KTH ROYAL INSTITUTE
OF TECHNOLOGY
Dual-fuel combustion for the
introduction of renewable alcohol
fuels in heavy-duty diesel engines
Nicola Giramondi
Prof. Anders Christiansen Erlandsson (KTH)
Dr. Anders Westlund (Scania), Prof. Mihai Mihaescu (KTH)
• Title: Dual-fuel combustion for the introduction of renewable alcohol fuels in heavy-duty diesel engines
• Timeline: August 2016 – Fall 2020
• Research Program: Fordonsstrategisk Forskning och Innovation (FFI)
• Project partners:
2017-10-10KTH – ICE DIVISION NICOLA GIRAMONDI 2
Project overview
• Project motivation
• Research questions
• Research methodology
• Project status and plan
2017-10-10KTH – ICE DIVISION NICOLA GIRAMONDI 3
Summary
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Diesel pilot-ignited
alcohol direct injection
in heavy-duty engines
Project motivation
KTH – ICE DIVISION NICOLA GIRAMONDI
2017-10-10 5
Motivation
KTH – ICE DIVISION NICOLA GIRAMONDI
Alcohol-Diesel Direct Injection
Controllability (Injection strategy)
↑ Indicated efficiency
Diffusion combustion (At high loads)
↓ Cycle-to-cycle variations
Oxygen content ↓ UHC, soot
↑ Heat of vaporization (↓ In-cylinder peak
temperature)↓ NOx
References: Boretti (2012); Haraldson (2014); Gao et al. (2013); Sarjovaara, Alantie and Larmi (2013); Zheng, Li and Han (2015).
Dual-fuel engine for marine applications
6
Wärtsilä methanol-diesel concept Mixing-controlled combustion
Reference: Haraldson, 2014
KTH – ICE DIVISION NICOLA GIRAMONDI 2017-10-10
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Injection system geometry and
injection strategy
Research questions
KTH – ICE DIVISION NICOLA GIRAMONDI
2017-10-10 8
Dual-fuel injection system prototype
KTH – ICE DIVISION NICOLA GIRAMONDI
Design of the dual-fuel injection system
Influence of the geometrical
parameters of the injection system on:
Ignition timing,
combustion phasingHeat release rate
Ignition and combustion characteristics
Degree of premixing
Alcohol-diesel spray-spray interaction
Liquid penetration
Local equivalence ratio
Temperature field
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Injection system geometry
KTH – ICE DIVISION NICOLA GIRAMONDI
With different injection strategies…
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Injection strategy
KTH – ICE DIVISION NICOLA GIRAMONDI
At low and high loads
With respect to a pure diesel baseline
Influence of the injection strategy:
Ignition timing,
combustion phasingHeat release rate
Performance Indicated efficiency
Emissions UHC, CO, NOx, soot
Combustion variability COV of IMEP, misfire
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Coupling CFD simulation and
single-cylinder engine testing
Research methodology
KTH – ICE DIVISION NICOLA GIRAMONDI
2017-10-10 12
Tools and methods
KTH – ICE DIVISION NICOLA GIRAMONDI
Combustion simulation
• CFD method development + Injection system pre-design• Sweeping: Nozzle geometry and injection strategy
• Targeting: Ignition and combustion characteristics
Metal engine testing
• Prototype testing• Sweeping: Nozzle geometry and injection strategy
• Targeting: Emissions, performance and combustion variability
Combustion simulation
• CFD method validation
Optical engine testing
• Combustion optical diagnostics• Targeting: Ignition characteristics + Spray-spray interaction
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Project status and plan
KTH – ICE DIVISION NICOLA GIRAMONDI
2017-10-10 14KTH – ICE DIVISION NICOLA GIRAMONDI
Project status and plan
• Research questions
• Injection system design
• Preliminary CFD simulation campaign
• Combustion simulation method
• MATLAB post-processing tools
Accomplishments
• Experimental system set-up
• CFD method refinement
• CFD simulation campaign
On-going work
• Publication of CFD results
• Experimental campaign
• Publication of experimental results
• CFD method validation
Near-future work
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Thanks for your attention!
KTH – ICE DIVISION NICOLA GIRAMONDI
2017-10-10 16
References
KTH – ICE DIVISION NICOLA GIRAMONDI
Boretti, A. (2012) ‘Advantages of converting Diesel engines to run as dual fuel
ethanol-Diesel’, Applied Thermal Engineering. Elsevier Ltd, 47, pp. 1–9. doi:
10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2012.04.037.
Haraldson, L. (2014) ‘IEA BIOENERGY AND AMF WORKSHOP – HEAVY DUTY
ENGINES [PowerPoint Slides]’ Available from http://www.ieabioenergy.com/wp-
content/uploads/2014/05/P10-Heavy-duty-engines-Haraldson.pdf
Gao, T. Y. et al. (2012) ‘An Enabling Study of Low Temperature Combustion with
Ethanol in a Diesel Engine’, Proceedings of the Asme Internal Combustion Engine
Division Fall Technical Conference - 2012, 135(December), pp. 217–226. doi:
10.1115/1.4024027.
Sarjovaara, T., Alantie, J. and Larmi, M. (2013) ‘Ethanol dual-fuel combustion concept
on heavy duty engine’, Energy. Elsevier Ltd, 63(x), pp. 76–85. doi:
10.1016/j.energy.2013.10.053.
Zheng, M., Li, T. and Han, X. (2015) ‘Direct injection of neat n-butanol for enabling
clean low temperature combustion in a modern diesel engine’, Fuel. Elsevier Ltd,
142, pp. 28–37. doi: 10.1016/j.fuel.2014.10.075.
