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Alternative fuels for internal combustion engines have been the subject of numerous studies. The new U.S. Renewable Fuel Standard has made it a requirement to increase the production of ethanol and advanced biofuels to 36 billion gallons by 2022. Because corn-based ethanol will be capped at 15 billion gallons, 21 billion gallons must come from the advanced biofuels category. A potential source to fill the gap may be butanol and its isomers as they possess fuel properties superior to ethanol. Recently, concerns have been raised about emission of currently non-regulated constituents, aldehydes in particular, from alcohol-based fuels. In an effort to assess the relative impact of the U.S. Renewable Fuel Standards on emissions from a modern gasoline engine, both regulated and non-regulated gas constituents were measured from the combustion of three different alcohol isomers in a modern direct-injected (DI) spark ignition (SI) gasoline engine.

The application of hydrogen (H2) as an internal combustion (IC) engine fuel has been under investigation for several decades. The favorable physical properties of hydrogen make it an excellent alternative fuel for fuel cells as well as IC engines and hence it is widely regarded as the energy carrier of the future. The potential of hydrogen as an IC engine fuel can be optimized by direct injection (DI) as it provides multiple degrees of freedom to influence the in-cylinder combustion processes and consequently the engine efficiency and exhaust emissions. This paper studies a single-hole nozzle and examines the effects of injection strategy on engine efficiency, combustion behavior and NOx emissions. The experiments for this study are done on a 0.5 liter single-cylinder research engine which is specifically designed for combustion studies and equipped with a cylinder head that allows side as well as central injector location.

This paper presents the results of efficiency, emissions, and performance testing of a supercharged, hydrogen-powered, four-cylinder engine. Tests were run at various speeds, loads, and air/fuel ratios in order to identify advantageous operating regimes. The tests revealed that a maximum thermal brake efficiency of 37% could be achieved and that certain operating regimes could achieve NOx emissions as low as 1 ppm without aftertreatment. Measurement of cylinder pressure traces in all four cylinders allowed a detailed assessment of cylinder-cylinder deviation. Several measures to further increase hydrogen engine performance in order to reach the goals set by the U.S. Department of Energy are being discussed.

Interest in natural gas as a fuel for light-duty transportation has increased due to its domestic availability and lower cost relative to gasoline. Natural gas, comprised mainly of methane, has a higher knock resistance than gasoline making it advantageous for high load operation. However, the lower flame speeds of natural gas can cause ignitability issues at part-load operation leading to an increase in the initial flame development process. While port-fuel injection of natural gas can lead to a loss in power density due to the displacement of intake air, injecting natural gas directly into the cylinder can reduce such losses. A study was designed and performed to evaluate the potential of natural gas for use as a light-duty fuel. Steady-state baseline tests were performed on a single-cylinder research engine equipped for port-fuel injection of gasoline and natural gas, as well as centrally mounted direct injection of natural gas.

This paper performs a parametric analysis of the influence of numerical grid resolution and turbulence model on jet penetration and mixture formation in a DI-H2 ICE. The cylinder geometry is typical of passenger-car sized spark-ignited engines, with a centrally located single-hole injector nozzle. The simulation includes the intake and exhaust port geometry, in order to account for the actual flow field within the cylinder when injection of hydrogen starts. A reduced geometry is then used to focus on the mixture formation process. The numerically predicted hydrogen mole-fraction fields are compared to experimental data from quantitative laser-based imaging in a corresponding optically accessible engine. In general, the results show that with proper mesh and turbulence settings, remarkable agreement between numerical and experimental data in terms of fuel jet evolution and mixture formation can be achieved.

It is beneficial but challenging to operate spark-ignition engines under highly lean and dilute conditions. The unstable ignition behavior can result in downgraded combustion performance in engine cylinders. Numerical approach is serving as a promising tool to identify the ignition requirements by providing insight into the complex physical/chemical phenomena. An effort to simulate the early stage of flame kernel initiation in lean and dilute fuel/air mixture has been made and discussed in this paper. The simulations are set to validate against laboratory results of spark ignition behavior in a constant volume combustion vessel. In order to present a practical as well as comprehensive ignition model, the simulations are performed by taking into consideration the discharge circuit analysis, the detailed reaction mechanism, and local heat transfer between the flame kernel and spark plug.

This paper describes the validation of a CFD code for mixture preparation in a direct injection hydrogen-fueled engine. The cylinder geometry is typical of passenger-car sized spark-ignited engines, with a centrally located injector. A single-hole and a 13-hole nozzle are used at about 100 bar and 25 bar injection pressure. Numerical results from the commercial code Fluent (v6.3.35) are compared to measurements in an optically accessible engine. Quantitative planar laser-induced fluorescence provides phase-locked images of the fuel mole-fraction, while single-cycle visualization of the early jet penetration is achieved by a high-speed schlieren technique. The characteristics of the computational grids are discussed, especially for the near-nozzle region, where the jets are under-expanded. Simulation of injection from the single-hole nozzle yields good agreement between numerical and optical results in terms of jet penetration and overall evolution.

In order to achieve the targets for hydrogen engines set by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) - a brake thermal efficiency of 45% and nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions below 0.07 g/mi - while maintaining the same power density as comparable gasoline engines, researchers need to investigate advanced mixture formation and combustion strategies for hydrogen internal combustion engines. Hydrogen direct injection is a very promising approach to meeting DOE targets; however, there are several challenges to be overcome in order to establish this technology as a viable pathway toward a sustainable hydrogen infrastructure. This paper describes the use of endoscopic imaging as a diagnostic tool that allows further insight into the processes that occur during hydrogen combustion. It also addresses recent progress in the development of advanced direct-injected hydrogen internal combustion engine concepts.

Of late there has been a resurgence in studies investigating parameters that quantify combustion knock in both standardized platforms and modern spark-ignition engines. However, it is still unclear how metrics such as knock (octane) rating, knock onset, and knock intensity are related and how fuels behave according to these metrics across a range of conditions. As part of an ongoing study, the air supply system of a standard Cooperative Fuel Research (CFR) F1/F2 engine was modified to allow mild levels of intake air boosting while staying true to its intended purpose of being the standard device for American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM)-specified knock rating or octane number tests. For instance, the carburation system and intake air heating manifold are not altered, but the engine was equipped with cylinder pressure transducers to enable both logging of the standard knockmeter readout and state-of-the-art indicated data.

The application of hydrogen (H2) as an internal combustion (IC) engine fuel has been under investigation for several decades. The favorable physical properties of hydrogen make it an excellent alternative fuel for IC engines and hence it is widely regarded as the energy carrier of the future. Direct injection of hydrogen allows optimizing this potential as it provides multiple degrees of freedom to influence the in-cylinder combustion processes and consequently engine efficiency and exhaust emissions. At certain operating conditions the stratification associated with hydrogen direct injection (DI) leads to an efficiency improvement. However, it also results in higher emissions levels. This paper examines the effects of combining an advanced direct injection strategy with water injection for efficiency benefits and emissions reduction of a hydrogen fuelled DI spark ignition (SI) engine.

Interest in natural gas as an alternative fuel source to petroleum fuels for light-duty vehicle applications has increased due to its domestic availability and stable price compared to gasoline. With its higher hydrogen-to-carbon ratio, natural gas has the potential to reduce engine out carbon dioxide emissions, which has shown to be a strong greenhouse gas contributor. For part-load conditions, the lower flame speeds of natural gas can lead to an increased duration in the inflammation process with traditional port-injection. Direct-injection of natural gas can increase in-cylinder turbulence and has the potential to reduce problems typically associated with port-injection of natural gas, such as lower flame speeds and poor dilution tolerance. A study was designed and executed to investigate the effects of direct-injection of natural gas at part-load conditions.

Natural Gas (NG) is an alternative fuel which has attracted a lot of attention recently, in particular in the US due to shale gas availability. The higher hydrogen-to-carbon (H/C) ratio, compared to gasoline, allows for decreasing carbon dioxide emissions throughout the entire engine map. Furthermore, the high knock resistance of NG allows increasing the efficiency at high engine loads compared to fuels with lower knock resistance. NG direct injection (DI) allows for fuel to be added after intake valve closing (IVC) resulting in an increase in power density compared to an injection before IVC. Steady-state engine tests were performed on a single-cylinder research engine equipped with gasoline (E10) port-fuel injection (PFI) and NG DI to allow for in-cylinder blending of both fuels. Knock investigations were performed at two discrete compression ratios (CR), 10.5 and 12.5.

Dual-fuel combustion using port-injected gasoline with a direct diesel injection has been shown to achieve low-temperature combustion with moderate peak pressure rise rates, low engine-out soot and NOx emissions, and high indicated thermal efficiency. A key requirement for extending high-load operation is moderating the reactivity of the premixed charge prior to the diesel injection. Reducing compression ratio, in conjunction with a higher expansion ratio using alternative valve timings, decreases compressed charge reactivity while maintain a high expansion ratio for maximum work extraction. Experimental testing was conducted on a 13L multi-cylinder heavy-duty diesel engine modified to operate dual-fuel combustion with port gasoline injection to supplement the direct diesel injection. The engine employs intake variable valve actuation (VVA) for early (EIVC) or late (LIVC) intake valve closing to yield reduced effective compression ratio.

Dual-fuel combustion using liquid fuels with differing reactivity has been shown to achieve low-temperature combustion with moderate peak pressure rise rates, low soot and NOx emissions, and high indicated efficiency. Varying fractions of gasoline-type and diesel-type fuels enable operation across a range of low- and mid-load operating conditions. Expanding the operating range to cover the full operating range of a heavy-duty diesel engine, while maintaining the efficiency and emissions benefits, is a key objective. With dissimilar properties of the two utilized fuels lying at the heart of the dual-fuel concept, a tool for enabling this load range expansion is altering the properties of the two test fuels - this study focuses on altering the reactivity of the diesel fuel component. Tests were conducted on a 13L six-cylinder heavy-duty diesel engine modified to run dual-fuel combustion with port gasoline injection to supplement the direct diesel injection.

The high octane rating and more plentiful domestic supply of natural gas make it an excellent alternative to gasoline. Recent studies have shown that using natural gas in dual fuel engines provides one possible strategy for leveraging the advantages of both natural gas and gasoline. In particular, such engines been able to improve overall engine efficiencies and load capacity when they leverage direct injection of the natural gas fuel. While the benefits of these engine concepts are still being explored, differences in fuel composition, combustion process and in-cylinder mixing could lead to dramatically different emissions which can substantially impact the effectiveness of the engine’s exhaust aftertreatment system. In order to explore this topic, this study examined the variations in speciated hydrocarbon emissions which occur for different fuel blends of E10 and compressed natural gas and for different fuel injection strategies on a spark-ignition engine.

Biologically derived isobutanol, a four carbon alcohol, has an energy density closer to that of gasoline and has potential to increase biofuel quantities beyond the current ethanol blend wall. When blended at 16 vol% (iB16), it has identical energy and oxygen content of 10 vol% ethanol (E10). Engine dynamometer emissions tests were conducted on two open-loop electronic fuel-injected marine outboard engines of both two-stroke and four-stroke designs using indolene certification fuel (non-oxygenated), iB16 and E10 fuels. Total particulate emissions were quantified using Sohxlet extraction to determine the amount of elemental and organic carbon. Data indicates a reduction in overall total particulate matter relative to indolene certification fuel with similar trends between iB16 and E10. Gaseous and PM emissions suggest that iB16, relative to E10, could be promising for increasing the use of renewable fuels in recreational marine engines and fuel systems.

This study examines the dynamics and control of an engine operated with late intake valve closure (LIVC) timings in a dual-fuel combustion mode. The engine features a fuel delivery system in which diesel is direct-injected and natural gas is port-injected. Despite the benefits of LIVC and dual-fuel strategy, combining these two techniques resulted in efficiency losses due to the variability of the combustion process across cylinders. The difference in power production across cylinders ranges from 9% at an IVC of 570°ATDC* to 38% at an IVC of 620 °ATDC and indicates an increasingly uneven fuel distribution as the intake valve remains open longer in the compression stroke. This paper describes an approach for controlling the amount of fuel injected into each cylinders’ port of an inline six- cylinder heavy-duty dual-fuel engine to minimize the variations in fuel distribution across cylinder.

The favorable physical properties of hydrogen (H2) make it an excellent alternative fuel for internal combustion (IC) engines and hence it is widely regarded as the energy carrier of the future. Hydrogen direct injection provides multiple degrees of freedom for engine optimization and influencing the in-cylinder combustion processes. This paper compares the results in the mixture formation and combustion behavior of a hydrogen direct-injected single-cylinder research engine using two different injector locations as well as various injector nozzle designs. For this study the research engine was equipped with a specially designed cylinder head that allows accommodating a hydrogen injector in a side location between the intake valves as well as in the center location adjacent to the spark plug.

This paper reports on research activities aiming to improve the efficiency of direct injected, hydrogen powered internal combustion engines. In a recent major change in the experimental setup the hydrogen single cylinder research engine at Argonne National Laboratory was upgraded to a new engine geometry providing increased compression ratio and a longer piston stroke compared to its predecessor. The higher compression ratio and the more advantageous volume to surface ratio of the combustion chamber are both intended to improve the overall efficiency of the experimental setup. Additionally, a new series of faster acting, piezo-activated injectors is used with the new engine providing increased flexibility for the optimization of DI injection strategies. This study focuses on the comparison of experimental data of the baseline versus the improved single cylinder research engine for similar engine operating conditions.

Previous studies have shown that fuels with higher laminar flame speed also have increased tolerance to EGR dilution. In this work, the effects of fuel laminar flame speed on both lean and EGR dilute spark ignition combustion stability were examined. Fuels blends of pure components (iso-octane, n-heptane, toluene, ethanol, and methanol) were derived at two levels of laminar flame speed. Each fuel blend was tested in a single-cylinder spark-ignition engine under both lean-out and EGR dilution sweeps until the coefficient of variance of indicated mean effective pressure increased above thresholds of 3% and 5%. The relative importance of fuel laminar flame speed to changes to engine design parameters (spark ignition energy, tumble ratio, and port vs. direct injection) was also assessed.