Injection Strategy in Natural Gas-Diesel Dual-Fuel Premixed Charge Compression Ignition Combustion under Low Load Conditions

Dual-fuel premixed charge compression ignition (DF-PCCI) combustion has been proven to be a viable alternative to conventional diesel combustion in heavy-duty compression ignition engines due to its low nitrogen oxides (NOx) and particulate matter (PM) emissions. When natural gas (NG) is applied to a DF-PCCI engine, its low reactivity reduces the maximum pressure rise rate under high loads. However, the NG-diesel DF-PCCI engine suffers from low combustion efficiency under low loads. In this study, an injection strategy of fuel supply (NG and diesel) in a DF-PCCI engine was investigated in order to reduce both the fuel consumption and hydrocarbon (HC) and carbon monoxide (CO) emissions under low load conditions. A variation in the NG substitution and diesel start of energizing (SOE) was found to effectively control the formation of the fuel-air mixture. A double injection strategy of diesel was implemented to adjust the local reactivity of the mixture. Retardation of the diesel pilot SOE and a low fraction of the diesel pilot injection quantity were favorable for reducing the combustion loss. The introduction of exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) improved the fuel economy and reduced the NOx and PM emissions below Euro VI regulations by retarding the combustion phasing. The combination of an NG substitution of 40%, the double injection strategy of diesel, and a moderate EGR rate effectively improved the combustion efficiency and indicated efficiency, and reduced the HC and CO emissions under low load conditions. (C) 2019 THE AUTHORS. Published by Elsevier LTD on behalf of Chinese Academy of Engineering and Higher Education Press Limited Company. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).