Post Injection Strategy for the Reduction of the Peak Pressure Rise Rate of Neat N-Butanol Combustion

Abstract

Enhanced premixed combustion of neat butanol in a compression ignition engine can have challenges with regards to the peak pressure rise rate and the peak in-cylinder pressure. It was proposed to utilize a butanol post injection to reduce the peak pressure rise rate and the peak in-cylinder pressure while maintaining a constant engine load. Post injection timing and duration sweeps were carried out with neat n-butanol in a compression ignition engine. The post injection timing sweep results indicated that the use of an early butanol post injection reduced the peak pressure rise rate and the peak in-cylinder pressure and it was observed that there was an optimal post injection timing range for the maximum reduction of these parameters. The results also showed that an early post injection of butanol increased the nitrogen oxide emissions and an FTIR analysis revealed that late post injections increased the emissions of unburned butanol. The post injection duration sweep indicated that the peak pressure rise rate was significantly reduced by increasing the post injection duration at constant load conditions. There was also a reduction in the peak in-cylinder pressure. Measurements with a hydrogen mass spectrometer showed that there was an increased presence of hydrogen in the exhaust gas when the post injection duration was increased but the total yield of hydrogen was relatively low. It was observed that the coefficient of variation for the indicated mean effective pressure was significantly increased and that the indicated thermal efficiency was reduced when the post injection duration was increased. The results also showed that there were increased nitrogen oxide, carbon monoxide, and total hydrocarbon emissions for larger post injections. Although the use of a post injection resulted in emission and thermal efficiency penalties at medium load conditions, the results demonstrated that the post injection strategy successfully reduced the peak pressure rise rate and this characteristic can be potentially useful for higher load applications where the peak pressure rise rate is of greater concern.