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zero emissions of smog-forming NOx. Like a diesel engine, HCCI also operates "fuel-lean", in
other words, with more air than is necessary to burn all the fuel. But HCCI can operate at even
more dilute levels than diesel, and this keeps peak temperatures low, below 2000 kelvin. In
standard engines, poorly mixed fuel creates areas where the temperature is high enough for
nitrogen and oxygen in the air to react, forming NOx.
The HCCI engine will also benefit from the higher compression ratios and unthrottled operation
of diesel engines, to give 30 to 40 per cent greater fuel efficiency than petrol engines. This is
because today's petrol engines use throttle valves to control the amount of air and fuel taken into
the engine. But at low loads the valves must be nearly closed, and energy is wasted pulling the
mixture through this nearly closed valve. Diesels do not use a throttle, and instead suck air into
the cylinder during the induction stroke. Taken together, HCCI combustion results in a highefficiency engine with near-zero emissions of soot particles.
All scrubbed up
Modern petrol engines are fitted with catalytic converters, which remove the NOx before the
exhaust leaves the tailpipe. But the same approach does not work for fuel-lean diesel engines,
as the high levels of oxygen in their exhausts make conventional catalysts ineffective.
There are alternatives, such as a tailpipe NOx trap, but these age rapidly and reduce the
vehicle's fuel economy by 5 to 10 per cent, which would be an unacceptable penalty. So as NOx
emission regulations from diesel engines tighten, industry has been struggling to meet them. "A
couple of years ago, we weren't sure it was even possible," says Ford spokesman Nick Twork.
Compared with today's petrol engines, the benefits of HCCI are in the increased fuel economy of
operating without a throttle and at higher compression ratios, and the associated reduction in
greenhouse gas emissions. HCCI petrol engines would have 20 per cent higher fuel efficiency
than these petrol engines, Pinson says.
But getting HCCI on the road has been hampered by difficulties controlling when and how fast
each cylinder fires. A compressed mixture of fuel and air ignites when it reaches a critical level of
temperature and composition. And that depends on factors such as the fuel quality and the
temperature of the cylinders, which varies from cylinder to cylinder within the engine and over
time as the engine warms up. What's more, all of these change with different driving conditions,
for example whether the driver has the pedal to the metal to climb a hill or is coasting home.
Valve-control technology that dictates when the intake and exhaust valves open and shut, onboard computers and electronic fuel injection systems can now allow an engine to detect and
respond to varying conditions to keep the cylinders firing at the appropriate time. That makes
HCCI operation possible.
Researchers are modifying these technologies developed for conventional engines to control the
HCCI ignition process. These include recirculating exhaust gas to preheat the fuel, controlling
the timing and amount of fuel injected into the chamber, and valve-control technology.
Chris Gerdes, an HCCI researcher at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, has already
achieved HCCI combustion in an engine in the laboratory over rapidly changing operating
conditions using these techniques. "I'm not saying it is an easy problem," he adds, "but I don't
see anything that stands in the way of solving it."
For now though, HCCI has not been made to work at the lowest loads, when there is not enough
fuel present within the mixture for it to automatically ignite. It is also unreliable for operating at
the highest loads, when the large amounts of fuel required release heat so quickly that it
damages the engine.
So the first engines to incorporate the technology will operate in HCCI mode at loads at which it
performs best, and switch over to standard diesel, petrol or even battery-power operation at
other times. As the technology improves, HCCI should increasingly take over.
Whatever its exact form, HCCI is likely to be in use within the next five years, and its importance
will grow. "It is absolutely the single greatest thing that is happening in engine development,"
says Pinson.