Transportation Engineering 1 (2020) 100001

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Transportation Engineering
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/treng

Potential of using OMEx as substitute of diesel in the dual-fuel combustion

mode to reduce the global CO2 emissions
Jesús Benajes, Antonio García, Javier Monsalve-Serrano∗, Santiago Martínez-Boggio
CMT – Motores Térmicos, Universitat Politècnica de València, Camino de Vera s/n, 46022 Valencia, Spain

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Keywords: To achieve the targets of extreme low emissions values for the transport sector, several technologies emerged
E-fuels in the last few years. In this sense, advanced combustion modes as the dual-fuel low temperature combustion
OMEx showed great advantages in terms of NOx and soot emissions reduction. At low and medium engine load, the
Dual fuel
operation is stable with virtually zero emissions. However, the exhaust gas recirculation rates at high load need
Low temperature combustion
to be increased to avoid excessive in-cylinder peaks, which leads to higher soot emissions. At these conditions,
Driving cycles
the use of non-sooting fuels as the oxymethylene dimethyl ethers (OMEx) allows avoiding the NOx -soot trade-off.
In addition, the e-fuel consideration of the OMEx makes it suitable to reduce the global GHG emissions. This
paper assesses the potential of using OMEx as high reactivity fuel to reduce the CO2 well-to-wheel emissions,
and NOx and soot tailpipe emissions, in a medium-duty truck operating under dual-fuel combustion in transient
conditions. The cargo mass was varied between 0% and 100% (18 ton) in the World Harmonized Vehicle Cycle.
The tank-to-wheel analysis shows slightly higher CO2 production with OMEx-gasoline than with diesel-gasoline
due to the ratio between the lower heating value and the carbon content. However, the well-to-wheel analysis
shows the benefits of using OMEx to reduce the carbon dioxide footprint, which ranges from 13% (at full cargo
mass) to 19% (at low cargo mass) compared to diesel-gasoline dual-fuel mode. This benefit is due to the large
gains in terms of fuel production due to the carbon capture and the clean electric energy source necessary to
produce the OMEx.

1. Introduction tion pressures, injector holes with lower diameter and optimized com-
bustion chambers with sophisticated bowl geometries, among others.
The problem of air pollution in the cities around the world is aggra- Also, to achieve the ultra-low emissions imposed by the regulations,
vating along the years. Nowadays, a general trend towards to prohibit more complex after-treatment systems (ATS) are needed to be installed
the old diesel vehicles entering into the cities to improve the air quality in the vehicle to reduce the engine-out emissions: selective catalyst re-
is being stablished. Diesel engines are accused to be major responsible duction (SCR) with urea dosing system, diesel particle filter (DPF) and
for the high nitrogen oxides (NOx ) and particle matter (PM) levels in the diesel oxidation catalyst (DOC) [4]. In spite of this equipment is effec-
ambient air of urban areas [1,2]. However, compression ignition (CI) tive to achieve the current legislation targets, the cost is too high and
engines offer better fuel economy, reliability, and less carbon monox- the companies are looking for new technologies. In this line, advanced
ide (CO) and hydrocarbons (HC) emissions than the spark ignition (SI) combustion modes as low temperature combustion (LTC) are receiv-
engines [3]. In order to increase the acceptance of CI engines, a further ing special attention due to the capabilities to reduce the engine-out
reduction of their tailpipe emission is necessary. emissions with high combustion efficiency [5,6]. It possible to achieve
To achieve this target, companies and researchers have developed ultra-low NOx and soot emissions thanks to using high amounts of ex-
several technologies to improve the combustion process: higher injec- haust gas recirculation rates (EGR) and a greater degree of premixed

Abbreviations: ATS, Aftertreatment systems; BSFC, Brake specific fuel consumption; CDC, Conventional diesel combustion; CI, Compression Ignition; CO, Carbon
MoNOx ide; CO2 , Carbon Dioxide; DOC, Diesel Oxidation Catalysts; DPF, Diesel Particulate Filter; ECU, Engine control unit; EGR, Exhaust Gas Recirculation; EU,
European Union; GHG, Greenhouse gas emissions; HCCI, Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition; HRF, High Reactivity Fuel; ICE, Internal combustion engine;
LHV, Lower Heating Value; LRF, Low Reactivity Fuel; LTC, Low Temperature Combustion; NOx , Nitrogen Oxides; OEM, Original equipment manufacturer; OMEx,
Oxymethylene dimethyl ether; PM, Particulate Matter; PER, Premixed Energy Ratio; PFI, Port fuel injection; TTW, tank-to-wheel; RCCI, Reactivity Controlled Com-
pression Ignition; rpm, Revolution per minute; SCR, Selective Catalytic Reduction; SI, Spark Ignition; WHVC, Worldwide Harmonized Vehicle Test Cycle; WTT, Well
to Tank; WTW, Well to wheel.
∗
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: jamonse1@mot.upv.es (J. Monsalve-Serrano).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.treng.2020.01.001
Received 6 January 2020; Received in revised form 13 January 2020; Accepted 13 January 2020
2666-691X/© 2020 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license.
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
J. Benajes, A. García and J. Monsalve-Serrano et al. Transportation Engineering 1 (2020) 100001

combustion than conventional diesel combustion (CDC) [7]. One of the Table 1
potential LTC concepts is the reactivity controlled compression ignition Main ICE characteristics.
(RCCI) [8], which uses two fuels to control the mixture reactivity [9]. Parameter Value
This allows to operate at extreme low combustion temperatures with
Engine type 4 Stroke, 4 valves, direct injection
acceptable stability. Also, the ignition control is easier than in other ad-
Number of cylinders 6
vanced combustion modes as homogeneous charge compression ignition Displacement volume 7.78 L
(HCCI) due to the possibility to change the proportion between the high Stroke 135 mm
reactivity fuel (HRF) and low reactivity fuel (LRF) [10]. Bore 110 mm
Piston bowl geometry Bathtub
In spite of the improvements of the dual-fuel concept in the brake
Compression ratio 12.75:1
thermal efficiency and tailpipe emissions, it is necessary to implement Rated power 235 kW @ 2100 rpm
other strategies to drastically minimize the emissions of the greenhouse
gasses (GHG) produced by the transport sector [11]. Advanced fuels
Table 2
extracted from renewable sources are one potential option to achieve
Main fuel properties.
the legislation targets [12]. The next generation of fuels must be scal-
able, extractable from renewable sources, and present good combustion Property Diesel OMEx Gasoline
properties. To be applied at large scales, the new fuels need to be easily Fuel use HRF HRF LRF
adapted to the nowadays combustion devices to minimize the final emis- Density [kg/m3 ] 838 1067 720
sions with a low cost of production and transportation. In spite of that Viscosity [mm2 /s] 2.67 1.18 0.55
Cetane Number [dimensionless] 54.0 72.9 –
the heavy-duty vehicles as trucks and buses represent a small part of the
RON [dimensionless] – – 95.6
transport sector, it emits almost 50% of the CO2 emissions [13]. There- MON [dimensionless] – – 85.7
fore, each effort to reduce the GHG emissions is well justified to achieve LHV [MJ/kg] 42.61 19.04 42.40
the desired emissions targets stablished by the governments [10]. The Carbon content [%mass ] 85.9 43.6 84.2
European community stablished reduction targets of 15% in 2025 and Hydrogen content [%mass ] 13.3 8.8 15.8
Oxygen content [%mass ] 0.8 47.1 0
30% in 2030 for heavy-duty vehicles together with achieving the Euro
Nitrogen content [%mass ] 0 0.5 0
6 levels for the rest of the emissions. This is a complex scenario for the CO2 formation [gCO2 /gFuel ] 3.17 1.60 3.09
internal combustion engines (ICEs) due to the necessity of direct reduc-
tion of fuel consumption and engine-out emissions at the same time.
Synthetic fuels (e-fuel) have been proved to be an adequate solution high-pressure EGR line. To provide EGR with lower temperature and
both to reduce harmful emissions as well as the dependence on fossil fu- without reducing the mass flow in the turbine, a low-pressure EGR sys-
els. In general, they are obtained by chemical processes from renewable tem was added. This solution provides higher flexibility on the turbine
electricity in a synthetic process that consumes carbon dioxide and wa- and the possibility to achieve high EGR rates. In addition, this system
ter [10]. Therefore, it is considered a neutral or very low carbon fuel. allows the possibility to control the EGR temperature with the mixture
Oxymethylene dimethyl ethers (OMEx) are an electronic fuels, which between high and low pressure EGR. Table 1 summarizes the main char-
are formed by a chemical structure CH3 –O–(CH2 –O) x-CH3 , being x in acteristics of the engine. More information could be found in previous
the range of 1–5 [13,14]. This fuel can be produced from methanol and publications [14].
formaldehyde [15]. Due to the large number of oxygen atoms and the
absence of C–C bonds, the OMEx combustion process has zero soot emis- 2.2. Fuels
sions [16]. In spite of that the average efficiency of the OMEx production
is comparable to the efficiencies obtained in the Fischer–Tropsch diesel, Three diferent fuels were used to perform the CO2 analysis shown in
gasoline or methanol production, the demand for electrical energy is this work. Diesel and OMEx are propesed as HRF and gasoline as LRF.
considerably lower for the OMEx production [17]. The calibration of the whole engine map was performed with diesel-
This paper studies the combination of an e-fuel (OMEx) together with gasoline, and a tentative scenario is proposed with OMEx-gasoline.
a new combustion concept (RCCI) as a way to reach low CO2 , NOx and Table 2 shows the main properties of the fuels used. It is worth to note
soot emissions simultaneously. To do so, a numerical vehicle model is the large difference in lower heating value (LHV) between diesel and
fed with experimental tests from a multi-cylinder heavy-duty engine to OMEx. This will increase the fuel injected for the OMEx case. How-
obtain the average fuel and CO2 emissions in transient conditions. The ever, the carbon content for OMEx is strongly lower. Therefore, for the
results obtained with the OMEx-gasoline calibration are compared to tailpipe or tank-to-wheel analysis, this factors will push for oppossite
diesel-gasoline operation. Finally, a well to wheel (WTW) analysis is sides.
performed to have a global perspective of the benefits at the tailpipe as To understand which parameter is more important, the CO2 forma-
well as a global level. tion (CO2 formation ) is calculated as the mass production of CO2 (𝑚CO2 ) in
a complete combustion process per mass of fuel (mfuel ):
2. Materials and methods 𝑚CO2 𝑛CO2 ∗ 𝑀 𝑊CO2 𝑛c ∗ 𝑀 𝑊CO2
CO2 formation = = = (1)
𝑚fuel 𝑚fuel 𝑚fuel
2.1. Engine and test cell
with 𝑛CO2 the number of moles of CO2 and 𝑀 𝑊CO2 the molecular weight
The experiments were performed in a multi-cylinder, 8 L, compres- of CO2. An interesting parameter, when the substitution of a fuel is pro-
sion ignition engine, commercially available and designed to operate posed, is the ratio between the CO2 mass production. Eq. (2) shows the
under conventional diesel combustion. Several modifications were per- ratio between the HRF substitution, OMEx/Diesel:
formed to allow the engine to operate under dual-fuel combustion. 𝑚CO2 𝑚OMEx ∗ CO2 formation,OMEx
Omex
In particular, an additional fuel line was installed to supply the LRF = (2)
𝑚CO2 𝑚diesel ∗ CO2 formation,diesel
Diesel
through the port fuel injector (PFI) in the intake port. The piston bowl
was also optimized to improve the RCCI mode compared to the original In this work, it was assumed that the substitution of diesel as HRF
design (used in the conventional diesel combustion mode). Moreover, by OMEx is made by the same premix energy ratio (PER). The PER is
the original compression ratio (CR) was reduced from 17.5:1 to 12.8:1 calculated as follows:
to allow the dual-fuel mode to operate at high loads due to the high 𝑚LRF ∗ 𝐿𝐻 𝑉LRF
𝑃 𝐸𝑅 = (3)
peaks of in-cylinder pressure. The original engine design had only a 𝑚LRF ∗ 𝐿𝐻 𝑉LRF + 𝑚HRF ∗ 𝐿𝐻 𝑉HRF
J. Benajes, A. García and J. Monsalve-Serrano et al. Transportation Engineering 1 (2020) 100001

Fig. 1. Powertrain numerical model.

Therefore, the mass of OMEx used in each condition can be obtained Table 3
from the diesel-gasoline dual-fuel calibration as follow: Main vehicle characteristics.

Parameter Value
𝑚diesel_tot ∗ 𝐿𝐻 𝑉diesel = 𝑚OMEx ∗ 𝐿𝐻 𝑉OMex (4a)
Truck mass 8000 kg
Max cargo mass 12,000 kg
𝐿𝐻 𝑉diesel Frontal area 5.24 m2
𝑚OMEx = 𝑚diesel_tot ∗ (4b)
𝐿𝐻 𝑉OMex Cd 0.65
Differential ratio 5.29
Using Eqs. (4b) and (2) it is possible to obtain the CO2 mass produc- Transmission ratios 3.36/1.91/1.42/1.00/0.72/0.62
tion ratio between the two HRF:
𝑚CO2
42.5 1.6
Omex
= ∗ = 1.125 (5) with the following equation:
𝑚CO2 19.04 3.17
Diesel
𝑚̇ 𝑡𝑜𝑡 ∗ 𝑃 𝐸𝑅 ∗ 𝐿𝐻 𝑉HRF
𝑚̇ LRF = (6a)
This means that the OMEx will increase the tank to wheel (TTW) CO2 𝐿𝐻 𝑉LRF − 𝑃 𝐸𝑅 ∗ 𝐿𝐻 𝑉LRF + 𝑃 𝐸𝑅 ∗ 𝐿𝐻 𝑉HRF
emissions, if the premix energy ratio is maintained. Therefore, with this
preliminary analysis, it is possible to affirm that the final benefits will be 𝑚̇ HRF = 𝑚̇ 𝑡𝑜𝑡 − 𝑚̇ LRF (6b)
due to the well to tank (WTT) CO2 reduction and not due to differences
with 𝑚̇ 𝑡𝑜𝑡 the total mass fuel rate at each instant along the driving cycle.
in the combustion process. For this reason, a WTT section was added
The total mass of each fuel is calculated with:
to obtain a global perspective on the real potential to reduce the GHG
𝑡=𝑐 𝑦𝑐 𝑙𝑒 𝑒𝑛𝑑
emissions. 𝑚HRF = 𝑚̇ HRF ∗ 𝑑𝑡 (7a)
∫𝑡=0

2.3. Truck numerical model 𝑡=𝑐 𝑦𝑐 𝑙𝑒 𝑒𝑛𝑑

𝑚LRF = 𝑚̇ LRF ∗ 𝑑𝑡 (7b)
∫𝑡=0
The experimental engine test in stationary conditions were used to
and can be calculated in energy basis as follows:
feed a 0D vehicle numerical model to simulate the truck operation in
transient conditions (driving cycles). The GT-Suite interface (v2019, 𝐻 𝑅𝐹energy = 𝑚HRF ∗ 𝐿𝐻 𝑉HRF (8a)
Gamma Technologies, LLC., Westmont, IL, USA) was used with a cali-
brated medium-duty truck platform that originally equips the 8 L multi-
𝐿𝑅𝐹 _energy = 𝑚LRF ∗ 𝐿𝐻 𝑉LRF (8b)
cylinder engine. The software includes several modules to model the ve-
hicle traction forces, transmission and control units (electronic control Therefore, it is possible to estimate the fuel consumption of the dual
unit (ECU), brakes control, etc.). The speed-time profile of the driving fuel CI ICE along transient conditions.
cycle to be studied is inserted in the driver module, which determines For this work, the World Harmonized Vehicle Cycle (WHVC) was
the pedal accelerator, brake and clutch positions as a real driver. The used [18]. The main reason is due to the extend range for homologa-
driver aggressiveness was use as default, typically used for a moderate tion test in Europe for the heavy-duty transport sector. The EU VI limits
driving condition. applied for this type of vehicles are referenced to the WHVC when the
As mentioned, the vehicle selected for the study is a medium-duty vehicle is tested in transient conditions. The normative uses a range
truck capable to transport up to 12 tons of cargo mass. This means that between 50% of cargo mass of the truck to do this test. In this work,
the total truck mass is around 20 tons at maximum load. The truck has 0%, 50% and 100% cargo mass conditions were analyzed. As shown in
the powertrain layout showed in Fig. 1 with the engine coupled to a Fig. 2, the duration of the WHVC is 30 min (1800 s). The test includes
6-gear manual transmission and finally coupled by a conventional dif- segments as urban, rural and highway areas.
ferential with the rear wheels. This original equipment manufacturer
(OEM) powertrain layout was used to compare both HRF fuels (OMEx 2.4. Well to Wheel analysis
and Diesel) with gasoline as LRF. The main truck parameters are de-
scribed in Table 3. The WTW analysis is a method that allows to quantify the GHG emit-
In the ICE model, the brake specific fuel consumption map (BSFC) ted for a selected energy source. Specifically, two fuels were compared
in total mass (HRF+LRF) per kWh was inserted as well as the PER map. in this work (Diesel and OMEx), operating as HRF in a dual-fuel com-
Therefore, it is possible to determine the fuel consumption of each fuel bustion mode with gasoline as LRF. To better detect the source of CO2
J. Benajes, A. García and J. Monsalve-Serrano et al. Transportation Engineering 1 (2020) 100001

in a previous article of the authors [14]. Lastly, the difference between

Diesel and Gasoline are minimum, as expressed in previous works [14].
The second step on the GHG quantification is the TTW. This means
to determine the average emission of CO2 due to the use of the fuel
in the vehicle. The WHVC was used to represents the average driving
pattern. The tailpipe CO2 emissions was used instead the measurements
at engine-out due to the legislation requirements. Therefore, Eqs. (1) and
(7) was used to obtain the CO2 produced with the fuel consumption
measurements. The CO2 formation allows to performs this calculus with
good accuracy by the hypothesis of complete combustion. As nowadays
the normative is strict in terms of HC and CO emissions at tailpipe, this
assumption is widely used in the bibliography.

3. Results and discussion

3.1. Tank-to-Wheel analysis

Fig. 2. WHVC homologation driving cycle for heavy duty transportation.
Table 4 The three different cargo mass (0–50–100%) were simulated in the
Well-to-tank CO2 production by fuel. WHVC. The fuel mass consumption and emissions were computed in-
Fuel WTT CO2 [gCO2 /MJfuel ] stantaneously as well as an average value of the cycle. Fig. 3 shows the
premix energy ratio at each step time for zero and full load of cargo
Diesel 18.6
OMEx −16.8
mass. The peak values achieve the 80% of LHV energy in the total en-
Gasoline 17.2 ergy. The zero phases are due to idle conditions were the engine works
with pure HRF fuel (diesel or OMEx). In general, at higher loads, the
PER increases due to better mixture and easy engine control. The aver-
production in each phase, the analysis was divided into two different age PER value of the cycle is shown in Fig. 4, being 32% at low cargo
types: WTT and TTW, which sum becomes the WTW. mass and 53% at the highest load.
The WTT analysis comprehends the estimation of the GHG emissions With the PER and the total mass values at each time step, it is possi-
during the production and distribution of a determined fuel. In the case ble to determine the amount of HRF and LRF fuels with Eq. (6). Table 5
of the OMEx, as is a synthetic fuel, the emissions generated by the con- shows the fuel and energy mass for diesel and gasoline dual-fuel mode
struction, use and end-of-life of the fuel production infrastructure was along the WHVC. The CO2 at tailpipe was estimated with the CO2 formation
included. The calculation was performed using the software application parameter. In spite that the emission increases strongly with the cargo
GaBi®, licensed by thinkstep○R . Table 4 lists the final values of each fuel mass, when the values are normalized by the total truck mass (vehi-
used in the experimental tests. CO2 production was expressed in mass cle + cargo), a decrease in the TTW CO2 emissions it is seen (last colum
of CO2 by the energy content of each fuel [gCO2 /MJfuel ]. It is possible of Table 5, CO2 tailpipe mass [g] per cargo mass [t] and distance [km].
to see that OMEx provides large advantage in terms of CO2 saving. The Also, it is seen a more balanced contribution between the CO2 produc-
carbon capture in the process of fabrication together with a clean energy tion due to diesel and gasoline. Mainly, by the increase near to 50% of
mix allows negative values in terms of WTT. In this case, the necessary the PER.
energy to produce the OMEx was supposed to be taken entirely from As mentioned in the methodology, the OMEx-gasoline case was sup-
wind sources. This means an extra low carbon source. More informa- posed to maintain the PER ratio as well as the brake thermal efficiency of
tion about the possible energy sources to produce OMEx can be found the diesel-gasoline case. This means that the fuel energy used to perform

Fig. 3. Instantaneous premix energy ratio (PER) for the WHVC at 0% cargo mass (a) and 100% cargo mass (b).
J. Benajes, A. García and J. Monsalve-Serrano et al. Transportation Engineering 1 (2020) 100001

Table 5
TTW WHVC Diesel–Gasoline result by cargo mass.

Cargo mass [%] Fuel Fuel mass [g/km] Fuel energy [MJ/km] CO2 tailpipe [g/km] CO2 tailpipe [g/tkm]

0 Diesel 116 5.0 369 46.2

Gasoline 54 2.3 168 21.0
Total 171 7.3 537 67.2
50 Diesel 128 5.4 404 28.9
Gasoline 111 4.7 343 24.5
Total 239 10.1 748 53.4
100 Diesel 143 6.1 453 22.6
Gasoline 164 7.0 507 25.3
Total 307 13.0 960 48.0

Table 6
TTW WHVC OMEx-Gasoline result by cargo mass.

Cargo mass [%] Fuel Fuel mass [g/km] Fuel energy [MJ/km] CO2 tailpipe [g/km] CO2 tailpipe [g/tkm]

0 OMEx 260 5.0 416 52.0

Gasoline 54 2.3 168 21.0
Total 314 7.3 584 73.0
50 OMEx 285 5.4 455 32.5
Gasoline 111 4.7 343 24.5
Total 396 10.1 799 57.1
100 OMEx 319 6.1 510 25.3
Gasoline 164 7.0 507 25.5
Total 483 13.0 1017 50.9

Fig. 4. Average WHVC premix energy ratio (PER) against the cargo mass.

the driving cycle is the same in both cases (Diesel-Gasoline and Diesel-
OMEx) as shown Tables 5 and 6. With the LHV of each fuel was deter- Fig. 5. Well-to-Wheel CO2 emissions divided by dual fuel mix at different cargo
mined the OMEx fuel mass consumption. In spite of this strong hypoth- mass.
esis, it is a conservative analysis due to the good properties of the OMEx
to reduce the WTT emissions as well the zero soot emissions that allows
other strategies to achieve better energy consumption. Table 6 shows Fig. 5 shows the results for each cargo mass with the two dual-fuel cases
the results for the OMEx-gasoline case. The CO2 tailpipe was calculated (diesel or OMEx). The HRF WTT is negative for the OMEx according
with the CO2 formation for each fuel from the results of fuel mass. Com- to the previous study shown in Table 4. This compensates the higher
paring the two HRF fuels, the tailpipe CO2 increase between 8.7% and TTW emissions seen in the previous section and the final result is the
6.0% at zero and full load, respectively. Therefore, from a TTW per- cumulative bar graph. For all cargo masses, the results were better for
spective the OMEx presents a worse behavior. This was expected from OMEx than diesel.
the consideration of the ratios between CO2 production and LHV values Fig. 6 shows the cumulative results, which show an improvement
(Eq. (5)). in the total CO2 emissions of 19% for zero load and 13% for full load.
The main reason of the lower benefit with the increase of the load are
3.2. Well-to-Wheel analysis the PER values used. As was seen in Fig. 4, the PER increases with the
cargo mass. This means that higher amount of gasoline is used, instead
After the study of the TTW emissions, it is time to analyze the impact of HRF. For the OMEx dual-fuel case, this is the worst scenario due to
of the fuel production and the results in terms of global values (WTW). the high benefits in the fuel production (e-fuel condition).
J. Benajes, A. García and J. Monsalve-Serrano et al. Transportation Engineering 1 (2020) 100001

ing this research through Convocatoria de ayudas a Primeros Proyectos

de Investigación (SP20180148).

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