moment of auto-ignition and extend the limited operating window of smooth HCCI operation. In this paper, the promotive effects of diesel fuel on gasoline HCCI combustion were experimentally examined. The diesel fuel as additive was added in advance in different proportion (10% and 20% by mass) into gasoline for the purpose of improving its ignitability. The experiments conducted on a gasoline HCCI engine which was naturally aspirated and unthrottled.

HVO contains paraffin only and UVOME is methyl ester with long chain alkyl while mineral diesel is complex compound and contains lots of aromatic and Naphthenic. This paper compares the effects of EGR on the two different types of biodiesels blends compared to diesel. The combustion performance and emissions of biodiesel blends of UVOME and HVO were investigated in a turbocharged direct injection V6 diesel engine with EGR swept from 0% to the calibration setting for diesel. The EGR sweep tests with increment of 5% were conducted at the engine speed of 1500 RPM for the load of between 72 Nm to 143 Nm, using sulfur-free diesel blended with UVOME and HVO at 30% and 60% by volume respectively. As the EGR rate was increased, the brake specific fuel consumption (BSFC) for each fuel was reduced at lower load but increased at higher load. The BSFC of mineral diesel was lower than UVOME blends and similar to the HVO blends.

The fuel reforming technology has been extensively investigated as a way to produce hydrogen on-board a vehicle that can be utilized in internal combustion engines, fuel cells and aftertreatment technologies. Maximization of H2 production in the reforming process can be achieved when there is optimized water (steam) addition for the different reforming temperatures. A way to increase the already available water quantity on-board a vehicle (i.e. exhaust gas water content) is by using emulsified fuel (e.g. water-diesel blend). This study presents the effect of an emulsified diesel fuel (a blend of water and diesel fuel with an organic surfactant to make the mixture stable) on combustion in conjunction with exhaust gas assisted fuel reforming on a compression ignition engine. No engine modification was required to carry out these tests. The emulsified diesel fuel consisted of about 80% (mass basis) of conventional ultra low sulphur diesel (ULSD) fuel and fixed water content.

Increasing biodiesel content in mineral diesel is being promoted considerably for road transportation in Europe. With positive benefits in terms of net CO2 emissions, biofuels with compatible properties to those of conventional diesel are increasingly being used in combustion engines. In comparison to standard diesel fuel, the near zero sulphur content and low levels of aromatic compounds in biodiesel fuel can have a profound effect not only on combustion characteristics but on engine-out emissions as well. This paper presents analysis of particulate matter (PM) emissions from a turbo-charged, common rail direct injection (DI) V6 Jaguar engine operating with an RME (rapeseed methyl ester) biodiesel blended with ultra low sulphur diesel (ULSD) fuel (B30 - 30% of RME by volume). Three different engine load and speed conditions were selected for the test and no modifications were made to the engine hardware or engine management system (EMS) calibration.

A single zone combustion model based on a chemical kinetic solver has been combined with a one-dimension thermo/gas dynamic engine simulation code to study the operating characteristics of a V6 engine in which Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition (HCCI) operation (also referred to as ‘Controlled Auto-ignition” CAI) is enabled by a cam profile switching (CPS) system with negative valve overlap. An operational window within which HCCI combustion is possible has been identified and the limit of HCCI operating region for varied valve lift possibilities is explored. The mechanisms and potential fuel economy improvements within the HCCI envelope are studied and modelled results compared against data from similar engines. It is shown that for the best fuel economy the valve timing strategy needs to be selected very carefully, despite the engine's capability to operate at a range of valve timing combinations.

Producing on-board the hydrogen that is to be used as supplementary fuel by exhaust gas reforming of gasoline shows encouraging results. Extensive research has been done at the University of Birmingham towards on board generation of hydrogen-rich gaseous fuel. Exhaust gas reforming which utilizes water vapor and enthalpy from the hot engine exhaust gas was applied using a compact system of a fuel reformer reactor integrated with the three way catalytic converter (TWC). Such system can be fitted in the limited space close to the engine. The device has been designed and built in concentric shape with the catalytic converter as a core and the reformer in an annular shape outside, to best utilize the waste heat from the catalytic converter. It requires very little extra space beyond the baseline catalytic converter.

2, 5-Dimethylfuran (DMF) has been receiving increasing interest as a potential alternative fuel to fossil fuels, owing to the recent development of new production technology. However, the influence of DMF properties on the in-cylinder fuel spray and its evaporation, subsequent combustion processes as well as emission formation in current gasoline direct injection (GDI) engines is still not well understood, due to the lack of comprehensive understanding of its physical and chemical characteristics. To better understand the spray characteristics of DMF and its application to the IC engine, the fuel sprays of DMF and gasoline were investigated by experimental and computational methods. The shadowgraph and Phase Doppler Particle Analyzer (PDPA) techniques were used for measuring spray penetration, droplet velocity and size distribution of both fuels.

The use of deposit control additives in European market gasoline is well documented for maintaining high levels of engine cleanliness and subsequent sustained fuel and emissions performance. Co-ordinating European Council (CEC) industry fuels tests have played a crucial role in helping to drive market relevant, effective and low-cost deposit control additives into European market fuels. Until now, there hasn’t been a Gasoline Direct Injection engine test available to fuel marketers in any market globally. However, a new CEC engine test is currently being developed to address that gap. Based on an in-house VW injector coking test, it shows promise for becoming a useful tool with which to develop and measure the performance of deposit control additives. A key requirement of industry tests should be to replicate issues seen in consumer vehicles, thereby providing a platform for relevant solutions.

This paper focuses on supercharged HCCI engines employing internal EGR that is obtained by the use of negative valve overlap. In HCCI engines, the absence of throttling coupled with the use of high compression ratio to facilitate auto-ignition and with the use of lean mixtures result in improved fuel efficiency. High dilution is required to control the auto-ignition and it also results in reduction of the production of NOx. To compensate for the charge dilution effect, the method used to recover the loss of power is to introduce more air in to the engine which allows introducing also more fuel while maintaining high lambda. A supercharger is required to introduce the required amount of air into the engine. The modelling investigation performed with Ricardo WAVE® coupled with CHEMKIN® and experimental investigation for supercharged HCCI show significant improvement in terms of extension of load range and reduction of NOx over the naturally aspirated HCCI and also over SI operation.