Combustion Characteristics and Emissions of Biodiesel/Natural Gas Dual Fuel Engine

Strict emission regulations together with reducing fossil fuels resources lead to more attention on new combustion strategies and alternative fuels such as biodiesel which is renewable, environmentally friendly and more cost-effective than other fuels. In this study, CONVERGE CFD software coupling with chemical kinetics mechanism is used to numerically investigation of natural gas (NG)/biodiesel dual fuel engine. The discussed biodiesel consists of 25% methyl decanoate (MD), 25% methyl-9-decanoate (MD9D) and 50% diesel. A comparative study of NG/diesel and NG/biodiesel fueled cases is performed to highlight the combustion characteristics of biodiesel. For all simulated cases, it is supposed that 5% of energy is supplied by high reactive fuel (i.e., Diesel or Biodiesel) and 95% is coming with low reactive fuel (i.e., Natural Gas). Results revealed that in full load condition, using biodiesel/NG led to 86% lower carbon monoxide (CO) and 91% unburned hydrocarbons (UHC). On the other hand, peak pressure and maximum in-cylinder temperature increased 5% and 83 K, respectively which led to 0.6% efficiency improvement. according to the results of different injection timing, when it was advanced from -4 to -20 crank angle degree after top dead center (CAD ATDC) for biodiesel/NG and diesel/NG, the indicated mean effective pressure (IMEP) and gross thermal efficiency (GTE) reached at their peaks 18.3 bar and 48.2% at -12 CAD ATDC, 18.05 bar and 47.7% at -8 CAD ATDC respectively.