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Low Load Ignitability of Methanol in a Heavy-Duty Compression Ignition Engine

Svensson, Magnus LU orcid ; Tunér, Martin LU and Verhelst, Sebastian LU orcid (2022) SAE 2022 Powertrains, Fuels and Lubricants Conference and Exhibition, PFL 2022 In SAE Technical Papers
Abstract
An increasing need to lower greenhouse gas emissions, and so move away from fossil fuels like diesel and gasoline, has greatly increased the interest for methanol. Methanol can be produced from renewable sources and eliminate soot emissions from combustion engines [1]. Since compression ignition (CI) engines are used for the majority of commercial applications, research is intensifying into the use of methanol, as a replacement for diesel fuel, in CI engines. This includes work on dual-fuel set-ups, different fuel blends with methanol, ignition enhancers mixed with methanol, and partially premixed combustion (PPC) strategies with methanol. However, methanol is difficult to ignite, using compression alone, at low load conditions. The... (More)
An increasing need to lower greenhouse gas emissions, and so move away from fossil fuels like diesel and gasoline, has greatly increased the interest for methanol. Methanol can be produced from renewable sources and eliminate soot emissions from combustion engines [1]. Since compression ignition (CI) engines are used for the majority of commercial applications, research is intensifying into the use of methanol, as a replacement for diesel fuel, in CI engines. This includes work on dual-fuel set-ups, different fuel blends with methanol, ignition enhancers mixed with methanol, and partially premixed combustion (PPC) strategies with methanol. However, methanol is difficult to ignite, using compression alone, at low load conditions. The problem comes from methanol's high octane number, low lower heating value and high heat of vaporization, which add up to a lot of heat being needed from the start to combust methanol [2]. This paper investigates methanol combustion at low load and compares it to diesel fuel, using a more classical diesel combustion strategy of diffusion combustion. This paper also investigates how a high compression ratio could aid the low load combustion of methanol. To get the methanol burning, with similar stability as diesel fuel, intake heating was used together with a pilot injection, of about a third of the main injection quantity. The resulting efficiencies were similar between diesel fuel and methanol, and for the emission measurements NOx was much lower for methanol than for diesel fuel. Increasing the compression ratio resulted in stable combustion without the need for intake heating and a pilot injection, at even lower loads. It also yielded higher efficiency without having a major effect on the emissions. (Less)
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author
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organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
SAE Technical Papers
article number
2022-01-1093
publisher
Society of Automotive Engineers
conference name
SAE 2022 Powertrains, Fuels and Lubricants Conference and Exhibition, PFL 2022
conference location
Krakow, Poland
conference dates
2022-09-06 - 2022-09-08
ISSN
0148-7191
DOI
10.4271/2022-01-1093
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
bd6c7b2a-d0fd-458f-8ea6-756b97645232
date added to LUP
2023-11-01 16:21:56
date last changed
2023-11-02 11:39:27
@article{bd6c7b2a-d0fd-458f-8ea6-756b97645232,
  abstract     = {{An increasing need to lower greenhouse gas emissions, and so move away from fossil fuels like diesel and gasoline, has greatly increased the interest for methanol. Methanol can be produced from renewable sources and eliminate soot emissions from combustion engines [1]. Since compression ignition (CI) engines are used for the majority of commercial applications, research is intensifying into the use of methanol, as a replacement for diesel fuel, in CI engines. This includes work on dual-fuel set-ups, different fuel blends with methanol, ignition enhancers mixed with methanol, and partially premixed combustion (PPC) strategies with methanol. However, methanol is difficult to ignite, using compression alone, at low load conditions. The problem comes from methanol's high octane number, low lower heating value and high heat of vaporization, which add up to a lot of heat being needed from the start to combust methanol [2]. This paper investigates methanol combustion at low load and compares it to diesel fuel, using a more classical diesel combustion strategy of diffusion combustion. This paper also investigates how a high compression ratio could aid the low load combustion of methanol. To get the methanol burning, with similar stability as diesel fuel, intake heating was used together with a pilot injection, of about a third of the main injection quantity. The resulting efficiencies were similar between diesel fuel and methanol, and for the emission measurements NOx was much lower for methanol than for diesel fuel. Increasing the compression ratio resulted in stable combustion without the need for intake heating and a pilot injection, at even lower loads. It also yielded higher efficiency without having a major effect on the emissions.}},
  author       = {{Svensson, Magnus and Tunér, Martin and Verhelst, Sebastian}},
  issn         = {{0148-7191}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{08}},
  publisher    = {{Society of Automotive Engineers}},
  series       = {{SAE Technical Papers}},
  title        = {{Low Load Ignitability of Methanol in a Heavy-Duty Compression Ignition Engine}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.4271/2022-01-1093}},
  doi          = {{10.4271/2022-01-1093}},
  year         = {{2022}},
}