A 0/1-Dimensional Numerical Analysis of Performance and Emission Characteristics of the Conversion of Heavy-Duty Diesel Engine to Spark-Ignition Natural Gas Engine

Year 2022, Volume: 6 Issue: 1, 1 - 8, 31.03.2022

Fatih Aktaş

https://doi.org/10.30939/ijastech..980338

Cited By: 4

Abstract

Increasing air pollution has brought about the search for alternative fuels instead of conventional fuels. It is aimed to make existing internal combustion engines work with alternative fuels with the least structural changes. Natural gas (NG) is one of the most recent alternative fuel studies because it is both cheaper and more environmen-tally friendly. In this study, it was aimed to minimize the dependence on petroleum-based fuels by enabling an existing compression ignition (CI) engine to operate with spark ignition with NG. For this reason, in heavy-duty diesel engine; It was modeled as 0/1-dimensional with spark plug assembly instead of diesel injector and low-pressure NG fuel injector mounted on the intake manifold. Afterwards, the perfor-mance, combustion characteristics, and emission values of the engine, which were converted to NG, were compared with the experimentally validated diesel model. In addition to the comparisons made under similar conditions, the effects of start of combustion (SOC) time and Air/Fuel (A/F) ratio changes in NG use were performed parametrically. In the same conditions, it was observed that the power, fuel con-sumption, and efficiency of the engine increased in NG fuel use compared to diesel fuel use. However, with the parametric studies in NG use, an improvement of 84.5% was achieved in NOX emission without any performance loss compared to diesel use.

Keywords

compression ignition, Natural gas, Numerical simulation, Spark ignition

Thanks

I would like to express my gratitude to AVL LIST GmbH for Providing a AVL Boost software under the University Partner-ship Program. I would also like to thank Türk Traktör Ziraat Makine A.Ş for providing the necessary information about the engine.

References

• [1] Liu J, Dumitrescu C E. 3D CFD simulation of a CI engine convert-ed to SI natural gas operation using the G-equation. Fuel, 2018;232: 833-844.
• [2] Reitz RD, Ogawa H, Payri R, Fansler T, Kokjohn S, Moriyoshi Y, Zhao H. The future of the internal combustion engine. International Journal of Engine Research, 2019;21: 3-10.
• [3] BP Magazine 2020. Statistical Review of World Energy. 2020;69th edition.
• [4] Özer S, Bahtiyar B. Investigation of the Effects of Liquid LPG Use in a Gasoline Injection Turbocharged Engine. Int J Automot Sci Technol 2021;5:172–8. https://doi.org/10.30939/ijastech..914009.
• [5] Reyes M, Tinaut FV, Giménez B, Pérez A. Characterization of cycle-to-cycle variations in a natural gas spark ignition engine. Fuel, 2015;140: 752-761.
• [6] Liu J, Bommisetty HK, Dumitrescu C E. Experimental Investiga-tion of a Heavy-Duty Compression-Ignition Engine Retrofitted to Natural Gas Spark-Ignition Operation. Journal of Energy Re-sources Technology, 2019;141: 11-23.
• [7] U.S. Energy Information Administration, [Online]. Available: https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/?page=us_energy_transportation [Accessed: 24/6/2021].
• [8] Liu J, Dumitrescu CE. Combustion partitioning inside a natural gas spark ignition engine with a bowl-in-piston geometry. Energy Conversion and Management, 2019;183: 73-83.
• [9] Liu J, Szybist J, Dumitrescu C. Choice of Tuning Parameters on 3D IC Engine Simulations Using G-Equation. SAE Technical Pa-per. 2018-01-0183.
• [10] Yontar AA, Doğu Y. Experimental and numerical investigation of effects of CNG and gasoline fuels on engine performance and emissions in a dual sequential spark ignition engine. Energy Sources, Part A: Recovery, Utilization, and Environmental Effects, 2018;40: 2176-2192.
• [11] Liu J, Dumitrescu CE. Flame development analysis in a diesel optical engine converted to spark ignition natural gas operation. Applied Energy, 2018;230: 1205-1217.
• [12] Stocchi I, Liu J, Dumitrescu CE, Battistoni M, Grimaldi CN. Effect of Piston Crevices on the Numerical Simulation of a Heavy-Duty Diesel Engine Retrofitted to Natural-Gas Spark-Ignition Op-eration. Journal of Energy Resources Technology, 2019;141: 11-19.
• [13] Liu J, Dumitrescu CE. Methodology to separate the two burn stages of natural-gas lean premixed-combustion inside a diesel ge-ometry. Energy Conversion and Management, 2019;195: 21-31.
• [14] Ambrogi L, Liu J, Battistoni M, Dumitrescu C, Gasbarro, L. CFD Investigation of the Effects of Gas’ Methane Number on the Per-formance of a Heavy-Duty Natural-Gas Spark-Ignition Engine. SAE Technical Paper. 2019-24-0008.
• [15] Dumitrescu CE, Liu J. Improved Thermodynamic Model for Lean Natural Gas Spark Ignition in a Diesel Engine Using a Triple Wiebe Function. Journal of Energy Resources Technology. 2020;142: 6-13.
• [16] Liu J, Dumitrescu C. Experimental Investigation of a Natural Gas Lean-Burn Spark Ignition Engine with Bowl-in-Piston Combustion Chamber. SAE Technical Paper. 2019-01-0559.
• [17] Liu J, Dumitrescu CE. Lean-Burn Characteristics of a Heavy-Duty Diesel Engine Retrofitted to Natural-Gas Spark Ignition. Journal of Engineering for Gas Turbines and Power, 2019;141: 7-20.
• [18] AVL BOOST Theory Guide version 2018 AVL LIST GmbH. Graz, Austria.
• [19] AVL BOOST User Guide version 2018 AVL LIST GmbH. Graz, Austria.
• [20] Krishnan SR, Srinivasan KK, Raihan MS. The effect of injection parameters and boost pressure on diesel-propane dual fuel low temperature combustion in a single-cylinder research engine. Fuel. 2016;184: 490-502.
• [21] Liu J, Bommisetty H, Dumitrescu CE. Experimental Investigation of a Heavy-Duty CI Engine Retrofitted to Natural Gas SI Opera-tion. ASME 2018 Internal Combustion Engine Division Fall Tech-nical Conference, Volume 1: Large Bore Engines; Fuels; Advanced Combustion. San Diego, California, USA. November 4–7, 2018.
• [22] Kozina A, Radica G, Nižetić S. Analysis of methods towards reduction of harmful pollutants from diesel engines. Journal of Cleaner Production. 2020;262.