Improvement of Performance and Exhaust Emissions in a Converted Dual-Fuel Natural Gas Engine

To improve performance and exhaust emissions of a converted dual-fuel natural-gas engine, the effects of basic parameters were experimentally investigated. The results show that diesel fuel operation is favorable at very low loads and that a small amount of pilot fuel with a moderate injection rate is effective for suppressing knock at high loads. As for the charge air throttling, there is an optimal combination of charge amount and equivalence ratio to obtain high thermal efficiency and reduced emissions. An optimal strategy for fueling is demonstrated based on the results. Adequate control of pilot fuel amount, injection timing and throttle opening area gives diesel-equivalent thermal efficiency with very low smoke emission over a wide range of loads.