Effect of Diesel Injection Strategy and Ammonia Energy Fraction on Ammonia-Diesel Premixed-Charge Compression Ignition Combustion and Emissions

Abstract

The utilization of ammonia as a fuel is one of the effective measures to achieve decarbonization and carbon neutrality in internal combustion engines (ICEs). However, its slow laminar flame speed and high ignition energy limit the efficient application of ammonia-only in ICEs. In this study, based on a heavy-duty single-cylinder engine, the impact of ammonia energy fraction (AEF), start of diesel injection (SODI) timing, and diesel injection pressure (DIP) on combustion and emission characteristics of premixed-charge compression ignition mode under low load conditions was investigated. Combined with three-dimensional simulation, the mechanism of how AEF and diesel injection strategy regulation affected the in-cylinder equivalence ratio and reactivity distribution was analyzed. It was found that increasing the AEF and advancing the SODI timing can improve the homogeneity of mixture. However, the spatial distribution of the OH groups deteriorate continuously. Experimental results indicated that with the used of 50% AEF, 60 MPa DIP, and injecting diesel at −40°CA ATDC, a gross indicated thermal efficiency (ITEg) of 49.7% can be achieved. Compared to the diesel-only mode, the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduced by 44%. To further improve the combustion of ammonia/diesel PCCI mode, the DIP was increased to 100 MPa, which optimized the in-cylinder fuel–air mixing process, improving the homogeneity of the mixture and enhancing the reactivity distribution before the ignition, and enabling faster combustion. As a result, an increase in ITEg to 51.4% with using 100 MPa DIP was achieved, and reduced the GHG emissions by 51% compared to the diesel-only mode.