Impact of low temperature combustion attaining strategies on diesel engine emissions for diesel and biodiesels: A review

Abstract

Simultaneous reduction of particulate matter (PM) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions from diesel exhaust is the key to current research activities. Although various technologies have been introduced to reduce emissions from diesel engines, the in-cylinder reduction techniques of PM and NOx like low temperature combustion (LTC) will continue to be an important field in research and development of modern diesel engines. Furthermore, increasing prices and question over the availability of diesel fuel derived from crude oil have introduced a growing interest. Hence it is most likely that future diesel engines will be operated on pure biodiesel and/or blends of biodiesel and crude oil-based diesel. Being a significant technology to reduce emissions, LTC deserves a critical analysis of emission characteristics for both diesel and biodiesel.This paper critically investigates both petroleum diesel and biodiesel emissions from the view point of LTC attaining strategies. Due to a number of differences of physical and chemical properties, petroleum diesel and biodiesel emission characteristics differ a bit under LTC strategies. LTC strategies decrease NOx and PM simultaneously but increase HC and CO emissions. Recent attempts to attain LTC by biodiesel have created a hope for reduced HC and CO emissions. Decreased performance issue during LTC is also being taken care of by latest ideas. However, this paper highlights the emissions separately and analyzes the effects of significant factors thoroughly under LTC regime.