Exploration of the dual fuel combustion mode on a direct injection diesel engine powered with hydrogen as gaseous fuel in port injection and diesel-diethyl ether blend as liquid fuel

The present study explores the possibilities of the use of diesel-diethyl ether (DDEE) blends as pilot fuel, and hydrogen (H2) as inducted gaseous fuel in a diesel engine operated on dual fuel mode (DFM). DEE was added to diesel in ratios of 5-25% in increasing steps of 5%, to prepare the DDEE5, DDEE10, DDEE15, DDEE20, and DDEE25 blends that were used as pilot fuel. In this current study, for hydrogen gas generation, a hydrogen production kit was fabricated which was powered by solar energy. The hydrogen gas was produced from the electrolysis of water-KOH solution. During the experiment, hydrogen was inducted through the engine intake port employing an electronic gas injector. The quantity of hydrogen injection was set constant of 0.2 lpm for all the test cases. DDEE-hydrogen (DDEE+H2) blends accomplished overall good results compared to diesel. DDEE20+H2 furnished optimal results compared to diesel and other DDEE+H2 blends. Peak cylinder pressure for DDEE20+H2 was 66.91 bar at 5.2oCA aTDC, and the maximum HRR was 32.75 J/ deg.CA. Compared to diesel, the BTE of engine for DDEE20+H2 was augmented by about 0.6% and the BSFC was diminished by about 3.7%, at maximum load conditions. A decline in CO and HC emissions of 29.6%, and 35% were observed for DDEE20+H2 at maximum load condition, but the NO and CO2 emanation was observed to be higher by around 29.4%, and 17.4% in comparison to diesel respectively.(c) 2023 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.