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Despite the legislation targets set by several governments of a full electrification of new light-duty vehicle fleets by 2035, the development of innovative, environmental-friendly Internal Combustion Engines (ICEs) is still crucial to be on track toward the complete decarbonization of on road-mobility of the future. In such a framework, the PHOENICE (PHev towards zerO EmissioNs & ultimate ICE efficiency) project aims at developing a C SUV-class plug-in hybrid (P0/P4) vehicle demonstrator capable to achieve a -10% fuel consumption reduction with respect to current EU6 vehicle while complying with upcoming EU7 pollutant emissions limits. Such ambitious targets will require the optimization of the whole engine system, exploiting the possible synergies among the combustion, the aftertreatment and the exhaust waste heat recovery systems.

In an era of rapidly increasing vehicle electrification, the gasoline engine remains a vital part of the passenger car powertrain portfolio. Lean-burn combustion is a formidable means for reducing the CO2 emissions of gasoline engines but demands the use of sophisticated emissions control. A 2.0 litre turbocharged direct-injection gasoline engine has been developed with a lean homogeneous combustion system matched to a robust lean and stoichiometric-capable exhaust aftertreatment. The aftertreatment system includes an SCR system and a GPF with filtration down to 10 nm particle size. The engine is equipped with a continuously variable valve-lift system, high-tumble ports and a high-energy ignition system; the boosting system comprises a variable geometry turbocharger and a 48 V electrical supercharger. The work reported formed part of the PaREGEn (Particle Reduced, Efficient Gasoline Engines) project under the Horizon 2020 framework programme.

The development of a one-dimensional model for the prediction of backpressure across a gasoline or diesel particulate filter (PF) is presented. The model makes two innovations: Firstly, the term for momentum convection in the gas momentum balance equations includes the loss (or gain) of axial momentum in the direction perpendicular to the channels; neglecting this results in the momentum convection term being too large. Secondly, equations for the pressure change due to the abrupt contraction at the PF entrance and for abrupt expansion at the exit are derived which take into account the fact that the velocity profile across the channels is not flat; often workers have used equations appropriate for high Reynolds numbers which assume flat velocity profiles. The model has been calibrated/tested against cold flow data for more than one length of PF. The use of more than one length allows along-filter pressure losses to be separated from entrance and exit effects.