Energy Conversion and Management 47 (2006) 14021415 www.elsevier.

com/locate/enconman

Combustion and emission characteristics of a compression ignition engine fuelled with Dieseldimethoxy methane blends
Z.H. Huang
a,*

, Y. Ren a, D.M. Jiang b, L.X. Liu b, K. Zeng b, B. Liu b, X.B. Wang b

a State Key Laboratory of Multiphase Flow in Power Engineering, Xian Jiao Tong University, Xian, Peoples Republic of China School of Energy and Power Engineering, XianNing West Road 28, Xian Jiao Tong University, Xian 710049, Peoples Republic of China

Received 24 August 2004; received in revised form 22 February 2005; accepted 25 August 2005 Available online 6 October 2005

Abstract The combustion and emission characteristics of a compression ignition engine fuelled with Dieseldimethoxy methane (DMM) blends were investigated. The results showed that the initial combustion duration experienced a slight variation with the increase of DMM fraction in the fuel blends, while the rapid combustion duration and the total combustion duration decreased with the increase of DMM fraction in the fuel blends, and the crank angle of the centre of heat release curve moved closer to the top dead center. This would be due to the increase in the amount of combustible mixture for the initial premixed combustion phase because of the fast evaporation of DMM and the promotion of the subsequent diusive combustion phase resulting from the oxygen enrichment. The maximum cylinder pressure and the maximum mean cylinder temperature showed a slight increase with the increase of DMM addition. The enrichment of oxygen by injecting the oxygenate fuel is responsible for the combustion improvement. The maximum rate of pressure rise and the maximum rate of heat release will increase with the increase of the DMM fraction in the fuel blend, and this would also be due to the increase in the amount of combustible mixture for the premixed combustion phase fuelled with the DieselDMM blends. A remarkable reduction in the exhaust CO and smoke can be achieved when operating on the DieselDMM blend. Flat NOxsmoke curves are presented when operating on the DieselDMM fuel blends, and a simultaneous reduction in both NOx and smoke can be realised at large DMM additions. Thermal eciency and NOx give the highest value at 2% oxygen mass fraction (or 5% DMM volume fraction) for the combustion of DieselDMM blends. 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Combustion; Emissions; Dieseldimethoxy methane blends; Compression ignition engine

1. Introduction Reduction of engine emissions is a major research aspect in engine development with the increasing concern on environmental protection and the stringent exhaust gas regulations. It is dicult to reduce NOx and smoke
*

Corresponding author. Tel.: +86 292668726; fax: +86 292668789. E-mail address: zhhuang@mail.xjtu.edu.cn (Z.H. Huang).

0196-8904/$ - see front matter 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.enconman.2005.08.020

Z.H. Huang et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 47 (2006) 14021415

1403

Nomenclature A wall area (m2) ATDC after top dead centre bmep brake mean eective pressure (MPa) BTDC before top dead centre Cp constant pressure specic heat (kJ/kg K) Cv constant volume specic heat (kJ/kg K) C (wt.%) mass fraction of carbon in fuel blend dp/du pressure rise with crank angle (MPa/CA) (dp/du)max maximum rate of pressure rise with crank angle (MPa/CA) dQB/du heat release rate with crank angle (kJ/CA) (dQB/du)max maximum rate of heat release with crank angle (kJ/CA) dQw/du heat transfer rate with crank angle (kJ/CA) hc heat transfer coecient (J/m2 s K) Hu lower heating value (MJ/kg) H (wt.%) mass fraction of hydrogen in fuel blend m mass of cylinder gases (kg) O (wt.%) mass fraction of oxygen in fuel blend p cylinder gas pressure (MPa) pmax maximum cylinder gas pressure (MPa) R gas constant (J/kg K) T mean gas temperature (K) Tmax maximum mean gas temperature (K) Tw wall temperature (K) TDC top dead centre V cylinder volume (m3) uc crank angle of centre of heat release curve (CA degrees ATDC) ue crank angle of heat release ending (CA degrees ADTC) us crank angle of heat release beginning (CA degrees BTDC) hfd fuel delivery advance angle (CA degrees BTDC) Duic initial combustion duration (CA) Durb rapid combustion duration (CA) Dutc total combustion duration (CA)

simultaneously in normal Diesel engines due to the trade o curve between NOx and smoke. One prospective method to solve this problem is to use oxygenated alternative fuels or to add the oxygenated fuels in the Diesel fuel to provide more oxygen during combustion. In the application of pure oxygenated fuels, Fleisch et al. [1], Kapus and Ofner [2] and Sorenson and Mikkelsen [3] have studied dimethyl ether (DME) in a modied Diesel engine, and their results showed that the engine could achieve ultra-low emission prospects without a fundamental change in the combustion systems. Huang et al. [4] investigated the combustion and emission characteristics in a compression ignition engine with DME and found that the DME engine has high thermal eciency, short premixed combustion and fast diusion combustion, and their work was to realize low noise, smoke free combustion. Kajitani et al. [5] studied the DME engine with delaying the injection time to reduce both smoke and NOx. Practically, adding some oxygenated compounds to fuels to reduce engine emissions without engine modication seems a more attractive proposition. Huang et al. tested the gasoline-oxygenate blends in a spark ignition engine and got satisfactory results on emission reduction [6] and also investigated the combustion and emission characteristics of Diesel/dimethyl carbonate (DMC) in a compression ignition engine [7]. Murayama et al. [8] studied the emissions and combustion with EGR (exhaust gas recirculation) and dimethyl carbonate

1404

Z.H. Huang et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 47 (2006) 14021415

(DMC). Ajav et al. [9] studied Diesel/ethanol blends for emission reduction, and Huang et al. investigated the engine performance and emissions of a Diesel engine fuelled with Diesel/methanol blends [10]. Miyamoto et al. [11] and Akasaka and Sakurai [12] also conducted research on Diesel combustion improvement and emission reduction by the use of various types of oxygenated fuel blends. Dimethoxy methane (DMM) has a high oxygen fraction and relatively high cetane number, and this makes it a better oxygenate additive for a Diesel/oxygenate blended fuel. Some preliminary studies revealed that the reduction of particulate emissions [13] and toxic gas pollutants could be achieved by fuelling with the Diesel/ DMM blends [14]. However, those previous works just reported the emission results for a specic DMM addition and did not give the results on combustion characteristics and/or heat release analysis under various DMM additions. However, the combustion behaviors are directly linked to the engine performances and the mechanism of emission reduction operating on various fractions of DieselDMM blends. In order to acquire a comprehensive evaluation for DieselDMM blends, many aspects are still worth investigating, especially in a quantitative level. These quantitative parameters are expected to supply more information on engine combustion operating on oxygenated fuels and provide more practical measures for the improvement of combustion and reduction of emissions. Based on the authors previous study, the objectives of this study will investigate the combustion characteristics based on the heat release analysis for dierent fractions of DMM addition in Diesel fuel and expect to increase the understanding of the combustion parameters versus the DMM fraction and/or the oxygen fraction in the fuel blends of a compression ignition engine operated on DieselDMM blends. 2. Test engine and fuel properties The specications of the test engine are listed in Table 1. In the study, Diesel fuel is the base fuel, while DMM is used as the oxygenated additive. Four fractions of the DieselDMM blends were designated for the study, and the volume fraction of DMM in the fuel blends are 5%, 10%, 15% and 20%, respectively. Fuel properties and the fraction of the four blends are given in Table 2, Table 3, Fig. 1 and Fig. 2, and the mass fraction of oxygen in the fuel blends ranges from 2.16% to 8.62% as shown in Fig. 2 and Table 3. The fuel properties show that DMM has a high oxygen content while the heat value and cetane number are low compared to those of pure Diesel fuel. In the experiment, the above four fuel blends with dierent DMM fractions were tested on the engine. Meanwhile, the engine exhaust emissions were analyzed under the same brake mean eective pressure (bmep). The resolution for NOx measurement is 1 ppm, the resolution for CO is 0.01% and the resolution for smoke measurement is 0.1 Bosch unit. Furthermore, these parameters were made in comparison with those of pure Diesel combustion in order to clarify the eect of oxygenate additives on combustion. A Horiba exhaust gas analyzer was used to measure the combustion products. Fig. 3 gives the fuel properties of the DieselDMM blends versus DMM volume in the blends. The gure shows that the cetane number decreases slightly with the increase of DMM addition due to the low value of cetane number of dimethoxy methane, and this will probably lead to an increase in ignition delay of the DieselDMM fuel blends. The lower heating value of the blends decreases, and the heat value of evaporation increases with the increase in DMM addition, the former factor requires more fuel to be supplied for obtaining the same power output (bmep) and the latter would lead to a temperature drop of the cylinder gas due to the evaporation of the injected fuel.

Table 1 Engine specications Bore (mm) Stroke (mm) Displacement (cm3) Compression ratio Shape of combustion chamber Rated power (speed) Nozzle hole diameter (mm) Number of nozzle holes 100 115 903 18 x shape in the bottom of bowl-in-piston 11 kW/2300 rpm 0.3 4

Z.H. Huang et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 47 (2006) 14021415 Table 2 Fuel properties of Diesel and dimethoxy methane and blended fuel constitutions Base fuel Type of fuels Chemical formula Mole weight (g) Density (g/cm3) Lower heating value (MJ/kg) Heat of evaporation (kJ/kg) Self-ignition temperature (C) Cetane number C (wt.%) H (wt.%) O (wt.%) Fuel blend #1 (vol.%) Fuel blend #2 (vol.%) Fuel blend #3 (vol.%) Fuel blend #4 (vol.%) Fuel blend #1 (wt.%) Fuel blend #2 (wt.%) Fuel blend #3 (wt.%) Fuel blend #4 (wt.%) Diesel C10.8H18.7 148.3 0.86 42.5 260 200220 45 86 14 0 95 90 85 80 94.86 89.73 84.62 79.53 Blended fuel Dimethoxy methane C3H10O2 32 0.865 22.4 318.6 430 30 47.4 10.5 42.1 5 10 15 20 5.14 10.27 15.38 20.47

1405

Table 3 Fuel properties of the Diesel/DMM blended fuels Fuel blend #1 Lower heating value (MJ/kg) Heat of evaporation (kJ/kg) Cetane number C (wt.%) H (wt.%) O (wt.%) 41.47 303.7 44.23 84.02 13.82 2.16 Fuel blend #2 40.44 347.3 43.46 82.04 13.64 4.32 Fuel blend #3 39.41 390.7 42.69 80.06 13.46 6.48 Fuel blend #4 38.38 434 41.93 78.1 13.28 8.62

100 Mass fraction of each fuel wt.% 80 60 40 20 0 fuel 1 fuel 2 fuel 3 fuel 4
Fig. 1. Mass fraction of the fuel blends.
diesel DMM

3. Instrumentation and method of calculation The cylinder pressure was recorded by a piezoelectric transducer with the resolution of 10 Pa, and the dynamic top dead centre (TDC) was determined by motoring. The crank angle signal was obtained from an angle generating device mounted on the main shaft. The signal of cylinder pressure was acquired for every

1406

Z.H. Huang et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 47 (2006) 14021415

10 Oxygen mass fraction wt.% 8 6 4 2 0 fuel 1 fuel 2 fuel 3 fuel 4

Fig. 2. Oxygen mass fraction in fuel blends.

Oxygen mass in fuel blends wt.%

10 8 6 4 2 0 0 5 10 15 DMM volume in fuel blends Vol.% 20

(c)

60 Lower heat value MJ/kg

50

40

30

20 0
400 Heat of evaporation kJ/kg 360 320 280 240 200

(a)

5 10 15 DMM volume fraction in fuel blends Vol.%

20

50 Estimated cetane number

45

40

35 0
(b)

5 10 15 DMM volume fraction in fuel blends Vol.%

20
(d)

10

15

20

DMM volume fraction in fuel blends Vol.%

Fig. 3. Fuel properties of Diesel/DMM blends versus DMM volume in blends.

0.5 CA, and the acquisition process covered 254 completed cycles. The average value of these 254 cycles was outputted as the pressure data used for calculation of the combustion parameters. Bmep was calculated from the engine power, speed and conguration specications. A thermodynamic model is used to calculate the thermodynamic parameters in this paper. The model neglects the leakage through the piston rings [7], thus the energy conservation in the cylinder can be written as follows: dQB dQW dmu dV dT dV p mC V p du du du du du du 1

Z.H. Huang et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 47 (2006) 14021415

1407

The gas state equation is pV mRT The variation of the gas state equation with crank angle is given by p dV dp dT V mR du du du
dQB du

The heat release rate

can be derived from Eqs. (1) and (3) as follows: 4

dQB C p dV C V V dp dC V dQW mT p R du du R du du du where the heat transfer rate is given by dQW hc A T T W du

The heat transfer coecient hc uses the correlation formula given by Woschni [15]. Cp and CV are temperature dependent parameters whose formulae are given in Ref. [15]. The primary data is the cylinder pressure-crank angle data. Using these primary data and the above formulae, the maximum cylinder gas pressure pmax, the mean gas temperature T, the maximum mean gas temperature Tmax, the rate of pressure rise (dp/du), the rate of heat release (dQB/du), the maximum rate of pressure rise (dp/du)max and the maximum rate of heat release (dQB/du)max can be calculated. The initial combustion duration Duic is dened as the crank angle interval from the ignition start to that where 10% of the heat release is reached; the rapid combustion duration Durb is dened as the crank angle interval from the crank angle where 10% of the heat release has occurred to the crank angle where 90% of the heat release is reached; and the total combustion duration Dutc is the crank angle interval from the beginning of heat release (crank angle of heat release curve starts rising after fuel injection) to the ending of heat release (crank angle of heat release curve falls into zero). The premixed combustion phase refers to the combustion of the combustible mixture prepared within the ignition delay period, while the diusive combustion phase refers to the subsequent mixing controlled combustion period. The crank angle of the centre of the heat release curve is determined by the following formula: Z ue dQB u du du us 6 uc Z ue dQB du du us in which us is the crank angle at the beginning of heat release, and ue is the crank angle at the end of heat release. 4. Results and discussion Fig. 4 gives the combustion duration of the DieselDMM blends versus the DMM volume fraction in the fuel blends under various engine loads (bmep). In the case of the initial combustion duration Duic, a slight variation of Duic versus the fraction of DMM addition is observed for the specic bmep at both high engine speed (1600 rpm) and low engine speed (1200 rpm), see Fig. 4a and b. However, a dierent behavior of Duic versus the engine load is shown at high and low engine speeds, that is, a slight dierence is presented at low engine speed (1200 rpm), while the initial combustion duration shows an increase with the increase of engine load at high engine speed (1600 rpm). The following interpretation can explain this behavior. With the increase of engine speed, the amount of fuel for 10% of the heat release will increase, and this will subsequently increase the duration to burn this fraction of fuel. On the other hand, a high load will increase the cylinder gas temperature, and this will supply the environment for increasing the combustion speed. The combined eects of these two factors would make the initial combustion duration increase with the increase of engine load. For a given duration of time (ms), the duration in crank angle will increase with the increase of engine speed, and a

1408

Z.H. Huang et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 47 (2006) 14021415

Initial combustion duration CA

20

30 Rapid burning duration CA

(a)
1200 rpm fd = 25 CA BTDC

16 12 8 4 0 0

bmep = 0.70 MPa bmep = 0.56 MPa bmep = 0.42 MPa bmep = 0.28 MPa bmep = 0.14 MPa

25 20 15 10

fuel 1

fuel 2

fuel 3

fuel 4

diesel fuel 1

fuel 2

fuel 3

fuel 4

diesel
bmep = 0.70 MPa bmep = 0.56 MPa bmep = 0.42 MPa bmep = 0.28 MPa bmep = 0.14 MPa

(d)

5 0 0

1600 rpm fd = 25 CA BTDC

2 4 6 8 Oxygen mass fraction in fuel blends wt.%

10

2 4 6 8 Oxygen mass fraction in fuel blends wt.%

10

20 Initial combustion duration CA

Total combustion duration CA
(b)

60
bmep = 0.70 MPa bmep = 0.56 MPa bmep = 0.42 MPa bmep = 0.28 MPa bmep = 0.14 MPa

16 12 8 4 0 0

1600 rpm fd = 25 CA BTDC

(e)

52 44 36 28 20 0

1200 rpm fd = 25 CA BTDC

bmep = 0.70 MPa bmep = 0.56 MPa bmep = 0.42 MPa bmep = 0.28 MPa bmep = 0.14 MPa

fuel 1 diesel

fuel 2

fuel 3

fuel 4

diesel fuel 1 fuel 2 fuel 3

fuel 4

2 4 6 8 Oxygen mass fraction in fuel blends wt.%

10

2 4 6 8 Oxygen mass fraction in fuel blends wt.%

(f)
bmep = 0.70 MPa bmep = 0.56 MPa bmep = 0.42 MPa bmep = 0.28 MPa bmep = 0.14 MPa

10

30 Rapid burning duration CA

fuel 3

60
fuel 4

Total combustion duration CA

fuel 1

fuel 2

25 20 15 10
(c)
diesel

52 44 36 28 20

1600 rpm fd = 25 CA BTDC

5 0 0

1200 rpm fd = 25 CA BTDC

bmep = 0.70 MPa bmep = 0.56 MPa bmep = 0.42 MPa bmep = 0.28 MPa bmep = 0.14 MPa

diesel fuel 1 fuel 2 fuel 3 fuel 4

2 4 6 8 Oxygen mass fraction in fuel blends wt.%

10

2 4 6 8 Oxygen mass fraction in fuel blends wt.%

10

Fig. 4. Combustion durations of the Diesel/DMM fuel blends.

relative large dierence in the initial combustion duration under dierent engine loads is presented at the high engine speed. The results indicated that under the same bmep condition, the addition of DMM in the Diesel fuel had little inuence on the initial combustion duration. In the case of the rapid combustion duration Durc, a slight decrease of Durc is observed with the increase of DMM in the fuel blends at both high (1800 rpm) and low (1200 rpm) engine speeds, see Fig. 4c and d, while Durc shows an increase with the increase of engine load. Increasing the DMM fraction in the fuel blend will increase the oxygen fraction in the fuel blend, and this will contribute to improvement of the combustion, especially for improvement of the diusive combustion phase where the enrichment of oxygen will promote the combustion process, indicating a better advantage by oxygenate fuels in Diesel fuel. The long duration of Durc at high engine load would be due to the increase in fuel amount and the increase of the duration for reaching 90% of the heat release.

Z.H. Huang et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 47 (2006) 14021415

1409

The total combustion duration Dutc versus DMM fraction in the fuel blend, Fig. 4e and f, exhibits a similar behavior to that of the rapid combustion duration, the shortening of the rapid combustion duration is considered to contribute to the decrease of the total combustion duration. Thus, the results indicate that adding the oxygenate fuel in the Diesel fuel can shorten the combustion duration due to the oxygen enrichment, and it is benecial to the increase of engine thermal eciency. Fig. 5 illustrates the crank angle of the centre of heat release curve uc for the DieselDMM fuel blends. The gure also shows the decrease of uc with the increase of DMM addition. As explained above, the decrease in combustion duration and the improvement of the diusive combustion phase will bring the heat release process closer to top dead centre. The maximum cylinder pressure (pmax) and the maximum mean cylinder temperature (Tmax) versus DMM fraction in the fuel blend is plotted in Fig. 6. For a given engine load (bmep), the maximum cylinder pressure and the maximum mean gas temperature show a slight increase with an increase of the DMM addition. The amount of blend will increase with the increase of the DMM fraction in the fuel blend in order to get the samebmep, thus more combustible mixture will be available for the premixed combustion phase due to the low boiling point of the DMM. Moreover, the enrichment of oxygen by injecting the oxygenate fuel will also promote the combustion. The results suggest that DieselDMM blends would be helpful for the reduction of engine exhaust CO and smoke, since it could increase the in cylinder gas temperature and oxygen enrichment. Fig. 7 gives the maximum rate of pressure rise (dp/du)max and the maximum rate of heat release (dQB/du)max versus the DMM fraction in the fuel blend. In the case of an engine speed of 1200 rpm, (dp/du)max and (dQB/ du)max show an increase with the increase of DMM fraction in the fuel blend at all engine loads except for the lowest engine load (bmep = 0.14 MPa). The low temperature and cylinder swirl under the small engine load is considered to be responsible for this behavior. In the case of an engine speed of 1600 rpm, (dp/du)max and (dQB/du)max show an increase with the increase of DMM fraction in the fuel blend, and little dierence is observed for the engine loads between bmep = 0.70 MPa and bmep = 0.28 MPa while a large dierence is
20

(a)
16 c CA ATDC 12 8 4 0 0
1200 rpm fd = 25 CA BTDC

diesel

fuel 1

bmep = 0.70 MPa bmep = 0.56 MPa bmep = 0.42 MPa bmep = 0.28 MPa bmep = 0.14 MPa

fuel 2

fuel 3

fuel 4

2 4 6 8 10 Oxygen mass fraction in fuel blends wt.%

20 16 c CA ATDC 12 8 4 0 0

(b)
1600 rpm fd = 25 CA BTDC

bmep = 0.70 MPa bmep = 0.56 MPa bmep = 0.42 MPa bmep = 0.28 MPa bmep = 0.14 MPa

fuel 1

fuel 2

fuel 3

fuel 4

diesel

2 4 6 8 Oxygen mass fraction in fuel blends wt.%

10

Fig. 5. Crank angle of the centre of heat release curve for the Diesel/DMM fuel blends.

1410
10 8 Pmax MPa

Z.H. Huang et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 47 (2006) 14021415

3000
fuel 1 fuel 2 fuel 3 fuel 4

2500 2000 Tmax K

diesel fuel 1 fuel 2 fuel 3 fuel 4

6 4

1500
diesel

(a)

2 0 0

1200 rpm fd = 25 CA BTDC

bmep = 0.70 MPa bmep = 0.56 MPa bmep = 0.42 MPa bmep = 0.28 MPa bmep = 0.14 MPa

1000 500 0 0

(c)
1200 rpm fd = 25 CA BTDC

bmep = 0.70 MPa bmep = 0.56 MPa bmep = 0.42 MPa bmep = 0.28 MPa bmep = 0.14 MPa

2 4 6 8 Oxygen mass fraction in fuel blends wt.%

10

2 4 6 8 Oxygen mass fraction in fuel blends wt.%

10

10 8 Pmax MPa 6 4
(b)
diesel

3000
fuel 1 fuel 2 fuel 3 fuel 4

2500 2000 Tmax K

fuel 1 fuel 2 fuel 3 fuel 4

1500
diesel

2 0 0

1600 rpm fd = 25 CA BTDC

bmep = 0.70 MPa bmep = 0.56 MPa bmep = 0.42 MPa bmep = 0.28 MPa bmep = 0.14 MPa

1000 500

(d)
1600 rpm fd = 25 CA BTDC

bmep = 0.70 MPa bmep = 0.56 MPa bmep = 0.42 MPa bmep = 0.28 MPa bmep = 0.14 MPa

2 4 6 8 Oxygen mass fraction in fuel blends wt.%

10

0 0 2 4 6 8 Oxygen mass fraction in fuel blends wt.% 10

Fig. 6. pmax and Tmax of the Diesel/DMM fuel blends.

observed between bmep = 0.14 MPa and the other loads. High cylinder swirl at high engine speed will increase the amount of combustible mixture for the premixed combustion phase and result in the increase of (dp/du)max and (dQB/du)max with the increase of the DMM addition. The NOx concentration of Diesel/DMM blends under various brake mean eective pressures (bmep) is shown in Fig. 8. The behavior of NOx versus the oxygen mass fraction gives a similar trend under all engine loads and engine speeds, while NOx reaches its highest value at 2% oxygen mass fraction (or 5% DMM volume fraction), indicating the improvement of combustion at this fraction of DMM addition. NOx slightly decreases with the increase of DMM in the Diesel fuel, and the decrease in heating value and the increase in fuel injection duration of the blends is contributed to the lowering of the NOx concentration. Generally speaking, for a given bmep, NOx shows little variation with the addition of DMM in the Diesel fuel, and this is consistent with the results obtained by Yeh et al. [16] whose work showed that little or no change in NOx emissions was observed with the oxygenated fuels. Fig. 9 shows the exhaust CO concentration of the Diesel/DMM blends and its reduction rate versus the oxygen mass fraction at various brake mean eective pressures (bmep). At all engine loads (bmep) and engine speeds, the CO concentration shows a decrease with the increase of the oxygen mass fraction (DMM mass fraction) of the Diesel/DMM fuel blends. A remarkable decrease in CO with an increase in oxygen mass fraction is presented at the high engine load, while a slight decrease is observed at the middle and low loads. This suggests that oxygen containing fuel blends could eectively decrease the locally rich spray regions where CO is mainly formed, especially at the high engine load where a larger fraction of the locally rich spray region will exist. Moreover, the oxygen enrichment can also improve the post-ame oxidation of CO in the late engine expansion and exhaust processes, and high load results in high cylinder temperature and, consequently, high degree of CO oxidation. The results also revealed that 40% reduction of CO on average could be achieved when 10% of oxygen was available in the DieselDMM blends for both high engine speed (1600 rpm) and low engine speed (1200 rpm), and the average CO reduction rate gives a linear reduction with the increase of the oxygen mass fraction in the blends.

Z.H. Huang et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 47 (2006) 14021415

1 (dp/d)max MPa/CA 0.8 0.6
diesel fuel 1 fuel 2 fuel 3 fuel 4

1411

200 160 120 80 40 0 0 2 4 6 8 Oxygen mass fraction in fuel blends wt.% 10 0 2 4 6 8 Oxygen mass fraction in fuel blends wt.% 10
diesel fuel 1 fuel 2 fuel 3 fuel 4

0.4

(dQB/d)max J/CA

(a)
0.2 0
1200 rpm fd = 25 CA BTDC

bmep = 0.70 MPa bmep = 0.56 MPa bmep = 0.42 MPa bmep = 0.28 MPa bmep = 0.14 MPa

(c)
1200 rpm fd = 25 CA BTDC

bmep = 0.70 MPa bmep = 0.56 MPa bmep = 0.42 MPa bmep = 0.28 MPa bmep = 0.14 MPa

1 (dp/d)max MPa/CA 0.8 0.6 0.4

fuel 1 diesel fuel 2 fuel 3 fuel 4

200 160 120 80 40 0 0 2 4 6 8 Oxygen mass fraction in fuel blends wt.% 10 0 2 4 6 8 Oxygen mass fraction in fuel blends wt.% 10
fuel 1 diesel fuel 2 fuel 3 fuel 4

(dQB/d)max J/CA

(b)
0.2 0
1600 rpm fd = 25 CA BTDC

bmep = 0.70 MPa bmep = 0.56 MPa bmep = 0.42 MPa bmep = 0.28 MPa bmep = 0.14 MPa

(d)
1600 rpm fd = 25 CA BTDC

bmep = 0.70 MPa bmep = 0.56 MPa bmep = 0.42 MPa bmep = 0.28 MPa bmep = 0.14 MPa

Fig. 7. (dp/du)max and (dQB/du)max of the Diesel/DMM fuel blends.

2000 1600 NOx ppm 1200 800 400

diesel
bmep = 0.70 MPa bmep = 0.56 MPa bmep = 0.42 MPa bmep = 0.28 MPa bmep = 0.14 MPa

(a)
1200 rpm

fd = -25 CA BTDC

fuel 1

fuel 2

fuel 3

fuel 4

0 0 2 4 6 8 Oxygen mass fraction in fuel blends wt.% 10

2000 1600 NOx ppm 1200

(b)
1600 rpm

fd = -25 CA BTDC
fuel 1 fuel 2

bmep = 0.70 MPa bmep = 0.56 MPa bmep = 0.42 MPa bmep = 0.28 MPa bmep = 0.14 MPa

fuel 3

fuel 4

800 400 0 0

diesel

2 4 6 8 Oxygen mass fraction in fuel blends wt.%

10

Fig. 8. Exhaust NOx concentration of the fuel blends.

1412

Z.H. Huang et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 47 (2006) 14021415

100

0.8

(a)
1200 rpm

CO reduction rate %

0.6 CO %

fd = -25 CA BTDC
fuel 1 fuel 2 diesel

bmep = 0.70 MPa bmep = 0.56 MPa bmep = 0.42 MPa bmep = 0.28 MPa bmep = 0.14 MPa

(c)
80 60 40 20 0
1200 rpm

fd = -25 CA BTDC

bmep = 0.70 MPa bmep = 0.56 MPa bmep = 0.42 MPa bmep = 0.28 MPa bmep = 0.14 MPa

0.4

fuel 3

fuel 4

0.2

0 0 2 4 6 8 Oxygen mass fraction in fuel blends wt.% 10

2 4 6 8 10 12 Oxygen mass fraction in fuel blends wt.%

14

0.8

100

(b)
1600 rpm fd = -25 CA BTDC
fuel 1

0.6 CO %

CO reduction rate %

bmep = 0.70 MPa bmep = 0.56 MPa bmep = 0.42 MPa bmep = 0.28 MPa bmep = 0.14 MPa

(d)
80 60 40 20 0
fd = -25 CA BTDC
1600 rpm

bmep = 0.70 MPa bmep = 0.56 MPa bmep = 0.42 MPa bmep = 0.28 MPa bmep = 0.14 MPa

fuel 2

0.4
diesel

fuel 3

fuel 4

0.2

0 0 2 4 6 8 Oxygen mass fraction in fuel blends wt.% 10

2 4 6 8 10 12 Oxygen mass fraction in fuel blends wt.%

14

Fig. 9. Exhaust CO concentration and its reduction rate of the fuel blends.

The smoke and its reduction rate for the DieselDMM blends at various brake mean eective pressures (bmep) are illustrated in Fig. 10. The purpose of using the oxygen containing fuel blend is that it is expected to decrease the engine smoke by supplying more oxygen to make it burn more completely. The results clearly showed that the engine smoke could be decreased remarkably with the addition of dimethoxy methane in the Diesel fuel at all engine speeds and engine loads, and this is reasonable since the oxygen containing fuel blends can reduce the rich spray regions and increase the post-ame oxidation of the formed soot. The results also showed 5060% reduction in smoke could be achieved when the oxygen mass fraction in the blends reached 10% by adding DMM in the Diesel fuel, and this is consistent with the results obtained by Ullman et al. [17] whose study showed that smoke could be reduced by about 5% for each 1% increase in oxygenate addition. The reduction rate of smoke is more obvious at low engine speed. The combustion under low swirl intensity depends largely on the airfuel ratio in the cylinder during combustion, and the oxygen enrichment will be benecial to decrease the rich mixture region and decrease smoke formation in the cylinder. Furthermore, the long residence time during the engine expansion and exhaust processes at low engine speed will promote the post-ame oxidation of the combustion formed smoke and decrease the exhaust smoke level. Fig. 11 gives the exhaust smoke versus engine speed under high and middle loads. The results show that the behavior of smoke versus engine speed for the Diesel/DMM blends showed a similar trend to that of Diesel combustion, that is, exhaust smoke increases with the increase in engine speed. The short time for fuel evaporation and mixing at high engine speed causes more rich mixture zones in the combustion chamber and increases the smoke formation during combustion, meanwhile, the short time of the expansion and exhaust processes at high engine speed restricts the oxidation of smoke in the post-ame process and gives a high exhaust smoke level. The relationship between NOx and smoke of the Diesel/DMM fuel blends at various brake mean eective pressures (bmep) is plotted in Fig. 12. Unlike the engine operating on pure Diesel fuel, which has a trade o

Z.H. Huang et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 47 (2006) 14021415

5 4 Smoke BSU 3 2 1 0 0 2 4 6 8 Oxygen mass fraction in fuel blends wt.%
(b)
1600 rpm = -25 CA BTDC fuel 2 fuel 3

1413

(a)
1200 rpm

100 Smoke reduction rate %

bmep = 0.70 MPa bmep = 0.56 MPa bmep = 0.42 MPa bmep = 0.28 MPa bmep = 0.14 MPa fuel 2

(c)
1200 rpm

fd = -25 CA BTDC
fuel 1

80 60 40 20 0

fd = -25 CA BTDC

diesel

fuel 3

fuel 4

bmep = 0.70 MPa bmep = 0.56 MPa bmep = 0.42 MPa bmep = 0.28 MPa bmep = 0.14 MPa

10

2 4 6 8 10 12 14 Oxygen mass fraction in fuel blends wt.%

bmep = 0.70 MPa bmep = 0.56 MPa bmep = 0.42 MPa bmep = 0.28 MPa bmep = 0.14 MPa

8
diesel fuel 1 fd

Smoke reduction rate %

6 Smoke BSU

bmep = 0.70 MPa bmep = 0.56 MPa bmep = 0.42 MPa bmep = 0.28 MPa bmep = 0.14 MPa fuel 4

100 80 60 40

(d)

20 0

1600 rpm

fd = -25 CA BTDC

0 0 2 4 6 8 Oxygen mass fraction in fuel blends wt.% 10

2 4 6 8 10 12 14 Oxygen mass fraction in fuel blends wt.%

Fig. 10. Engine exhaust smoke and its reduction rate of the fuel blends.
8
fd = -25 CA BTDC
diesel 10% DMM in volume
bmep = 0.70 MPa

6 Smoke BSU

2
bmep = 0.42 MPa

0 1000
(a)

1200

1400 1600 Engine speed rpm

1800

2000

8
fd = -25 CA BTDC

6 Smoke BSU
10% DMM in volume 20% DMM in volume
bmep = 0.70 MPa

bmep = 0.42 MPa

0 1000
(b)

1200

1400 1600 Engine speed rpm

1800

2000

Fig. 11. Exhaust smoke versus engine speed for the fuel blends.

1414

Z.H. Huang et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 47 (2006) 14021415

1000 800 NOx ppm 600 400 200 0 0 1 2 3 Smoke BSU 4 5

DMM increase

(a)
1200 rpm

fd = - 25 CA BTDC
bmep = 0.70 MPa bmep = 0.56 MPa bmep = 0.42 MPa bmep = 0.28 MPa bmep = 0.14 MPa

1000 800 NOx ppm 600 400 200 0 0 1 2 3 4 5 Smoke BSU

DMM increase

(b)
1600 rpm fd = - 25 CA BTDC

bmep = 0.70 MPa bmep = 0.56 MPa bmep = 0.42 MPa bmep = 0.28 MPa bmep = 0.14 MPa

Fig. 12. Relationship between NOx and smoke of the fuel blends.

behavior between NOx and smoke, a at NOx/smoke trade o curve is presented when operating on the Diesel/DMM fuel blends. Even a reduction in NOx and smoke together is observed with a large addition of DMM in the Diesel fuel, and this means a simultaneous reduction in both smoke and NOx can be realised when operating on the Diesel/DMM blends. Since the blends are oxygen containing fuels and have a high tolerance for exhaust gas recirculation, the combination of Diesel/DMM blends with exhaust gas recirculation can make a further decrease of NOx without increasing the smoke emission. 5. Conclusions The combustion and emission characteristics of a compression ignition engine fuelled with Diesel dimethoxy methane (DMM) blends were investigated, and the main results are summarized as follows: 1. The initial combustion duration shows a slight variation with the increase of the DMM fraction in the fuel blend, while the rapid combustion duration, the total combustion duration and the crank angle of the centre of heat release curve decrease with the increase of the DMM fraction in the fuel blend due to the improvement of the diusive combustion phase. 2. The maximum cylinder pressure and the maximum mean cylinder temperature give a slight increase with the increase of the DMM addition. The enrichment of oxygen by injecting the oxygenate fuel is responsible for the combustion improvement. 3. The maximum rate of pressure rise and the maximum rate of heat release will increase with the increase of the DMM fraction in the fuel blends. This would be due to the increase in the amount of combustible mixture for the premixed combustion phase.

Z.H. Huang et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 47 (2006) 14021415

1415

4. A remarkable reduction in the exhaust CO and smoke is realised when operating on the Diesel/DMM blends. Flat NOx/smoke and thermal eciency/smoke curves are presented when operating on the Diesel/DMM fuel blends and even a simultaneous reduction in both NOx and smoke can be realised at large DMM additions.

Acknowledgements This study was supported by the National Basic Research Program (No. 2001CB209207 and No. 2001CB209208), the Ford-China Research and Development Fund (No. 50122166), the State Key Laboratory Awarding Fund (No. 50323001) and the Key Project of the National Natural Science Fund (No. 50136040). The authors acknowledge the students of Xian Jiao Tong University for their help with the experiment. The authors also express their thanks to the colleagues of Xian Jiao Tong University for their helpful comments and advice during the manuscript preparation. References
[1] Fleisch T, McCarthy C, Basu A. A new clean Diesel technology: demonstration of ULEV emissions on a Navistar Diesel engine fueled with dimethyl ether. SAE Trans 1995;104(4):4253. [2] Kapus P, Ofner H. Development of fuel injection equipment and combustion system for DI Diesels operated on dimethyl ether. SAE Trans 1995;104(4):5469. [3] Sorenson SC, Mikkelsen SE. Performance and emissions of a 0.273 liter direct injection Diesel engine fueled with neat dimethyl ether. SAE Trans 1995;104(4):8090. [4] Huang ZH, Wang HW, Chen HY. Study on combustion characteristics of a compression ignition engine fueled with dimethyl ether. Proc Inst Mech Eng, Part D, J Automobile Eng 1999;213(D6):64752. [5] Kajitani Z, Chen L, Konno M. Engine performance and exhaust characteristics of direct-injection Diesel engine operated with DME. SAE Trans 1997;106(4):156877. [6] Huang Z, Miao H, Zhou L, Jiang D. Combustion characteristics and hydrocarbon emissions of a spark ignition engine fuelled with gasoline-oxygenate blends. Proc Inst Mech Eng, Part D, J Automobile Eng 2000;214(D3):3416. [7] Huang ZH, Jiang DM, Zeng K, Liu B, Yang ZL. Combustion characteristics and heat release analysis of a DI compression ignition engine fueled with Diesel-dimethyl carbonate blends. Proc Inst Mech Eng, Part D, J Automobile Eng 2003;217(D7):595606. [8] Murayama T, Zheng M, Chikahisa T. Simultaneous reduction of smoke and NOx from a DI Diesel engine with EGR and dimethyl carbonate. SAE Paper 952518, 1995. [9] Ajav EA, Singh B, Bhattacharya TK. Experimental study of some performance parameters of a constant speed stationary Diesel engine using ethanolDiesel blend as fuel. Biomass Bioenergy 1999;17:35765. [10] Huang ZH, Lu HB, Jiang DM, Zeng K, Liu B, Zhang JQ, et al. Engine performance and emissions of a compression ignition engine operating on the Dieselmethanol blends. Proc Inst Mech Eng, Part D, J Automobile Eng 2004;218(D4):43547. [11] Miyamoto N, Ogawa H, Obata K. Improvements of Diesel combustion and emissions by addition of oxygenated agents to Diesel fuels: Inuence of properties of Diesel fuels and kinds of oxygenated agents. JSAE Rev 1998;19(2):1546. [12] Akasaka Y, Sakurai Y. Eect of oxygenated fuel on exhaust emission from DI Diesel engines. Trans JSME, Series B 1996;63(609):18339. [13] Maricq MM, Chase RE, Podsiadlik DH, Siegl WO, Kaiser EW. The eect of dimethoxy methane additive on Diesel vehicle particulate emissions. SAE Paper 982572, 1998. [14] Ball JC, Gonzalez MA, Lapin C, Liney E. Dimethoxy methane in Diesel fuel, Part 1, The eect of fuels and engine operating modes on emissions of toxic air pollutants and gas/solid phase PAH. SAE Paper 2001-01-3627, 2001. [15] Heywood JB. Internal combustion engine fundamentals. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company; 1988. [16] Yeh LI, Rickeard DJ, Du JLC. Oxygenates: An evaluation of their eects on Diesel emissions. SAE Paper No. 2001-01-2019, 2001. [17] Spreen KB, Ullman TL, Mason RL. Eect of cetane number, aromatics, and oxygenates on emissions from a 1994 heavy-duty Diesel engine with exhaust catalyst. SAE Paper No. 950250, 1995.