Effects of DME-Isobutane Blended Fuels on Combustion and Emissions Reduction in a Passenger Car Diesel Engine
Publication: Journal of Energy Engineering
Volume 143, Issue 4
Abstract
This paper investigates the effect of isobutane blended dimethyl ether (DME) fuels on the spray behaviors, combustion, and emission reduction characteristics in a diesel engine. To investigate the influence of DME-isobutane blends, measurements of the spray characteristics from the spray visualization, combustion characteristics, and emissions reduction characteristics were conducted under various injection timings and isobutane blending ratios. In this experiment, isobutane fuel was blended into DME to make up for the lower heating value (LHV) of DME. The isobutane blending ratio of DME-isobutane blends was changed from 10 to 30% using the isobutane mass fraction. To investigate the effect of the isobutane blending ratio on the combustion and emission characteristics of a diesel engine, five types of fuels were applied: diesel, DME, DME90LP10, DME80LP20, and DME70LP30 (where numerical values indicate the weight fraction percentage). In this paper, the results of the visualization tests show that the DME and DME-isobutane blended fuels have slightly shorter results than that of conventional diesel fuel beyond 1.7 ms of elapsed time. The spray cone angles show similar trends, although with a slight decrease as the ratio of isobutane in the DME-isobutane blends was increased. The combustion pressure of the DME-isobutane blends decreased as the isobutane blending ratio was increased in the test range, showing higher pressure than that of conventional diesel fuel. The ignition delay increased when the injection timing was retarded; it also increased with increased amounts of isobutane in the DME-isobutane mixture. The results of cumulative heat release and heat release rate show that the increase in isobutane blending ratio resulted in retarded heat release. As the isobutane blended ratio was increased, the brake-specific nitrogen oxides (NOx) of DME-isobutane blends were increased compared to DME fuel. The soot emissions of the DME and DME-isobutane blends were nearly zero compared to those of conventional diesel. The CO emissions of the DME-isobutane blending fuels increased compared to that of DME fuel with the isobutane blending ratio. The DME and DME-isobutane fuels showed lower HC emissions, with the exception of the late injection timing of the DME70LP30 fuel.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
References
Arcoumanis, C., Bae, C., Crookes, R., and Kinoshita, E. (2008). “The potential of di-methyl ether (DME) as an alternative fuel for compression-ignition engines: A review.” Fuel, 87(7), 1014–1030.
Bechtold, R. L. (2002). Alternative fuels, SAE International, Warrendale, PA.
Fleisch, T. H., Basu, A., and Sills, R. A. (2012). “Introduction and advancement of new clean global fuel: The status of DME development in China and beyond.” J. Nat. Gas Sci. Eng., 9, 94–107.
Jechura, J. (2001). “Pure component data.” ⟨http://inside.mines.edu/∼jjechura/Common/PureComponentData.xls⟩ (Sep. 25, 2001).
Lee, S., Oh, S., and Choi, Y. (2009). “Performance and emission characteristics of an SI engine operated with DME blended LPG fuel.” Fuel, 88(6), 1009–1015.
Lee, S., Oh, S., Choi, Y., and Kang, K. (2011). “Effect of n-Butane and propane on performance and emission characteristics of an SI engine operated with DME-blended LPG fuel.” Fuel, 90(4), 1674–1680.
Park, S. H., and Lee, C. S. (2013). “Combustion performance and emission reduction characteristics of automotive DME engine system.” Prog. Energy Combust. Sci., 39(1), 147–168.
Park, S. H., and Lee, C. S. (2014). “Applicability of dimethyl ether (DME) in a compression ignition engine as an alternative fuel.” Energy Convers. Manage., 86, 848–863.
Rakopoulos, D. C., Rakopoulos, C. D., and Giakoumis, E. G. (2015). “Impact of properties of vegetable oil, bio-diesel, ethanol and n-butanol on the combustion and emissions of turbocharged HDDI diesel engine operating under steady and transient conditions.” Fuel, 156, 1–19.
Rakopoulos, D. C., Rakopoulos, C. D., Giakoumis, E. G., and Dimaratos, A. M. (2013). “Studying combustion and cyclic irregularity of diethyl ether as supplement fuel in diesel engine.” Fuel, 109, 325–335.
Rakopoulos, D. C., Rakopoulos, C. D., Giakoumis, E. G., Papagiannakis, R. G., and Kyritsis, D. C. (2014). “Influence of properties of various common bio-fuels on the combustion and emission characteristics of high-speed DI (direct injection) diesel engine: Vegetable oil, bio-diesel, ethanol, n-butanol, diethyl ether.” Energy, 73, 354–366.
Sorenson, S. and Mikkelsen, S. (1995). “Performance and emissions of a 0.273 liter direct injection diesel engine fuelled with neat dimethyl ether.”, Warrendale, PA.
Sorenson, S. C. (2001). “Dimethyl ether in diesel engines: Progress and perspectives.” J. Eng. Gas Turbines Power, 123(3), 652–658.
Suh, H. K., and Lee, C. S. (2008). “Experimental and analytical study on the spray characteristics of dimethyl ether (DME) and diesel fuels within a common-rail injection system in a diesel engine.” Fuel, 87(6), 925–932.
Suh, H. K., Park, S. H., Kim, H. J., and Lee, C. S. (2009). “Influence of ambient flow conditions on the droplet atomization characteristics of dimethyl ether (DME).” Fuel, 88(6), 1070–1077.
Teng, H., McCandless, J. C., and Schneyer, J. B. (2003). “Compression ignition delay (physical + chemical) of dimethyl ether—An alternative fuel for compression-ignition engines.”, Warrendale, PA.
Thomas, G., Fenga, B., Veeraragavana, A., Clearyb, M. J., and Drinnanc, N. (2014). “Emissions from DME combustion in diesel engines and their implications on meeting future emission norms: A review.” Fuel Process. Technol., 119, 286–304.
Troy, A., Semelsbergera, T. A., Borupa, R. L., and Greeneb, H. L. (2006). “Dimethyl ether (DME) as an alternative fuel.” J. Power Sources, 156(2), 497–511.
Wang, Y., Liu, H., Huang, Z., and Ke, X. (2016a). “Particulate size distribution from diesel–dimethyl ether dual fuel premixed compression ignition combustion engine.” J. Energy Eng., .
Wang, Y., Liu, H., Huang, Z., and Liu, Z. (2016b). “Study on combustion and emission of a dimethyl ether-diesel dual fuel premixed charge compression ignition combustion engine with LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) as ignition inhibitor.” Energy, 96, 278–285.
Xiao, H., Zhang, Y., and Zhang, H. (2006). “Experimental and numerical study on the characteristics of liquid phase LPG and diesel fuel sprays.”, Warrendale, PA.
Youn, I. M., Park, S. H., Roh, H. G., and Lee, C. S. (2011). “Investigation on the fuel spray and emission reduction characteristics for dimethyl ether (DME) fueled multi-cylinder diesel engine with common-rail injection system.” Fuel Process. Technol., 92(7), 1280–1287.
Youn, I. M., Park, S. H., Roh, H. G., and Lee, C. S. (2013). “Impact of DME as an oxygenated alternative fuel on combustion and emissions reduction in a transportation vehicle at low load condition.” J. Energy Eng., 308–315.
Zhu, Z., Li, D. K., Liu, J., Wei, Y. J., and Liu, S. H. (2012). “Investigation on the regulated and unregulated emissions of a DME engine under different injection timing.” Appl. Therm. Eng., 35, 9–14.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Energy Engineering
Volume 143 • Issue 4 • August 2017
Copyright
©2017 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jul 15, 2016
Accepted: Sep 28, 2016
Published ahead of print: Feb 6, 2017
Published online: Feb 7, 2017
Discussion open until: Jul 7, 2017
Published in print: Aug 1, 2017
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.