Energy 74 (2014) 741e752

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Energy
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/energy

Experimental and simulation investigation of the combustion

characteristics and emissions using n-butanol/biodiesel dual-fuel
injection on a diesel engine
Haifeng Liu a, Xin Wang a, Zunqing Zheng a, *, Jingbo Gu a, Hu Wang b, Mingfa Yao a
a
State Key Laboratory of Engines, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China
b
Engine Research Center, University of WisconsineMadison, Madison, WI 53705, USA

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

Article history: The combustion and emissions of n-butanol/biodiesel dual-fuel injection were investigated on a diesel
Received 31 December 2013 engine based on experiments and simulations. n-Butanol was injected into the intake port, while soy-
Received in revised form bean biodiesel was directly injected into the cylinder. Three different premixed ratios (rp) were inves-
24 June 2014
tigated, including 80%, 85% and 90%. The injection timings of biodiesel were adjusted to keep the 50%
Accepted 16 July 2014
Available online 11 August 2014
burn point (CA50) between 2
CA and 10
CA after top dead center for achieving stable operation. The
EGR (exhaust gas recirculation) rates were changed from 35% to 45%. Results demonstrate that the same
CA50 can be achieved by the early or late-injection of biodiesel. For both early- and late-injection, the
Keywords:
n-Butanol
auto-ignition is triggered by the biodiesel reaction. Increasing premixed ratios can retard the combustion
Biodiesel phasing and reduce the pressure rise rate, while the indicated thermal efficiency (ITE) reduces by about
Dual-fuel injection 0.6% as increasing rp to 90%. The early-injection has lower NOx emissions compared to the late-injection
Combustion due to lower combustion temperature. The soot emissions are comparable for both early- and late-
Emissions injection. With the increase of EGR, the NOx and soot emissions decrease, while the HC (hydrocar-
bons) and CO (carbon monoxide) emissions increase. The ITE reduces by 1e2% as increasing EGR to 45%.
© 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction fundamental spay and flame propagation of biodiesel fuel has also
been studied on constant-volume chamber to deeply understand
Diesel engines are widely used in transportation, agriculture the mixing and combustion process at different ambient conditions
and engineering machinery due to its reliability and high efficiency. [3,7,8]. Due to the wide application of biodiesel on engines, the
However, they contribute significantly to carbon dioxide and chemical kinetic models have been developed rapidly in past ten
harmful emissions and consume large amounts of fossil oil. years. The whole development trend is from small alkyl esters (up
Therefore, the development of diesel engines faces the challenges to 5 carbons) to large alkyl esters (up to 19 carbons) and from single
of energy and environment in the future. Advanced combustion surrogate to a mixture of surrogates [9,10]. For example, the kinetic
techniques and the application of biofuels are promising ways to model of small alkyl ester of methyl butanoate (C5H10O2) was
meet these challenges. developed by Fisher et al. [11]. After that, Metcalfe et al. [12] and
Biofuels derived from renewable resources are considered as the Dooley et al. [13] improved the kinetic model of methyl butanoate.
sustainable alternative to conventional fossil fuels [1,2]. At present, Then, with the further development on models, large alkyl esters
biodiesel is the primary alternative to diesel due to their similar fuel have been developed in recent years, such as methyl hexanoate
properties [3]. Investigation on engine test demonstrated that (C7H14O2) [14], methyl decanoate (C11H22O2) [15], methyl stearate
biodiesel-fueled engines could reduce emissions of hydrocarbons (C19H38O2) and methyl oleate (C19H36O2) [16]. Apart from the single
(HC), carbon monoxide (CO) and particulate matter (PM), however surrogate, some mixture have been proposed to represent the real
nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions and the brake specific fuel con- biodiesel, such as the blends of n-heptane and methyl butanoate
sumption were increased slightly [4e6]. Meanwhile, the [17] and the mixture of methyl stearate (C19H38O2), methyl oleate
(C19H36O2), methyl linoleate (C19H34O2), methyl linolenate
(C19H32O2) and methyl palmitate (C17H34O2) [18]. Another class of
* Corresponding author. Tel.: þ86 22 27406842x8013; fax: þ86 22 2738 3362. biofuel used in diesel engines is alcohols, such as ethanol and n-
E-mail address: zhengzunqing@tju.edu.cn (Z. Zheng). butanol [19,20]. Studies indicated that the blends of alcohol and

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2014.07.041
0360-5442/© 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
742 H. Liu et al. / Energy 74 (2014) 741e752

diesel could reduce emissions of NOx, soot and CO simultaneously investigated the opposite combination in fuel properties in dual-
[21e23], while HC emissions the brake specific fuel consumption fuel system, such as injecting high cetane number fuel at the
were increased [24,25]. In comparison with ethanol, n-butanol is a intake port followed by the direct-injection of a high octane
more promising alcohol for application in diesel engines due to its number fuel [56] or just using a single fuel of
higher heating value, good intersolubility with diesel and no gasolineegasoline þ DTBP (di-tert butyl peroxide cetane improver)
corrosion to existing fuel pipelines [26,27]. Due to the above ad- [57]. In these dual-fuel injection systems, it includes not only the
vantages in fuel properties, the fundamental spay and flame variation of fuel properties but also the variation of charge strati-
propagation of the blend of n-butanol and diesel fuel has also been fication as the injection timing is changed. The charge stratification
studied on constant-volume chamber and optical engines to deeply has been seen as an effective method to control the ignition timing
understand the mixing and combustion process [28,29]. Mean- and extend the operating range [58,59]. Therefore, the dual-fuel
while, many different chemical kinetic model of n-butanol has been strategy consisting of port- and direct-injection has more advan-
proposed in recent years, including Refs. [30e32], and the kinetic tages than those of single-fuel or dual-fuel port-injection owing to
models of diesel and n-butanol blends have also been developed by the cooperated control of fuel properties and charge stratification.
Saisirirat et al. [33] and Wang et al. [34]. In addition, to improve the In fact, the dual-fuel injection system has been widely studied in
intersolubility between diesel and alcohols, some studies consider conventional mechanical pump diesel engine using the port-
biodiesel as an additive to stabilize ethanol/diesel and n-butanol/ injection methanol [60] or gasoline [61e63] or two-stroke cycle
diesel blends [35] and the combustion and emissions as fuelling engines [64] to reduce soot and NOx emissions and increase ther-
biodieselealcoholediesel blends have been investigated by Sukjit mal efficiency. For the current common-rail injection system, it can
et al. [36] and Yoshimoto et al. [37]. Alcohol/biodiesel blend were offer flexible injection strategies and thus form the needed charge
also investigated in diesel engines because the disadvantage of stratification. Therefore, the current dual-fuel system should have
worse cold flow behavior and higher viscosity for biodiesel and the more advantages than the conventional mechanical pump dual-
lower cetane number for alcohols could be offset and properties of fuel system and the combustion and emission characteristics
blends are similar to conventional diesel fuel [38,39]. Accordingly, need to be a new awareness in the current engine technology.
the kinetic model based on biodieselealcohol has also been In previous studies, Chen et al. [65] investigated the effect of n-
developed by Togbe et al. [40]. butanol volume fractions (0e65%) and EGR (exhaust gas recircu-
In the recent 10 years, some advanced combustion modes, such lation) rates (15% and 45%) on combustion and emissions on a dual-
as homogeneous charge compression ignition (HCCI), premixed fuel system with port-injection of n-butanol and direct-injection of
charge compression ignition (PCCI), low temperature combustion diesel fuel. They found that n-butanol fractions and EGR have a
(LTC), etc., have obtained tremendous attention. These new com- coupled impact on combustion process, and the dual-fuel system
bustion modes can provide both good fuel economy and very low could simultaneously reduce both NOx and soot emission to a very
emissions of NOx and PM, but the auto-ignition timing is very hard to low level. Soloiu et al. [66,67] investigated the effects of port fuel
control and the operating range is limited [41]. To control the igni- injection of n-butanol and direct-injection of biodiesel on com-
tion timing and extend the operating range, many methods have bustion and emissions at idling and low loads (<5 bar IMEP (indi-
been proposed, including advanced injection strategies, intake cated mean effective pressures)). They found that soot and NOx
temperature control, higher boost pressure, variable valve actuation emissions reduced by ~90% and ~50%, respectively, and clean idling
and varying fuel properties [42e44]. Among these, fuel property is a technology could be developed based on this dual-fuel system. In
quite important control parameter to these advanced combustion the current study, the effects of different control parameters such as
modes. Many fuels have been used to control the auto-ignition n-butanol premixed ratios, injection timings, and EGR rates on
timing and extend the load range in advanced combustion modes, combustion, emissions and performance were investigated on a
including diesel [42], gasoline [43], dimethyl ether [44], biodiesel dual-fuel system with port-injection of n-butanol and direct-
[5], ethanol [45], n-butanol [27], 2,5-dimethylfuran [46], etc. injection of diesel fuel. Meanwhile, a reduced chemical kinetic
However, in the view of ignition control and load extension, a model of n-butanol/biodiesel dual-fuel was coupled into the
high cetane number fuel is suitable for low loads and cold start due computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model to reveal the mecha-
to its easier auto-ignition ability, while a high octane number fuel is nism of combustion and emissions.
preferable for high loads due to its anti-knock ability [47].
Furthermore, the optimum octane number which can achieve the 2. Experimental setup and methods
highest thermal efficiency needs to be varied as the engine load
changes [47]. To achieve the above targets, an effective method is A six-cylinder diesel engine was modified to operate in one
the use of a dual-fuel injection system. In the dual-fuel system, two cylinder only. This arrangement gave a robust and inexpensive
selected fuels have the opposite auto-ignition characteristics. For single-cylinder engine, but at the cost of the reliability of the brake
example, a high cetane number fuel is used to improve auto- specific results. With a pressure transducer, the gross indicated
ignition characteristics, while a high octane number fuel is used mean effective pressure during the compression and expansion
to suppress auto-ignition. Then, the needed fuel properties can be strokes only was calculated, which means that the effect of super-
achieved by changing the ratio of two fuels according to the charging on the gas exchange process was absent. The detailed
different engine loads. Some previous studies have shown that the specifications are shown in Table 1. Fig. 1 illustrates the experi-
HCCI combustion process can be flexibly controlled and the oper- mental setup. The intake air was provided by the external
ating range can be extended by dual-fuel port-injection systems compressor and air-conditioning system. The intake temperature
[48e50]. The dual-fuel injection system can also be composed of was kept at 25
C and intake absolute pressure was kept at
direct-injection and port-injection. One fuel with high cetane 0.18 MPa. The rates of exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) were
number is directly injected into the cylinder, while the other liquid controlled by adjusting the EGR valve and EGR rates were changed
fuel with high octane number and low boiling point or a high oc- from 35% to 45%. Under steady operating conditions, the EGR rate
tane number gas fuel is injected into the intake port, which is was calculated by the concentrations of carbon dioxide in intake
named as reactivity controlled compression ignition (RCCI) [51,52], and exhaust gas. The in-cylinder pressure was measured with a
premixed compression ignition (PCI) [53], or just called dual-fuel pressure transducer (Kistler 6125B). A charge amplifier (Kistler
combustion system [54,55]. In addition, some studies have 5018 A1003) was connected with the pressure transducer to
 H. Liu et al. / Energy 74 (2014) 741e752 743

Table 1 Table 2
Engine specifications. Fuel properties of gasoline, diesel, n-butanol, and biodiesel [16,20].

Bore  stroke 105  125 mm Gasoline Diesel n-Butanol Biodiesel

Displacement 1081.8 mL
Molecular formula C4eC12 C12eC25 C4H9OH C12eC24
Rated engine speed 2500 r/min
Cetane number 0e10 40e55 25 47
Connecting road length 210 mm
Octane number 80e99 20e30 96 e
Number of valves 4
Oxygen content (wt. %) e e 21.6 10
Compression ratio 16:1
Density (g/mL) 0.72e0.78 0.82e0.86 0.81 0.885
Swirl ratio 1.6
Auto-ignition ~300 ~210 385 363
Combustion chamber Bowl in piston
temperature (
C)
Bowl volume 61.6 mL
Flash point (
C) at 45 to 38 65e88 35 166
Intake valve open timinga 343
CA ATDC
closed cup
Intake valve close timinga 133
CA BTDC
Lower heating value 42.7 42.5 33.1 37.5
Exhaust valve open timinga 125
CA ATDC
(MJ/kg)
Exhaust valve close timinga 343
CA BTDC
Boiling point (
C) 25e215 180e370 117.7 262e359
a
0
CA is taken to be top dead center compression. Stoichiometric ratio 14.7 14.3 11.21 12.5
Latent heating (kJ/kg) 380e500 270 582 200
at 25
C
convert charge to voltage. The cylinder pressure was recorded in Viscosity (Pa s) at 20
C 0.5e0.6 2.8e5.0 3.64 4.11
half crank-angle increments, triggered by an optical shaft encoder (at 40
C)
(Kistler 2614A4). At each operating point, 100 pressure cycles were
recorded.
The dual-fuel injection was composed of port-injection of n- .
butanol and direct-injection of soybean biodiesel. The fuel prop- soot ¼1 0:405  5:32  FSN  e0:3062FSN  0:001
erties are listed in Table 2. An electronic port fuel injector (Delphi)  . (1)
was installed in the intake port. An electronic controller was used  mair þ mfuel ð1:2929  Pi Þ
to control both injection timing and injected fuel mass flow. The
port-injection timing was maintained at intake valve close to pro- where FSN is the filter smoke number, mair and mfuel denote air and
vide the homogeneous charge. Soybean biodiesel was directly fuel mass flow (kg/h), respectively, and Pi denotes indicated power
injected into the cylinder by a common-rail injection system (kW).
(Bosch). The injection timing was varied to form the different In this study, all tests were conducted at the engine speed of
charge stratifications in the cylinder. The flow-rate for port- and 1500 r/min. The cooling water and lubricating oil temperature were
direct-injection fuel was measured by fuel consumption meters kept at 85 ± 2
C and 95 ± 2
C, respectively. Other uncertainties of
(AVL 733S) with gravity scale. The specifications of the port and the measurement instruments have been shown in Table 4. At each
common-rail injection system are listed in Table 3. tested point, the engine was run for several minutes until the
Gaseous emissions were measured by a gas analyzer (HORIBA controlled and measured parameters were stable. Then, the results
MEXA 7100DEGR), which measured total hydrocarbon by a method of combustion pressures, emissions and performance were recor-
of hydrogen flame ionization, CO and CO2 by non-dispersive ded for the off-line analysis.
infrared and NOx by a chemiluminescent analyzer. Soot was
measured by a filter paper smoke meter (AVL 415S). The indicated
specific dry soot (unit: g/kW h) was calculated through the 3. Description of chemical kinetics and computational fluid
following formula [68]: dynamics (CFD) model

The multi-dimensional CFD (KIVA-3vr2 code) was used to

investigate the combustion and emissions mechanisms. The
reduced chemical kinetic model of n-butanol/biodiesel dual-fuel
was coupled into the CFD model. In this reduced kinetic model,
the methyl decanoate (MD) was used as the biodiesel surrogate.
The previous study has showed that the MD was a good biodiesel
surrogate due to the similar characteristics in combustion and
emissions [69]. Then, the detailed MD kinetic model proposed by
Herbinet et al. [15] was reduced by the method of direct reaction
graph, path flux analysis and sensitivity analysis. A skeletal mech-
anism including 116 species and 517 reactions was achieved and the
detailed reduced process and validation can be found in Ref. [69].

Table 3
Specifications for port and common-rail injection system.

Port-injection Number of holes 4

Included spray angle 15

Steady flow-rate 700 mL/min
Injection pressure 0.3 MPa
Direct-injection Number of holes 8
Included spray angle 150

Hole diameter 0.15 mm
Fig. 1. Engine setup. 1, Compressor; 2, bypass valve; 3, air flow meter; 4, air tank; 5,
Steady flow-rate at 100 bar 500 mL/30 s
intake cooler; 6, EGR valve; 7, EGR cooler; 8, one-way valve; 9, port injector; 10, direct
Injection pressure 100 MPa
injector; 11, pressure transducer; 12, charge amplifier; 13, encoder; 14, backpressure
Electronic control unit EDC7 (BOSCH)
valve; 15, smoke meter; 16, exhaust analyzer.
744 H. Liu et al. / Energy 74 (2014) 741e752

Table 4
Uncertainties of the measurement instruments.

Instrument Uncertainties Resolution/

sensitivity

Gaseous analyzer (HORIBA MEXA ±0.5% full scale 1 ppm

7100DEGR)
Smoke meter (AVL 415S) 0.005 FSN þ 3% of 0.001 FSN
measured value
Inecylinder pressure (Kistler 6125B) <±1% 16 pC/bar
Air flow meter (vortex shedding flow <±1% 0.1 m3/h
meter)
Fuel flow meter (AVL 733S) <±1% 0.01 kg/h
Intake gas pressure (pressure ±1 kPa 0.1 kPa
transmitter)
Intake gas temperature (k-type ±1
C 0.1
C
thermocouple)

Fig. 2. The geometry of combustion chamber and computational mesh at 30
CA

The reduced kinetic mechanism for n-butanol and polycyclic aro- ATDC.
matic hydrocarbons (PAH) proposed by Wang et al. [34] was used in
the current study. Finally, the reduced dual-fuel kinetic mechanism
including 157 chemical species and 641 elementary reactions and based on Eq. (2) were used in this work. The overall energy injected
the detailed reduced process and validation can be found in per cycle was constant for different injection strategies and the
Ref. [70]. The turbulence model of RNG keε was used to simulate mass flow of total fuel was kept at 60 mg of equivalent biodiesel.
the turbulent characteristics in the cylinder. Spray droplet breakup The equivalent biodiesel means that the mass flow of n-butanol in
was modeled by KelvineHelmholtz and RayleigheTaylor model. the total fuel is converted to biodiesel mass flow according to the
For the emission's models, NOx emissions were simulated by a lower heating value. The total mass flow of equivalent biodiesel can
reduced NOx mechanism that was derived from the Gas Research be calculated using the following formula:
Institute NO mechanism [71], while soot emissions were simulated
LHVp
by a multi-step phenomenological soot model and the polycyclic Total mass flow ¼ m_ p þ m_ d (3)
aromatic hydrocarbons were used as the soot precursor [72]. LHVd
The geometry of combustion chamber and computational grids
used for the simulations are shown in Fig. 2. The fuel injector is The symbolic meaning and unit in Eq. (3) is the same as Eq. (2).
center-located and has eight holes. In order to improve the Accordingly, the direct-injection of biodiesel mass was 12 mg, 9 mg
computational efficiency, a sector of 45
was calculated from intake and 6 mg. Due to the same energy input in each cycle, the indicated
valve close to exhaust valve open. The cell numbers of the engine at mean effective pressures (IMEP) were roughly kept at 0.95 MPa
bottom dead center were about 9500. Fig. 3 shows the comparison (56% load of the original engine) for tested cases.
of cylinder pressure and heat release rate between experiment and Fig. 4 shows the effects of premixed ratios and injection timings
simulation at early-injection (30
CA ATDC) and late-injection on the combustion phase, maximum pressure rise rate (MPRR) and
(9
CA ATDC). It can be seen that the CFD simulations can repro- coefficient of variation (COV) in IMEP. The combustion phasing is
duce the experimental combustion pressures and heat release rates. represented as the 50% burn point (CA50). The location of CA50
greatly influences the performance, emissions, mechanical load of
diesel engines. In this study, the CA50 was controlled between 2
CA
4. Results and discussion and 10
CA after top dead center (ATDC) by varying injection tim-
ings. It can be seen that the CA50 is initially advanced, and then is
4.1. Effects of premixed ratios and injection timings on combustion delayed as the injection timing retards. A same CA50 can be ach-
characteristics ieved by the early or late-injection of biodiesel, so the injection
strategy can be divided into early-injection and late-injection ac-
In this paper, the premixed ratio (rp) was defined as the ratio of cording to the different injection timings. The discontinuous curves
cycle energy of premixed fuel to total energy which included pre- can be seen as the rp decreasing to 80e85%, which is due to the
mixed fuel and directly injected fuel. The rp can be calculated using limitation of MPRR. For example, as the injection timing is delayed
the following formula: from 43
CA to 35
CA under the rp of 80%, the MPRR increases
from 0.4 to 1.0 MPa/
CA. For this experimental engine, the limitation
Qp m_ p LHVp on the maximum allowable pressure rise rate is 1.0 MPa/
CA, beyond
rp ¼  100% ¼ (2)
Qt m_ p LHVp þ m_ d LHVd  100% which combustion tends to become “knocky”. Therefore, the higher-
pressure rise rate constrains the range of injection timings. How-
where m_ is the fuel mass flow-rate and the unit is mg/cycle, and ever, as the injection timing is later than 10
CA ATDC, the MPRR is
LHV represents the lower heating value of the fuel and the unit is J/ lower than the limitation of 1.0 MPa/
CA again and the MPRR re-
mg. The subscripts p and d denote premixed and directly injected duces with the delay of injection timing. The reduced pressure rise
fuel, respectively. The previous dual-fuel study has showed that rate should be attributed to the retard of CA50. With greater CA50
lower NOx and soot emissions were obtained at higher rp condition. retard, the rate of expansion due to piston motion increases, which
Meanwhile, a higher rp could also reduce the pressure rise rate, results in the lower combustion temperature and the slowed pres-
which is beneficial to extend the engine load [51]. Therefore, three sure rise rate. However, even though retarding CA50 is an effective
high premixed ratios, 80%, 85% and 90% were controlled, while the method to reduce pressure rise rates and extend operating loads, the
EGR rate was kept at 35% in this part. It should be noted that the retard of CA50 is limited by poor cycle-to-cycle stability. In this
corresponding premixed fuel mass ratios were 84%, 88% and 92% study, as the CA50 is delayed over 10
CA ATDC, the COV increases
due to the lower heating value of n-butanol, while the calculated rp and results in potentially unstable combustion. This result is
 H. Liu et al. / Energy 74 (2014) 741e752 745

Fig. 3. Comparison between the measured and computed cylinder pressure and heat release rate under early-injection (30
CA ATDC) and late-injection (9
CA ATDC). The
premixed ratio of n-butanol was 85% and the EGR rate was 35%.

consistent to the previous study which reported that the combus- is formed. After, n-butanol starts to be consumed at about 2
CA
tion phasing could not be retarded beyond 10e15
CA ATDC [41]. ATDC and the whole consumption of n-butanol is very fast
Therefore, to maintain the CA50 between 2
CA and 10
CA ATDC, the between 2
CA and 5
CA ATDC, which results in the intense heat
injection timings of biodiesel are limited by the COV and MPRR for release process as shown in Fig. 5a. In addition, it can also be seen
this dual-fuel combustion system. that with the retard of injection timing, the ignition timing ad-
Fig. 5 shows the effects of injection timings on the in-cylinder vances, the peak of in-cylinder pressure, PRR and mean gas tem-
pressure, apparent heat release rate (AHRR), pressure rise rate perature increase. As injection timing retards, more stratified
(PRR) and mean gas temperature. As to the early-injection, Fig. 5a mixture can be formed due to the shorter mixing time. The previ-
shows that the combustion process presents a single-stage high ous study has reported that the stratification increased the local
temperature heat release (HTHR). For early-injection cases, the equivalence ratio and formed more fuel-rich regions, which made
kinetic simulation in Fig. 6a shows that biodiesel was not consumed the auto-ignition much easier under the relative homogeneous lean
directly after injection. With the piston moving up, the in-cylinder conditions [73]. Therefore, the auto-ignition timing was advanced
temperature and pressure increases and biodiesel fuel starts to be with the increase of mixture stratification.
consumed and the H2O2 starts to form at about 17
CA ATDC. As to the late-injection, Fig. 5b shows that the combustion
Subsequently, the mole fraction of biodiesel continually reduces process presents a two-stage high temperature heat release (HTHR)
and is consumed completely at 2
CA ATDC. Meanwhile, the and the ignition timing is retarded with the delay of injection
obvious heat release can be seen in Fig. 5a and a large amount of OH timing. The peaks of in-cylinder pressure, PRR and mean gas tem-
perature decrease with the retard of injection timing. The kinetic
simulation in Fig. 6b shows that biodiesel was consumed directly
after injection due to the high pressure and temperature near the
top dead center under late-injection conditions. Subsequently, the
mole fraction of biodiesel reduces much quickly than that of early-
injection case and is consumed completely at 0
CA ATDC. Mean-
while, the peak of first-stage heat release as shown in Fig. 5b was
located at 0
CA ATDC and n-butanol just starts to be consumed at
top dead center. Therefore, the first-state stage HTHR mainly comes
from the combustion of biodiesel. After, the first-stage of HTHR
triggers the remainder mixture to burn and results in a higher
second stage of HTHR. Further, it can be noted that the first peak of
AHRR is nearly consistent with different injection timings, while
the second peak of AHRR decreases with the retard of injection
timing. As the biodiesel mass flow decreases, the first-state HTHR
reduces as shown in Fig. 7, which again demonstrates that the first-
stage HTHR should mainly come from the combustion of biodiesel.
In addition, compared to the early-injection, the pressure rise rates
of late-injection demonstrate two peaks. Furthermore, the second
peak of PRR is higher than that of first one, which indicates that the
MPRR of late-injection is caused by the fast heat release of pre-
mixed n-butanol fuel during the second stage HTHR. Based on the
above discussion, it can be found that the biodiesel is consumed
firstly for both early and late-injection. Then, n-butanol starts to
take part in the reaction as biodiesel is nearly fully consumed.
Furthermore, as the OH radical starts to be formed, the consumed
n-butanol is quite limited. Therefore the auto-ignition at the cur-
Fig. 4. The combustion phase, maximum pressure rise rate (MPRR), and coefficient of
rent condition was trigged by the reaction of biodiesel.
variation (COV) under different premixed ratios and injection timings, the EGR rate Fig. 7 shows the effects of premixed ratios on the in-cylinder
was kept at 35%. (a) Early-injection. (b) Late-injection. pressure, AHRR, PRR and mean gas temperature. The combustion
746 H. Liu et al. / Energy 74 (2014) 741e752

In-cylinder pressure (MPa)

In-cylinder pressure (MPa)

12 12

10 10

Injection timing/ rp Injection timing/ rp

8

Heat release rate J/ CA

Heat release rate J/ CA

8 o
o
-36 / 85% -11 / 85%
400

o
400

o
o
o
-32.5 / 85% 6 -9 / 85%
6 320 o 320
o
-30 / 85% -7 / 85%
240 240
4 4
160 160
80 80
2 2
0
Pressure rise rate (MPa/ CA)

Pressure rise rate (MPa/ CA)

o

0.8 0.8

o
0.4 0.4

0.0 0.0

Mean gas temperature (K)

Mean gas temperature (K)

-0.4 -0.4
1600 1600
1400 1400
1200 1200
1000 1000
800 800
-15 -10 -5 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 -15 -10 -5 0 5 10 15 20 25 30
o o
Crank Angle ( CA ATDC) Crank Angle ( CA ATDC)

(a) early-injection (b) late-injection

Fig. 5. The in-cylinder pressure, heat release rate, pressure rise rate, and mean gas temperature under different injection timings, the EGR rate was kept at 35%. (a) Early-injection
(30
CA ATDC). (b) Late-injection (9
CA ATDC).

phasing is retarded with the increase of rp due to the lower global The combustion efficiency is evaluated from the exhaust gas
fuel reactivity. Then, the retarded combustion phasing reduces the composition. The gross indicated thermal efficiency is evaluated by
level of constant-volume combustion, which results in the lower measuring the fuel flow and the indicated mean effective pressure
combustion temperature, pressure and AHRR under higher pre- during the compression and expansion strokes only. This means
mixed ratios conditions. The relatively slow heat release prolongs that the effect of supercharging caused by the external air
the combustion duration and decreases MPRR for higher rp case. To compressor on the gas exchange process is absent.
further reveal the effect of premixed ratios on the combustion It can be seen that the combustion efficiency and ITE increase
processes, Fig. 8 shows the in-cylinder pressure and AHRR under firstly and then decrease with the retard of injection timing. The
early-injection and late-injection conditions with the same CA50. It earlier or later injection timings result in the delay of CA50, the
shows that the combustion pressure and AHRR at the rp of 85% are lower combustion temperature and the lower degree of constant-
nearly consistent to those of 80% case. However, as the rp increases volume combustion, and thus the combustion efficiency and ITE
to 90%, the combustion characteristics are different to those of are reduced. Compared to the lower rp, the higher rp leads to more
lower premixed ratios. At the rp of 90%, the heat release rate is n-butanol entering into the crevices where the fuel cannot be fully
slowed, the peak value of AHRR is reduced and the combustion oxidized. Therefore, the combustion efficiency decreases with the
duration is prolonged. The higher premixed ratio results in more n- increase of rp. The ITE is comparable for both 80% and 85% of rp,
butanol in the cylinder, which reduces the fuel reactivity and re- while the ITE reduces by about 0.6% as increasing rp to 90%. In
action rate, leading to the longer combustion duration. addition, Fig. 9 also shows that the early-injection has a little higher
ITE compared to the late-injection.
4.2. Effects of premixed ratios and injection timings on combustion
efficiency and indicated thermal efficiency (ITE) 4.3. Effects of premixed ratios and injection timings on emissions

Fig. 9 shows the effects of premixed ratios and injection timings Fig. 10 shows the effects of premixed ratios and injection timings
on the combustion efficiency and ITE (indicated thermal efficiency). on the NOx, soot, HC and CO emissions. The NOx emissions increase

MD -2
MD
-2
10 NB 10 NB
OH OH
H2O2 H2O2
Mole fraction
Mole fraction

-3 -3
10 10

-4 -4
10 10

-30 -20 -10 0 o 10 20 30 -30 -20 -10 0 10 20 30

o
Crank Angle ( CA ATDC) Crank Angle ( CA ATDC)

(a) Early-injection (-30°CA ATDC) (b) Late-injection (-9°CA ATDC)

Fig. 6. The mole fractions of fuels, OH radical and H2O2 at different injection timings (MD, methyl decanoate; NB, n-butanol).
 H. Liu et al. / Energy 74 (2014) 741e752 747

97

Combustion efficiency (%)

12 Injection timing/rp
o
-7 / 80% 96
In-cylinder pressure (MPa)

10 o
-7 / 85% 95
o
-7 / 90%

Heat release rate J/ CA

8 94

o
400 93
6 320 rp=80%
92
240

Indicated thermal efficiency (%)

rp=85%
4 91 48.0
160 rp=90%
80 47.5
2
Pressure rise rate (MPa/ CA)

0
47.0
o

0.8
46.5
0.4
46.0
0.0
45.5

Mean gas temperature (K)

-0.4 45.0
1600 -45 -40 -35 -30 -25 -20 -15 -10 -5 0
Injection timing of biodiesel ( CA ATDC)
1400
1200 Fig. 9. The combustion efficiency and indicated thermal efficiency under different
premixed ratios and injection timings, the EGR rate was kept at 35%.
1000
800
-15 -10 -5 0 5 10 15 20 25 30
o retard of combustion phasing and the lower combustion temper-
Crank Angle ( CA ATDC)
ature. Compared to the late-injection, the early-injection can ach-
Fig. 7. The in-cylinder pressure, heat release rate, pressure rise rate, and mean gas ieve lower NOx emissions, which is due to the fact that the more
temperature under different premixed ratios, the EGR rate was kept at 35%. homogeneous mixture formed in early-injection results in less local
high temperature zones as shown in Fig. 11. Furthermore, the
simulation results in Fig. 11 also show that the regions of high NOx
with the retard of injection timing under early-injection conditions.
emissions are agreement with the high temperature zones.
Retarding injection results in the increase of charge stratification
Compared to early-injection, the late-injection has wider high
and the combustion temperature, thus the NOx emissions increase.
temperature zones in the cylinder and thus the higher NOx
However, the NOx emissions decrease with the delay of injection
emissions.
timing under late-injection conditions, which is attributed to the

2.0
rp=80%

NOx (g/kW h)
1.6
12 Injection timing / rp o rp=85%
CA50=8.5 CA 1.2
In-Cylinder Pressure (MPa)

o rp=90%
-43 / 80% 0.8
10 o
-36 / 85% 0.4
o
-23 / 90% 0.0
Heat release rate J/ CA

8 0.010
o

400 0.008
Soot (g/kW.h)

6 320 0.006
240 0.004
4
160
0.002
80
2 0.000 7
0
6
HC (g/kW.h)

12 Injection timing / rp o
CA50=9.0 CA 5
In-Cylinder Pressure (MPa)

o
-5 / 80% 4
10 o
-6 / 85%
o 3
-8 / 90%
Heat release rate J/ CA

8 15 2
o

400
CO (g/kW h)

6 320
12
240 9
4
160
6
80
2
0
3
-45 -40 -35 -30 -25 -20 -15 -10 -5 0
-15 -10 -5 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 Injection timing of biodiesel ( CA ATDC)
o
Crank Angle ( CA ATDC)
Fig. 10. The NOx, soot, HC and CO emissions under different premixed ratios and in-
Fig. 8. The in-cylinder pressure and heat release rate under early-injection and late- jection timings, the EGR rate was kept at 35%. The equivalence ratio was approximately
injection conditions with the same CA50, the EGR rate was kept at 35%. 0.478 at this case.
748 H. Liu et al. / Energy 74 (2014) 741e752

Fig. 11. The simulation results of NOx and temperature distribution in the cylinder at different injection timings of biodiesel.

The quite low soot emissions (<0.01 g/kW h) are achieved in this The HC and CO emissions decrease firstly and then increase with
study. This result can be attributed to the following reasons. On one the retard of injection timing. The earlier or later injection timings
hand, the dual-fuel combustion system offers more homogeneous result in the retard of CA50 and the lower degree of constant-
mixture, which leads to the decrease of the local high temperature volume combustion and thus the lower combustion temperature,
and high equivalence ratio zones. On the other hand, the oxygen in which is disadvantageous to the oxidation of HC and CO. Compared
n-butanol and biodiesel can suppress the soot formation. The soot to the lower rp, the higher rp leads to more n-butanol entering into
emissions of late-injection are comparable with those of early- the crevices where the fuel cannot be fully oxidized and thus has
injection cases, although the late-injection has stronger charge the higher HC and CO emissions. Fig. 13 shows the simulation re-
stratification. The simulation results of soot and equivalence ratio sults of CO distribution in the cylinder. Even though the time of CO
distribution and soot formation and oxidation processes are shown formation is different for early and late-injection, the main CO
in Fig. 12. It can be seen that the early-injection has lower soot emissions come from the near wall region due to the lower tem-
formation due to the more homogeneous distribution of equiva- perature in these regions. Furthermore, compared to early-
lence ratios. For the late-injection, it results in higher soot forma- injection, the late-injection has higher CO emissions. The distri-
tion due to the more local fuel-rich regions. However, the higher bution of biodiesel fuel concentrates on the center of combustion
combustion temperature increases the soot oxidation under late- chamber for late-injection case, which results in that the radicals
injection case, which makes the soot emissions under late- provided by biodiesel combustion cannot react with n-butanol
injection conditions quite low either. completely. Therefore, more n-butanol near wall regions cannot be

Fig. 12. The simulation results of soot and equivalence ratio distribution in the cylinder and the soot formation and oxidation process at different injection timings of biodiesel.
 H. Liu et al. / Energy 74 (2014) 741e752 749

42
36

Ignition delay ( CA)

30

o
24
18
12
6 EGR=35%
0 EGR=40% 24

Combustion duration ( CA)

EGR=45%
22

o
20
18
16
14
12
10
-45 -40 -35 -30 -25 -20 -15 -10 -5 0
Injection timing of biodiesel ( CA ATDC)

Fig. 14. The ignition delay and combustion duration under different EGR rates and
injection timings, the premixed ratio was kept at 85%.

emissions of the late-injection decrease with the increase of EGR

Fig. 13. The simulation results of CO distribution in the cylinder at different injection rates. At 45% EGR, the NOx emissions of late-injection are compa-
timings of biodiesel.
rable with the early-injection. The soot emissions decrease with the
increase of EGR rates. The decrease of soot emissions should be due
oxidized completely and leads to higher CO emissions at late- to the longer ignition delay under higher EGR rates as shown in
injection case. Fig. 14, which can improve the mixing process of biodiesel and
As a whole, the early-injection has more advantages than those reduce the over-rich zones. However, HC and CO emissions increase
of late-injection due to its lower NOx emissions and the comparable with the increase of EGR rates. The increasing EGR rates results in
or lower HC, CO and soot emissions. For the effects of premixed the decrease of combustion temperature, which is disadvantageous
ratios under early-injection conditions, the NOx, HC and CO emis- to the oxidation of HC and CO. The higher HC and CO emissions
sions increase with the increase of rp at a given CA50, while the soot result in the lower combustion efficiency under higher EGR rates as
emissions are comparable with different rp cases. Therefore, shown in Fig. 15.
considering the compromise between engine performance and To investigate the potential of high load extension, the injected
emissions, the early-injection has more advantages than the late- fuel mass flow was increased in this part until the combustion
injection, while the rp of 85% has better results compared to achieving to knocking limit. The injection timing was controlled at
other premixed ratios. late-injection due to it has larger anti-knocking based on previous
studies. Fig. 17 shows the maximum gross IMEP, CA50, soot and NOx
4.4. Effects of EGR on combustion, emissions and load extension

97
In this section, the premixed ratio was kept at 85% and the total
Combustion efficiency (%)

equivalent biodiesel mass was also kept at 60 mg per cycle. The EGR 96
rates were changed from 35% to 45%. The CA50 was also controlled 95
between 2
CA and 10
CA ATDC. Fig. 14 shows the ignition delay
and combustion duration at different EGR rates and injection tim- 94
ings. At early-injection conditions, different EGR rates have little 93
effect on ignition delay, while EGR rates have larger effects on
92 EGR=35%
ignition delay at late-injection conditions and higher EGR rates
Indicated thermal efficiency (%)

EGR=40%
result in the longer ignition delay. With the increase of EGR rates, 91 48.0
EGR=45%
the combustion reaction rate reduces and the combustion duration 47.5
increases. Fig. 15 shows the combustion efficiency and gross indi-
cated thermal efficiency (ITE). With the increase of EGR rates, the 47.0
combustion efficiency reduces. Increased EGR rates results in the 46.5
decrease of combustion temperature and thus partial fuel cannot be
46.0
oxidized completely. The ITE is comparable for both 35% and 40%
EGR, while the ITE reduces by 1e2% as increasing EGR to 45%. On 45.5
one hand, the decreased combustion efficiency results in the 45.0
decrease of ITE. On the other hand, the combustion duration is -45 -40 -35 -30 -25 -20 -15 -10 -5 0
prolonged under higher EGR rates as shown in Fig. 14, which re- Injection timing of biodiesel ( CA ATDC)
duces the degree of constant-volume combustion.
Fig. 16 shows the NOx, soot, HC, and CO emissions at different Fig. 15. The combustion efficiency and indicated thermal efficiency under different
EGR rates and injection timings. It can be seen that the NOx EGR rates and injection timings, the premixed ratio was kept at 85%.
750 H. Liu et al. / Energy 74 (2014) 741e752

2.0 of the original engine. However, the NOx and soot emissions are
EGR=35% relatively higher at this knocking limit point compared to those of

NOx (g/kW h)
EGR=40%
1.6
EGR=45% 1.2 lower fuel mass flow. If consider the emissions meanwhile, it can be
0.8 found that the mass flow at 90 mg has better results which the
0.4 IMEP can reach to 12.88 bar (76% load) and the soot and NOx
0.0 emission are 0.009 g/kW h and 0.88 g/kW h, respectively. At 35%
0.010
EGR, the largest achievable load is 12.19 bar (72% load) and the soot
0.008
Soot (g/kW.h)

and NOx emission is 0.016 g/kW h and 0.77 g/kW h, respectively.

0.006 Compared to the 35% EGR, the case at 40% EGR can endure a higher
0.004 fuel mass flow and keep the low soot emissions. This is due to the
0.002 higher EGR rates can prolong the ignition delay and improve the
0.000 14 mixing process. The NOx emissions are also affected by the com-
bustion phasing. It can be seen that the case at 35% EGR has lower
11 NOx emissions than those of 40% EGR due to the retarding of CA50

HC (g/kW.h)
8 at the same fuel mass flow.
Therefore, it can be concluded that the higher EGR rate has more
5 advantages on extending operating load and reducing NOx and soot
20 2 emissions, while the combustion efficiency and indicated thermal
efficiency decrease using higher EGR rate. Therefore, to obtain the
16
CO (g/kW h)

high efficiency and clean combustion process, the cooperated

12 control is necessary among direct-injection timing, premixed ratio
8 and EGR rate.

4 5. Conclusions
-45 -40 -35 -30 -25 -20 -15 -10 -5 0
Injection timing of biodiesel ( CA ATDC)
The detailed combustion characteristics and emissions of n-
Fig. 16. The NOx, soot, HC and CO emissions under different EGR rates and injection butanol/biodiesel dual-fuel injection system were investigated on a
timings; the premixed ratio was kept at 85%. The equivalence ratio was approximately diesel engine based on experiments and simulations. n-Butanol
0.478, 0.511, 0.551 at 35%, 40% and 45% EGR rates, respectively. was injected into the intake port to form premixed charge, while
soybean biodiesel was directly injected into the cylinder. The
emissions at different fuel mass flow. The maximum IMEP is chosen different premixed ratios (rp) and EGR rates were investigated. The
from the results of different CA50 and the matching CA50 is also injection timings were adjusted to keep the 50% burn point (CA50)
shown in Fig. 17. To keep the MPRR below the allowable limitation between 2
CA and 10
CA after top dead center for achieving stable
of 1.0 MPa/
CA, the CA50 achieving to the maximum IMEP retards operation. Several conclusions can be drawn from this study.
with the increase of the equivalent fuel mass flow. The largest
achievable load is 13.48 bar at 40% EGR, which is equal to 80% load 1. A same CA50 can be achieved by the early or late-injection of
biodiesel. For both early and late-injection, biodiesel is
consumed firstly and triggers the auto-ignition, then n-butanol
14 starts to take part in the reaction as biodiesel is nearly fully
EGR=35% 13 consumed. As to the early-injection, the combustion process
IMEP (bar)

EGR=40% 12 presents a single-stage high temperature heat release (HTHR).

11 With the retard of injection timing, the ignition timing ad-
10 vances, the peak of in-cylinder pressure and pressure rise rate
9 (PRR) increase. As to the late-injection, the combustion process
10 presents a two-stage HTHR and the first-state HTHR mainly
8 comes from the combustion of biodiesel fuel. With the retard of
CA50 ( CA)

6 injection timing, the ignition timing delays, the peak of in-

o

4 cylinder pressure and PRR decrease. Increasing the premixed

Knocking point ratios can retard the combustion phasing and reduce the cyl-
2
0 inder pressure and PRR.
0.03 2. The combustion efficiency and indicated thermal efficiency (ITE)
Soot (g/kW.h)

increase first and then decrease with the retard of injection

0.02
timing. The ITE is comparable for both 80% and 85% of rp, while
0.01 the ITE reduces by about 0.6% as increasing rp to 90%. The early-
injection has a little higher ITE compared to the late-injection.
0.00
2.5 3. Very low NOx and soot emissions can be achieved simulta-
2.0
NOx (g/kW h)

neously by the dual-fuel combustion system. The early-injection

1.5 has lower NOx emissions compared to the late-injection due to
1.0 the lower combustion temperature. The soot emissions are
0.5 comparable for both early- and late-injection. For early-
0.0 injection, more homogeneous charge results in lower soot for-
55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95 100
mation. For late-injection, more over-rich regions results in
Injection mass of total fuel (mg)
higher soot formation, but the higher combustion temperature
Fig. 17. Large load extension with higher fuel mass flow, the premixed ratio was fixed promotes the soot oxidation. The higher premixed ratio leads to
at 85%. the higher HC and CO emissions.
 H. Liu et al. / Energy 74 (2014) 741e752 751

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