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Ammonia and hydrogen can be produced from water, air and excess renewable electricity (Power-to-fuel) and are therefore a promising alternative in the transition from fossil fuel energy to cleaner energy sources. An Homogeneous-Charge Compression-Ignition (HCCI) engine is therefore being studied to use both fuels under a variable blending ratio for Combined Heat and Power (CHP) production. Due to the high auto-ignition resistance of ammonia, hydrogen is required to promote and stabilize the HCCI combustion. Therefore the research objective is to investigate the HCCI combustion of varying hydrogen-ammonia blending ratios in a 16:1 compression ratio engine. A specific focus is put on maximizing the ammonia proportion as well as minimizing the NOx emissions that could arise from the nitrogen contained in the ammonia. A single-cylinder, constant speed, HCCI engine has been used with an intake pressure varied from 1 to 1.5 bar and with intake temperatures ranging from 428 to 473 K.

Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition (HCCI) is among the new generation of combustion modes which can be applied to internal combustion engines. It is currently the topic of numerous studies in various fields. Due to its operating process, HCCI ensures a good efficiency, similar to that of compression ignition (CI) engines, and low particulate and nitric oxide (NOx) emissions. However, before promoting the use of this kind of engine, several challenges must be addressed, in particular controlling the combustion. Recent work showed that the combustion phasing can be controlled using low concentrations of ozone, an oxidizing chemical species. As ozone generators become increasingly compact, the integration of this kind of device in passenger cars can be considered. The present study investigates the effect of ozone on the combustion of different fuel mixtures. The engine was fuelled with various blends: a 95%methane/5%propane mixture and three different methane/hydrogen mixtures.

As an alternative to second generation ethanol, valeric esters can be produced from lignocellulose through levulinic acid. While some data on these fuels are available, only few experiments have been performed to analyze their combustion characteristics under engine conditions. Using a traditional spark ignition engine converted to mono-cylinder operation, we have investigated the engine performances and emissions of methyl and ethyl valerates. This paper compares the experimental results for pure valeric esters and for blends of 20% of esters in PRF95, with PRF95 as the reference fuel. The esters propagate faster than PRF95 which requires a slight change of ignition timing to optimise the work output. However, both the performances and the emissions are not significantly changed compared to the reference. Accordingly, methyl and ethyl valerate represent very good alternatives as biofuels for SI engines.

Biogas is a gas resulting from biomass, with a volumetric content of methane (CH4) usually ranging between 50% and 70%, and carbon dioxide (CO2) content between 30% and 50%; it can also contain hydrogen (H2) depending on the feedstock. Biogas is generally used to generate electricity or produce heat in cogeneration system. Due to its good efficiency through the rapid combustion and lean air-fuel mixture, Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition (HCCI) engine is a good candidate for such application. However, the engine load must be kept low to contain the high-pressure gradients caused by the simultaneous premixed combustion of the entire in-cylinder charge. The homogenous charge promotes low particulate emissions, and the dilution helps in containing maximum in-cylinder temperature, hence reducing nitrogen oxide emissions. However, HC and CO levels are in general higher than in SI combustion.

Increasing the internal combustion engine efficiency is necessary to decrease their environmental impact. Several combustion systems demonstrated the interest of low temperature combustion to move toward this objective. However, to ensure a stable combustion, the use of additives has been considered in a several studies. Amongst them, 2-Ethylhexyl nitrate (EHN) is considered as a good candidate for these systems but characterizing its chemical effect is required to optimize its use. In this study, its promoting effect (0.1 - 1% mol.) on combustion has been investigated experimentally and numerically in order to better characterize its behavior under different thermodynamic and mixture. Rapid compression machine (RCM) experiments were carried out at equivalence ratio 0.5 and pressure 10 bar, from 675 to 995 K. The targeted surrogate fuel is a mixture of toluene and n-heptane in order to capture the additive effect on both cool flame and main ignition.

Mechanisms responsible for enhanced charge reactivity with intake added ozone (O3) were explored in a single-cylinder, optically accessible, research engine configured for low-load advanced compression ignition (ACI) experiments. The influence of O3 concentration (0-40 ppm) on engine performance metrics was evaluated as a function of intake temperature and start of injection for the engine fueled by iso-octane, 1-hexene, or a 5-component gasoline surrogate. For the engine fueled by either the gasoline surrogate or 1-hexene, 25 ppm of added O3 reduced the intake temperature required for stable combustion by 65 and 80°C, respectively. An ultraviolet (UV) light absorption diagnostic was also used to measure crank angle (CA) resolved in-cylinder O3 concentrations for select motored and fired operating conditions. The O3 measurements were compared to results from complementary 0D chemical kinetic simulations that utilized detailed chemistry mechanisms augmented with O3 oxidation chemistry.

The transportation sector adds to the greenhouse gas emissions worldwide. One way to decrease this impact from transportation is by using renewable fuels. Ethanol is a readily available blend component which can be produced from bio blend­stock, currently used blended with gasoline from low to high concentrations. This study focuses on a high octane (RON=97) gasoline blended with 0, 20, and 50, volume % of ethanol, respectively. The high ethanol blended gasoline was used in a light duty engine originally designed for diesel combustion. Due to the high octane rating and high ignition resistance of the fuel it required high intake temperatures of 443 K and higher to achieve stable combustion in in homogeneously charged compression ignition (HCCI) combustion operation at low load. To enable combustion with lower intake temperatures more commonly used in commercial vehicles, ozone was injected with the intake air as an ignition improver.

Plasma sustained ignition systems are promising alternatives to conventional spark plugs for those applications where the conditions inside the combustion chamber are more severe for spark plug operation, like internal combustion engines with high compression ratio values and with intake charge dilution. This paper shows the results of an experimental activity performed on a spark ignition engine equipped alternatively with a conventional spark plug and a radio frequency sustained plasma ignition system (RFSI). Results showed that RFSI improved engine efficiency, extended the lean limit of combustion and reduced cycle-by-cycle variability, compared with the conventional spark plug at all test conditions. The adoption of the RFSI also had a positive impact on carbon monoxide and unburned hydrocarbon emissions, whereas nitrogen oxide emissions increased due to higher temperatures attained in the combustion chamber.