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Optical characterization of methanol compression-ignition combustion in a heavy-duty engine

Matamis, Alexios LU orcid ; Lonn, Sara LU ; Luise, Ludovica ; Vaglieco, Bianca Maria ; Tuner, Martin LU ; Andersson, Oivind LU ; Alden, Marcus LU and Richter, Mattias LU (2021) In Proceedings of the Combustion Institute 38(4). p.5509-5517
Abstract

In the search for renewable fuels, there are very few candidates as compelling as methanol. It can be derived from refuse material and industrial waste, while the infrastructure exists worldwide to support broad and fast adoption, potentially even as a "drop-in" fuel for existing vehicles with only minor modifications. The most efficient engines currently available are compression-ignition engines, however they often come with high emissions or compromises like the soot-NOx trade-off. Methanol however, is a low sooting fuel that can potentially be used in such engines despite its high resistance to auto-ignition and reduce emissions while maintaining high engine efficiency. Due to the auto-ignition resistance, few studies of... (More)

In the search for renewable fuels, there are very few candidates as compelling as methanol. It can be derived from refuse material and industrial waste, while the infrastructure exists worldwide to support broad and fast adoption, potentially even as a "drop-in" fuel for existing vehicles with only minor modifications. The most efficient engines currently available are compression-ignition engines, however they often come with high emissions or compromises like the soot-NOx trade-off. Methanol however, is a low sooting fuel that can potentially be used in such engines despite its high resistance to auto-ignition and reduce emissions while maintaining high engine efficiency. Due to the auto-ignition resistance, few studies of methanol compression-ignition exist and even fewer are conducted in an optically accessible engine. Here, two cases of premixed combustion and two of spray-driven combustion of methanol are studied in a Heavy-Duty optically accessible engine. Ignition and combustion propagation are characterized with a combination of time-resolved natural flame luminosity measurements and single-shot, acetone fuel-tracer, laser induced fluorescence. Additionally, Mie-scattering is used to identify the interaction between liquid spray and ignition sites in spray-driven methanol combustion. Results show that methanol combusts drastically different compared to conventional fuels, especially in spray-driven combustion. The evaporative cooling effect of methanol appears to play a major role in the auto-ignition characteristics of the delivered fuel. Ignition sites appear right at the end of injection when the evaporative cooling effect is withdrawn or at liquid length oscillations where, again the effect is momentarily retracted. To the authors' knowledge, this has not been documented before.

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author
; ; ; ; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Compression ignition, Fuel distribution, High speed camera, Methanol, Planar laser induced fluorescence
in
Proceedings of the Combustion Institute
volume
38
issue
4
pages
9 pages
publisher
Elsevier
external identifiers
  • scopus:85088541742
ISSN
1540-7489
DOI
10.1016/j.proci.2020.06.024
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
d89902ff-978e-4e12-b601-337a5fed2612
date added to LUP
2020-08-06 09:50:20
date last changed
2022-04-18 23:57:22
@article{d89902ff-978e-4e12-b601-337a5fed2612,
  abstract     = {{<p>In the search for renewable fuels, there are very few candidates as compelling as methanol. It can be derived from refuse material and industrial waste, while the infrastructure exists worldwide to support broad and fast adoption, potentially even as a "drop-in" fuel for existing vehicles with only minor modifications. The most efficient engines currently available are compression-ignition engines, however they often come with high emissions or compromises like the soot-NO<sub>x</sub> trade-off. Methanol however, is a low sooting fuel that can potentially be used in such engines despite its high resistance to auto-ignition and reduce emissions while maintaining high engine efficiency. Due to the auto-ignition resistance, few studies of methanol compression-ignition exist and even fewer are conducted in an optically accessible engine. Here, two cases of premixed combustion and two of spray-driven combustion of methanol are studied in a Heavy-Duty optically accessible engine. Ignition and combustion propagation are characterized with a combination of time-resolved natural flame luminosity measurements and single-shot, acetone fuel-tracer, laser induced fluorescence. Additionally, Mie-scattering is used to identify the interaction between liquid spray and ignition sites in spray-driven methanol combustion. Results show that methanol combusts drastically different compared to conventional fuels, especially in spray-driven combustion. The evaporative cooling effect of methanol appears to play a major role in the auto-ignition characteristics of the delivered fuel. Ignition sites appear right at the end of injection when the evaporative cooling effect is withdrawn or at liquid length oscillations where, again the effect is momentarily retracted. To the authors' knowledge, this has not been documented before.</p>}},
  author       = {{Matamis, Alexios and Lonn, Sara and Luise, Ludovica and Vaglieco, Bianca Maria and Tuner, Martin and Andersson, Oivind and Alden, Marcus and Richter, Mattias}},
  issn         = {{1540-7489}},
  keywords     = {{Compression ignition; Fuel distribution; High speed camera; Methanol; Planar laser induced fluorescence}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{4}},
  pages        = {{5509--5517}},
  publisher    = {{Elsevier}},
  series       = {{Proceedings of the Combustion Institute}},
  title        = {{Optical characterization of methanol compression-ignition combustion in a heavy-duty engine}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.proci.2020.06.024}},
  doi          = {{10.1016/j.proci.2020.06.024}},
  volume       = {{38}},
  year         = {{2021}},
}