Effects of Injection Changes on Efficiency and Emissions of a Diesel Engine Fueled by Direct Injection of Natural Gas

Measurements of performance and emissions of a Detroit Diesel 1-71 engine fueled with natural gas have been made using high-pressure direct-injection (HPDI). Natural gas is injected late in the compression cycle preceded by pilot injection of conventional liquid diesel fuel.

With 6 nozzle holes for both natural gas and diesel pilot there was instability in engine operation at low load and wide scatter in emission measurements. Guided by numerical simulation results it was found experimentally that data reproducibility and engine operating stability could both be much improved by using unequal jet numbers for injection of natural gas and pilot diesel.

In the range of 100 to 160 bar, combustion rate and NO_x emissions increased with gas injection pressure. Best thermal efficiency results were obtained for a gas pressure of 130 bar. By adjusting beginning of injection, NO_x reductions of up to 60 % from the diesel baseline could be obtained, while preserving conventional diesel efficiency. Over the BOI and load range of study, longer relative injection delay gives lower NO_x emissions and improved thermal efficiency.