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To control natural-gas HCCI combustion, internal exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) by exhaust valve reopening (EVRO) during the induction stroke was applied to a single-cylinder test engine. The results demonstrate that combustion phasing can be controlled successfully by adjusting the EGR ratio, and so improvement of thermal efficiency and reduction in unburned exhaust emissions are feasible. In addition, the results of the EVRO method were compared to those of intake-valve pilot opening (IVPO) during the exhaust stroke. It was shown that EVRO is more useful than IVPO as a heat-recovery method for HCCI combustion.

The boiling point curve of fatty acid methyl esters (FAME), or biodiesel fuel, can be adapted to that of diesel fuel by breaking FAME down into a low-molecular structure using a cross-metathesis reaction with a short-chain olefin. Reformulated FAME by a metathesis reaction consists mainly of medium-chain olefins and fatty acid methyl esters. In the present study, the engine performance and exhaust emissions from reformulated FAME were investigated through engine bench tests. Surrogate fuels made from typical chemical components of reformulated FAME were used to clarify the effects of respective components upon combustion. Surrogate fuels were made by mixing 1-decene, 1-tetradecene, methyl laurate, methyl palmitate, and methyl oleate to simulate the boiling point, oxygen mass concentration, and calorific value of reformed biodiesel of waste cooking oil methyl ester (WME). A single-cylinder diesel engine equipped with common-rail-type injection system was used.

The objective of this study was to obtain an improved understanding of the effects of the simultaneous use of cold flow improver (CFI) and antioxidant on the cold flow properties, oxidation stability and diesel exhaust emissions of various biodiesels and biodiesel blends. Cold flow properties were evaluated by assessing the cloud point (CP) and pour point (PP) values, as well as from the results of the cold soak filtration test (CSFT). Oxidation stability was also determined by measuring the peroxide induction period (IP). The neat biodiesels (B100) derived from soybean oil(SME), Jatropha curcus oil(JME), rice bran oil(RBME), palm oil(PME) and waste cooking oil(WME), and biodiesel blends with JIS No.2 diesel fuel were tested. A CFI and antioxidant specially designed for use in biodiesel fuels were employed during the work. The experimental data demonstrated that the addition of antioxidant had no effect on either the CP or PP values.

The main aim of this study is to investigate the effect of NO and NO2 on the combustion characteristics such as pressure development and combustion phasing in natural gas HCCI engine. A secondary aim is to demonstrate a method of obtaining a significant sensitizing effect on methane oxidation reaction from small amounts of NOx. Experiments were conducted using a rapid compression-expansion machine that was constructed from a single-cylinder diesel engine. First, the sensitizing effect of NO and NO2 on the HCCI combustion of natural gas was investigated in a case where NOx was uniformly mixed into a charge. Obtained results show that the auto-ignition timing is significantly advanced and an acute heat release is promoted by adding either NO or NO2.

In this study, the influence of compression ratio on engine performance and variations of auto-ignition timing in each cylinder were evaluated in a 4-cycle multi-cylinder natural gas engine with PCCI combustion system. In experiment, the compression ratio was systematically changed from 19 to 25. From the result, it was clarified that an increase in compression ratio makes not only the improvement of engine output and fuel economy but also the reduction of NOx emission, even though the mechanical loss is increased. Simultaneously, the variation of auto-ignition timing in each cylinder can also be reduced.

The experimental study has been carried out on a diesel engine dual-fueled by wood-pyrolysis gas and biodiesel fuel. Wood-pyrolysis gas was simulated by a low-calorie mixed gas (LCG), which consists of hydrogen, methane and inert gas. Effects of LCG/biodiesel ratio, biodiesel injection-timing, and gas-fuel composition were examined. Obtained results show that under a constant-torque condition, an increase in gas fuel consumption causes a decrease in a brake thermal efficiency due to a decrease in combustion efficiency and specific heat ratio. Also, NOx emission in exhaust gas is decreased by increase in gas fuel consumption under the low load condition, while it shows no change under the relatively high load condition. In addition, an early injection of biodiesel is effective to reduce carbon monoxide emission due to increase in combustion pressure and temperature.

In this study, it was attempted to operate the 4-cycle multi cylinder natural gas engine introduced PCCI combustion system without electric heater for intake air heating. In experiment, by optimization of the compression ratio and in addition to the control of spark ignition timing, the engine could be operated using only intake air heating with coolant water. The results showed that the suppression of the auto-ignition timing variations among cylinders owing to the independent spark timing control of each cylinder leads to the improvement of engine output, fuel economy and exhaust emissions. Furthermore, this paper describes the engine starting and corresponding change of engine load on electric demand on generator. The stable operation could be achieved by using spark ignition, controlling of excess air ratio and intake air temperature during change the engine load from idle to rated power.

The performance of Diesel Particulate Filter(DPF) using biodiesel fuel was evaluated in a vehicle road test and in a diesel engine bench rig. The DPF used for the tests was made of SiC honeycomb which had a soot filtering efficiency close to 100%. The DPF/diesel engine system used was not configured for continuous regeneration. Regeneration was completed by batch heating with electric power. From the result of vehicle road test, the distance between regeneration for the vehicle fueled with biodiesel fuel was longer than that fueled with petro-diesel fuel. This gain in distance was greater than what was expected from the soot reduction because of the biodiesel fuel characteristics. This observation was further investigated in diesel engine bench rig with the DPF using several biodiesel fuels with different degree of purity.

This paper describes two topics. One is a study of the effects of refining process of biodiesel fuel on fuel properties, diesel engine performance and exhaust emissions. The second topic is a study to clarify the influences of plant oil sources for biodiesel production on combustion and emission characteristics. Plant oils or used cooking oils are reacted with methanol and a lye catalyst: KOH, to produce fatty acid methyl ester: unwashed-biodiesel. Washing the unwashed-biodiesel by water and dying processes are necessary in order to improve its fuel properties. Experiments were carried out on a single-cylinder, 4-stroke-cycle, DI diesel engine and various unwashed-, washed- and refined-biodiesel fuels derived from new or used cooking oil. From the result, it was found that the unwashed-biodiesel occurred unstable engine operation. And there was few difference in engine performance and emissions between biodiesel fuel from new and used cooking oil at same plant oil source.

High energy demand and environmental pollution leads to seeking of new, renewable and clean energy as biofuel and biomass. These fuels are abundant in tropical areas and agricultural-economic-based countries. Among various crops which are used for biofuel, Jatropha Curcas L. Oil (JO) is more beneficial and attractive as it is non-edible which is not competitive with food demand. In agricultural sector, the biomass waste especially from rice production such as rice husk is a tremendous resource in Cambodia. The combination of the use of biomass from rice husk (RH) and Jatropha Cake (JC) from the JO production in the gasification can produce more energy for the electricity production especially in the remote and rural area. In previous research, some researchers have been investigated on the use of JO in blending ratio, heated-neat condition and dual fuel combustion of diesel and bio-digested biogas.

This study derives regression equations for predicting the cetane number of biodiesel fuels based on chemical analysis data. For conducting the regression analysis, 34 fuel samples with a wide variety of ignition qualities were made by mixing five kinds of biodiesels and five kinds of fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) reagents. The relationship between the cetane number, measured in a constant-volume combustion chamber, and fuel properties such as iodine value, saponification number, and boiling point, was investigated. Based on the results, four regression equations were proposed and their accuracies were compared. The results show that the regression equation based on fuel composition gives a cetane number with high accuracy, whereas it can be only be approximately predicted from the iodine value.

This study focuses on deposit formation in a diesel engine fueled with straight vegetable oil (SVO) and its effects on engine performance and exhaust emissions. First, two-dimensional thickness distributions of the carbon deposits on the cylinder head were measured by a laser displacement meter after continuous engine operation on gas oil blended with SVO at 25%. The obtained results show that the carbon deposit thickness rapidly increases with SVO-blended fuel and reaches a higher level than with just gas oil. Second, the effects of fuel injector deposits on engine performance and emissions were examined. A small diesel engine was continuously operated by alternating between SVO and gas oil. Gas oil was injected for 1 hour before and after 6 hours of SVO operation to prevent the accumulation of SVO deposits inside the nozzle holes, and the process was repeated.

The suitability of caprylic (C8:0), lauric (C12:0), and palmitic (C16:0) acid 2-ethylhexyls derived from palm/coconut oil in diesel engine was evaluated. The pour point of each compound was approximately 40°C lower than that of the corresponding methyl ester due to the ethyl branch in the alcohol. All compounds possessed high oxidation stability, high lubricity, and a high cetane number. Engine bench test results demonstrated that 2-ethylhexyl laurate and palmitate result in shorter ignition delays compared to gas oil. The short ignition delays suppressed initial premix-like combustion. As a result, high brake thermal efficiency with low combustion noise was achieved. Furthermore, both laurate and palmitate produced less NOx emissions and less unburned gaseous emissions.

A novel EGR (exhaust gas recirculation) method by means of the intake-valve pilot-opening has been demonstrated using a single-cylinder test engine, in order to control the combustion and to reduce the energy loss due to intake-gas pre-heating in a natural gas HCCI (homogeneous charge compression ignition) engine. The intake valve, together with the exhaust valve, is slightly opened at the beginning of the exhaust stroke. Then, part of the burnt gas, which has a high temperature, is introduced into the suction pipe backward, resulting in an increase in the intake-gas temperature. The EGR rate can be varied successfully up to about 40% by using the specially designed camshaft and the valve control device, which can delay the closing timing. The effect of the EGR rate on engine performance and emissions has been investigated under the condition that the temperature of the fresh mixture and the fuel consumption rate are kept constant.

In our first study[1], we reported that the self-regeneration of DPF is enabled by the function of residual potassium methoxide (CH3OK) as catalyst, contained in biodiesel fuel that is collected in the DPF at lower engine loads[1]. In the present report, exhaust emission characteristics after using DPF were investigated by continuous measurement of exhaust gas. The results show that the self-regeneration of DPF occurs when engine loads change from lower to higher, and at the same time, methanol concentration in exhaust gas reaches to a higher peak. This peak is higher than when self-regeneration does not take place. The higher concentration of methanol is reduced by repeating the self-regeneration. The SOF content in PM is reduced by DPF at both high and low engine load, which is a characteristic that was not seen with gas oil.

In diesel engines, high-pressure fuel injection is very effective to reduce emissions of particulates and oxides of nitrogen. For this reason, all efforts have been directed to develop suitable high-pressure injection systems. However, high-pressure injection often increases internal leakage of the working fluid, increases power for pumping, and is sometimes still short of injection pressures at lower engine speeds. To remove these faults, the present authors developed a fuel injection system named KD-3 that relies on a novel principle using oil hammering in a convergent pipeline. The dynamic behavior of the proposed system was analyzed by the method of characteristics and computer simulations. A prototype injection system was designed and tested with success. Using a source pressure of 20 MPa, this system boosts pressure well to higher than 120 MPa at the inlet of injection nozzle.

In diesel engines, pilot injections and injections at a reduced initial injection rate with high-pressure fuel injection have a potential to reduce particulate, NOx and noise emissions simultaneously. For this reason, various shaping methods of injection rate waveform have been proposed. The present authors also propose such a high-pressure injection system with variable injection rate that relies on spool acceleration and oil-hammering in the injection pipeline. This paper first describes the injection rate shaping, including injections with pilot and reduced initial injection rate, and elucidates their effects on reducing exhaust and noise emissions. A pilot injection can be achieved by either installing a fuel spill path in a plunger body or elongating prelift of the spool. Computer simulations and bench tests of such injection systems show that pilot injection quantity is small enough and the pilot injection pressure is much lower than that of the main part of the injection.

To characterize the suitable conditions for a natural gas PCCI (premixed charge compression ignition) engine to provide both high efficiency and low emissions, an experimental study was demonstrated using a small-scale, single-cylinder engine. Engine tests were systematically carried out with various parameters, including compression ratio (18 to 22), intake-air temperature (160 to 220 °C) and engine speed (800 to 2400 rpm). It was shown that the maximum specific power can be improved in proportion to an engine speed up to 2400 rpm, while both the indicated thermal efficiency over 32% and the NOx emission below 100 ppm can be retained. However, an increase in engine speed extends the combustion duration especially under lean conditions, which decreases the indicated thermal efficiency.

This paper provides information on measurements and measurement techniques for particulate and unburnt hydrocarbon emissions from diesel engines. A dilution mini-tunnel was used to characterize the effects of the dilution ratio and sample temperature on the total particulate mass and soluble organic fraction(SOF) constituents. Increasing the sample temperature resulted in changes in the polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbon(PAH) constituents in SOF. The SOF was isolated by column chromatography, and the PAH fraction was determined by high performance liquid chromatography(HPLC). Column chromatography with silicagel, an octadecylsilan-bonded column, and keeping at high temperatures improved the analytical efficiency of HPLC. The gaseous hydrocarbon in raw exhaust was analysed by GC with FID. The temperature of the sample glass syringe affected measurements of high boiling point hydrocarbon constituents.

Multidimensional simulation has been carried out to be clear the role of initial combustion in D.I. diesel engines on reduction of NO and soot emissions by reduction of initial injection rate or pilot injection. The multidimensional engine simulation code, FREC-3D(CI), which was developed by IKEGAMI group in Kyoto Univ. at 1988, was modified and was used in this study. The combustion submodel in this code was updated including ignition submodel that was formulated by a one-step global chemical mechanism to simulate measured ignition delay and initial combustion, sufficiently. In-cylinder NO and soot formation models were introduced by present authors. NO and soot were predicted by Zeldovich mechanism and Morel's soot formation and oxidation formulations, respectively.