Chemical Modeling of Constant-Volume Combustion of the Mixture of Methane and Hydrogen Used in Spark Ignition Otto Cycles

Abstract

This paper develops a chemical model for a closed constant-volume combustion of a gaseous mixture of methane and hydrogen. Since the combustion is strongly dependent on temperature, pressure and fuel composition, these had chosen the actual corresponding thermodynamic systems in this kind of combustion, i.e., spark ignition (SI) reciprocating engines, to assess combustion parameters and flue gas composition. The actual cycles impose extra restrictive operational conditions through the engine’s-volumetric-compression ratio, the geometry of the combustion volume, the preparation method of the mixture of methane and hydrogen, (e.g., one fueling way of a homogeneous mixture obtained in a specific device or by two separate fueling ways for components), the cooling system and the delivered power. The chemical model avoided the unknown influences in order to accurately explain the influence of hydrogen upon constant-volume combustion and flue gas composition. The model adopted hypotheses allowing to generalize evaluated results, i.e., the isentropic compression and expansion processes, in closed constant-volume combustion caused by two successive steps that obey the energy and mass conservation laws, and the flue gas exhaust, which is also described by two steps, i.e., isentropic expansion through the flow section of exhaust valves followed by a constant pressure stagnation (this process, in fact, corresponds to a direct throttling process). The chemical model assumed the homogeneous mixtures of gases with variable heat capacity functions of temperatures, the Mendeleev—Clapeyron ideal gas state equation, and the variable chemical equilibrium constants for the chosen chemical reactions. It was assumed that the flue gas chemistry prevails during isentropic expansion and during throttling of exhaust flue gas. The chemical model allowed for evaluation of flue gas composition and noxious emissions. The numerical results were compared with those recently reported in other parallel studies.