Turbocharged Spark Ignition Engine Research Articles

Evaluation of the use of ammonia/hydrogen blends in turbocharged gas engines

The potential for ammonia/hydrogen (NH3/H2) blends as fuel in modern, turbocharged, gas engines is evaluated by comparing the combustion properties of these blends with those of methane. To ensure proper combustion phasing in existing spark-ignited (SI) engines, the laminar burning velocity (LBV) is used, while the ignition delay times (IDT) of the mixtures are compared to assess the risk of engine knock. The chemical mechanisms used for the computation of IDT and/or LBV of NH3/H2 mixtures are selected from 8 chemical mechanisms based on their ability to predict experimental data. The application of a turbocharger is shown to “boost” the temperature in the cylinder after compression to values that admit the use of NH3/H2 mixtures in natural-gas SI engines without increasing the compression ratio (CR). The analysis also identifies regions of temperature and H2 fraction that increase the risk of knock. Using the conditions in a practical turbocharged SI engine as an example, 40–50% H2 in NH3 yields combustion phasing equivalent to that obtained with methane, while avoiding the risk of knock. Analysis of the IDT for the conditions in a high-pressure direct-injection natural-gas engine also shows that the use of a turbocharger in compression-ignition (diesel-type) engines strongly reduces the demands on CR for achieving the conditions necessary for reliable ignition of NH3/H2 mixtures. Increasing the temperature by only a few tens of degrees above the conditions studied will yield an IDT for ∼20% H2 in NH3 that satisfies the ignitibility requirements for use in a turbocharged diesel engine.

Exploring the passive the pre-chamber ignition concept for spark-ignition engines fueled with natural gas under EGR-diluted conditions

The pre-chamber ignition system has demonstrated to be a suitable technology for increasing burning rates while reducing the cycle-to-cycle variability in spark-ignition engines. This concept offers an improvement in thermal efficiency through an increase in ignition energy and flame surface, allowing it to overcome knocking combustion issues at high engine load/speeds. This fact makes this ignition concept well compatible with the use of dilution strategies to control emissions or to further improve efficiency. However, despite promoting faster combustion, knocking combustion is still a major limitation at low rotational speeds and high engine loads (low-end torque). In this investigation, the performance of the passive pre-chamber concept is evaluated in a single-cylinder turbocharged spark-ignition engine fueled with compressed natural gas in EGR-diluted conditions. Several experiments and numerical simulations are combined to analyze the basis of the pre-chamber operation, while seeking to improve the global performance of the engine. To this end, a new pre-chamber geometry is proposed that is able to achieve better features in the ejected jets, to enhance the performance of the concept in the whole engine map.

Experimental study of spatial distribution of knock events in a turbocharged spark-ignition engine

An experimental investigation on the spatial distribution of knock events in a turbocharged spark-ignition engine for hybrid vehicle applications was conducted by using a multichannel fiber optic method. The knock positions were detected under different conditions to investigate the influence of crucial engine design and operating parameters on the knock characteristics including the spatial distribution in the combustion chamber and its relationship to knock intensity. The measured data reveal that the spatial distribution in the engine with a port fuel injection (PFI) system is mainly located on the exhaust side with insignificant influence of engine speed and load, which is attributed to the elevated thermal load around the exhaust valves. However, the knock events under gasoline direct-injection (DI) conditions were found to occur in more scattered locations with more occurring on the engine front-end and rear-end sides. These results indicate that the in-cylinder fuel-air mixing process may have a significant impact on the knock occurrence spots under DI conditions. The knock positions of the engine with different excessive air ratios, injection timings, and intake-valve timings were also detected, indicating that engine operating parameters have complex influences on the knock-region distribution in a DI engine. In addition, experiments were also carried out in two different cylinders to verify the cylinder-to-cylinder variations in knock regions which may be caused by the engine cooling design. Furthermore, no apparent correlations were observed between the knock position and the knock intensity by analysis of the experimental data.

Divided Exhaust Period Assessment for Fuel-Enrichment Reduction in Turbocharged Spark-Ignition Engines

<div>Turbocharged spark-ignition (SI) engines, owing to frequent engine knocking events, utilize retarded spark timing that causes combustion inefficiency, and high turbine inlet temperature (Trb-In T) levels. Fuel enrichment is implemented at high power levels to prevent excessive Trb-In T levels, resulting in an additional fueling penalty and higher CO emissions. In current times, fuel-enrichment reductions are of high strategic importance for engine manufacturers to meet the imminent emissions regulations. To that end, the authors investigated the divided exhaust period (DEP) concept in a 2.2 L turbocharged SI engine with a geometric compression ratio of 14 by decoupling blowdown (BD) and scavenge (SC) events during the exhaust process. Using a validated 1D engine model, the authors first analyzed the DEP concept in terms of pumping mean effective pressure (PMEP) and engine knocking (KI) reduction. Subsequently, the authors examined the effectiveness of the DEP concept using a “low-restriction exhaust flowpath” and varying late intake valve closing (LIVC) duration.</div> <div>First, using DEP, significant PMEP and KI reductions benefits were observed at high power engine conditions along with a large increase in Trb-In T from the early blowdown event. Subsequently, use of a low restriction exhaust flowpath and a shortened LIVC duration further elevated the DEP benefits, including Trb-In T reduction that facilitated enrichment reduction. At 4,000 RPM/20 bar BMEP, ~70% lower PMEP and a 2.2 point increase in ITEg were noted relative to the base engine. However, the 2,000 RPM peak torque engine condition was compromised using DEP, due to knock limitation and deteriorated stock turbocharger performance. Finally, DEP design integrated with an off-the-shelf (new) turbocharger system remedied the low-end torque challenges and demonstrated a notable enrichment reduction and thermal efficiency benefits at the full load engine curve including the 200 kW rated condition.</div>

The contribution of intermediate-temperature heat release to octane sensitivity

Carbon footprint reduction can be achieved by increasing the efficiency of combustion engines. For spark-ignition (SI) internal combustion engines (ICE), fuel octane sensitivity (OS)—defined as the difference between a fuel’s research octane number (RON) and motor octane number (MON)—can help identify ideal fuels for avoiding unwanted knocking conditions. Moreover, it will help to extend the range of operating conditions that can be used in next-generation high-efficiency engines. Presently, there is a controversy over whether high or low OS fuels are beneficial for increased efficiency of next-generation engines depending on application and technology, e.g. high OS fuels are advantageous for down-sized and turbocharged spark-ignition (SI) engines, whereas low OS fuels are superior in novel systems such as pre-chamber engines. This work aims to improve the understanding of the impact of OS on the combustion performance of engines by analyzing the contribution of intermediate-temperature heat release (ITHR) to OS. The heat release of several mixtures of toluene, iso-octane, and n-heptane with similar RON but varying OS were studied under homogeneous charge compression ignition (HCCI) conditions in a cooperative fuel research (CFR) engine. This method gives insight into the heat release of the auto-igniting fuel without the obfuscation of the spark-ignited flame. At RON conditions, ITHR was a marker of OS. Furthermore, a new parameter called ITHR sensitivity was defined as the difference between the ITHR measured at RON conditions and the ITHR measured at MON conditions. ITHR sensitivity decreased with increasing octane sensitivity. This shows that non-sensitive fuels experience a greater change in the amount of ITHR as compared to sensitive fuels when changing from MON conditions to RON conditions. Thus, for engines requiring high OS fuels, it is recommended that components with high ITHR sensitivity are used and vice-versa for engines requiring low OS fuels.

Effects of Pre-Turbocharger Turbine Water Injection on the Sustainable Performance of Spark Ignition Engine

Water injection strategy is considered a promising technique to improve the performance of boosted engine and reduce the NOx emission via the latent heat of water vaporization. Numerous research on water injection has been conducted on in-cylinder and intake port water injection. However, the water injection focusing on the spark ignition (SI) engine exhaust system is still lacking. This study proposed a pre-turbocharger turbine water injection (PTWI) concept to reduce the turbine inlet temperature. This was done so that the stoichiometric engine operation could be achieved at a medium–high load and engine speed without resorting to a fuel enrichment strategy to reduce the exhaust gas temperature. This study aims to investigate the effect of injecting water into the exhaust gas at the pre-turbine of a turbocharged spark ignition engine. This study experimented on a 1.3-L 4-cylinder turbocharged engine to collect engine data for computational fluid dynamics (CFD) baseline model validation. A one-dimensional engine model was then developed based on the 1.6-L 4-cylinder turbocharged engine experiment using AVL BOOST software. The CFD model was used to investigate the effects of water injection pressure, pipe diameter, and water injector location. The CFD results showed that a 50 mm connecting pipe with 4 bar of injection pressure gives the largest reduction in exhaust temperature. The CFD results were then applied to the one-dimensional engine model. The engine model simulation results showed that the fuel consumption could be reduced up to 13% at 4000 rpm during wide-open throttle and 75% engine load. The PTWI is a new approach, but this study has proved the potential of using water injection at the pre-turbine turbocharger to reduce the fuel consumption of a turbocharged SI engine.

Water injection control modelling by using model-based calibration

<p><span lang="EN-US">This study presents the development of water injection system for turbocharged spark ignition engine. The water injection control system is built for turbocharged spark ignition (SI) engine where water was injected at the intake port just before the throttle body. The data was collected from the simulation through the GT-Power software to determine the optimized injection output for the engine. Single-stage statistical engine responses and boundary models were established by using Model-Based Calibration Toolbox. Control system was built using Simulink and simulation tests were conducted based on the speed and throttle position as the variables. The highest value of brake torque achieved in the GT-Power simulation was taken as the base value to determine the injection amount. The mean value of the predicted injection was recorded at 12.29 g/s while the variance of the predicted injection to the optimized injection was below 1%. The control system was simulated with the set predicted injection and the standard deviation of the predicted injection was 1.18. The control system simulation recorded a low percentage of 0.04% variance to the optimized injection with the pulse width modulation signal. The control system is ideal to be constructed and tested on actual engine test bed.</span></p>

Optimization via genetic algorithm of a variable-valve-actuation spark-ignition engine based on the integration between 1D/3D simulation codes and optimizer

In this work, a turbocharged spark ignition engine equipped with a variable valve actuation device is investigated to numerically optimize the Brake specific fuel consumption (BSFC) at different loads and speeds by employing a genetic algorithm. The engine is preliminary analyzed at the test bench under both part and full load operations and different valve strategies. A system schematization is realized in a 1D code. The developed model is integrated with user-defined sub-models for the description of the in-cylinder processes, and then is validated over the measurements. A 3D CFD model of a single cylinder is developed in a commercial code and validated against experimental mean in-cylinder pressure and combustion indicators. The validated 1D engine model is coupled to an external optimizer, to identify the optimal calibration, performing multi-variable and multi-objective optimizations with the adoption of the MOGA genetic algorithm. The latter aims at minimizing the BSFC in a BMEP sweep, at fixed speed, while controlling the load through the Inlet Valve Closure (IVC) at fully opened throttle valve. The optimization results show that an advanced control of the intake valve strategy allows a maximum BSFC advantage of 26% at medium/high loads and medium speeds, if compared to the manufacturer-advised engine calibration. The outcomes of the optimization process are also confirmed by the 3D CFD tool. The latter not only contributes to the tuning of the 1D model, but it also provides an in-depth on detailed 3D aspects, such as turbulence and knock, that could not be assessed via a simplified 1D approach. The presented methodology represents a valuable tool to refine the virtual calibration of VVA engines and to support the design phase, thus remarkably reducing the experimental efforts. Moreover, it is a promising example of integration between 1D and 3D CFD tools.

Numerical analysis of the effects of port water injection in a downsized SI engine at partial and full load operation

The water injection (WI) technique represents a viable way to improve the performance of spark ignition (SI) engines. The main benefit of using this technique is to take advantage of the high heat of vaporization of water. If injected into the intake port, its vaporization cools the air–fuel mixture entering the engine. This could lead to greater spark advances, with optimal combustion phasing, and to a reduction of the combustion temperature with consequent lower heat losses. Moreover, due to the vaporization cooling effect, the heat capacity ratio of the in-cylinder gases increases. These three main factors allow improving the thermal efficiency of the engine. In this paper, the numerical simulation has been utilized in order to assess the influence of water injection on the performance of a “downsized” turbocharged spark-ignition engine. Calculations have been carried out using a 1-D model validated with respect to the experimental data of the analyzed engine. A knock model has been implemented in the 1-D model in order to identify the knock-limited parameters in engine optimization. Threshold values for knock index and exhaust turbine inlet temperature have been imposed as optimization constraints. The model has been subsequently modified by adding water injection into the intake ports. A simple thermodynamic approach has been utilized in order to obtain a first estimation of effects of water evaporation on the temperature of the fresh charge entering the cylinder and on that of the unburned mixture at the end of the compression stroke. The authors analyzed the effects of water injection at various operating points. An optimization procedure of the engine parameters in case of WI operation is presented and its effects on combustion characteristics and engine performance are described in detail. The engine control parameters have been optimized in order to obtain minimum specific fuel consumption. The most remarkable results show that, at high load operation, it is possible to increase both spark advance and air-to-fuel ratio with a consequent improvement in terms of both brake mean effective pressure (BMEP) and brake specific fuel consumption (BSFC). In particular, at full load, the BSFC registered a 12% mean improvement in the engine speed range, while BMEP mean increase was about 9%. The obtained results show water injection technique could be a useful tool in performance improving of turbocharged spark-ignition engines.

Compressor Surge Mitigation in Turbocharged Spark-Ignition Engines without an Anti-Surge Control System during Load-Decrease Operation

Automotive manufacturers are showing an increasing preference for hybrid powertrains based on advanced gasoline engines. The most extended solution to improve fuel economy in these engines consists in downsizing with direct injection, while turbocharging is required to compensate the consequent power loss. However, turbocharging is associated with different issues, such as compressor surge. It can appear during fast throttle closings (tip-outs), when the engine air flow is abruptly reduced. A usual strategy to manage this kind of maneuver is the installation of an anti-surge valve (ASV) that connects the compressor inlet and outlet when approaching the surge limit. In pursuit of cost reduction, the removal of the ASV system was assessed in this research. To this end, tip-outs without ASV were tested in a turbocharged gasoline engine equipped with a low-pressure EGR loop, and two strategies were analyzed: throttle closure optimization and reduction of the compressor inlet pressure through the intake flap (located upstream of the compressor to increase the EGR rate). The instantaneous compressor outlet pressure and its time derivative were used for surge detection. Experimental tip-outs without ASV revealed that applying a certain intake flap closing combined with an optimized throttle actuation led to a fast torque decrease, similar to that observed for the reference case with ASV, without compressor instabilities.

Control-oriented modeling, validation, and interaction analysis of turbocharged lean-burn natural gas variable speed engine

Accurate modeling and control of the gas exchange process in a modern turbocharged spark-ignited engine is critical for the control and analysis of different control strategies. This paper develops a simple physics-based, five-state engine model for a large four-stroke spark-ignited turbocharged engine fueled by natural gas that is used in variable speed applications. The control-oriented model is amenable for control algorithm development and includes the impacts of modulation to any combination of four actuators: throttle valve, bypass valve, fuel rate, and wastegate valve. The control problem requires tracking engine speed to provide propulsive power, differential pressure across the throttle valve to prevent compressor surge, air-to-fuel ratio to restrict engine emissions. Two validation strategies, open-loop and closed-loop, are used to validate the accuracy of both nonlinear and linear versions of the control-oriented model. The control models are able to capture the engine dynamics within 5%–10% error at most of the engine operating points. Finally, the relative gain array (RGA) is applied to the linearized engine model to understand the degree of interactions between plant inputs and outputs as a function of frequency for various operating points. Results of the RGA analysis show that the preferred input-output pairing changes depending on the linear plant model as well as frequency. Therefore, a coordinated controller is ideal to tackle the control problem in question.

Quantitative Analysis of the Influence Saliency of VVA and EGR on the Fuel Economy and Mixture Combustion Characteristics of a Turbocharged Spark Ignition Engine.

To meet the stringent emission regulations and fuel economy demands of the spark ignition (SI) engine, more and more new technologies such as turbocharging, variable valve actuation (VVA), and exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) are being developed. For the turbocharged SI engine, the high boost pressure can lead to higher laminar combustion velocity with higher maximum burned gas temperature, which induces more emissions; it also carries a risk of serious knocking, which can not only deteriorate the brake-specific fuel consumption (BSFC) but also destroy the engine. As is well known, the dilution mixture gas methods, which include VVA and EGR, are effective techniques to advance the combustion phase and suppress knocking in the SI turbocharged engines. The effects of VVA and EGR rates on the BSFC and combustion characteristics of an SI engine were analyzed through 100 groups of engine experiments, and the quantitative analysis of the influence saliency of VVA and EGR rates has been introduced. Then, the optimal level of each factor was obtained by a comprehensive balance method. The results indicated that the EGR rate has the most significant influence on the BSFC and CA50. At the same time, the BSFC was only 211.7 g/kWh, which has been improved significantly, and CA50 was 12.55° CA ATDC, which effectively enhances the knock resistance when applying the optimization parameters.

Effects of Lean Combustion on Bioethanol-Gasoline Blends using Turbocharged Spark Ignition Engine

Liquid alternative fuels have been utilised as engine fuel since the 19th century. For several alternative fuels, bioethanol is well-known as the most suited friendly, alternative-product based and renewable for use in spark-ignition (SI) engines. In addition, it is well known that bioethanol has higher evaporation of heat, research octane number and flammability of temperature; therefore, it has a greater influence on performance and lower emission. In this study, the effect of gasoline fuel RON95 (G) was blended into bioethanol fuel (E10, E20 and E30) to investigate the engine combustion, performance and emission. The engine used was 1.8L Mitsubishi, four-cylinder, four-stroke, multipoint port injection and turbocharger SI. The engine speed used was 1000-3000 rpm at 10-40% load with wide-open throttle (WOT). The results showed that bioethanol addition to gasoline increases the brake torque at a higher load. The mass fraction burn (MFB) and coefficient of variation (COV) blend fuel and main fuel are comparable to each other. The brake specific fuel consumption (BSFC) significantly increases when engine speed increases. The emission of nitrogen oxide (NOx), carbon monoxide (CO), and hydrocarbon (HC) emissions reduced dramatically compared to gasoline fuel. Indeed, bioethanol-gasoline fuel allows the engine utilised in low proportion to increase engine performance and lower engine emission.

Sensor System and Observer Algorithm Co-Design For Modern Internal Combustion Engine Air Management Based on H2 Optimization

This paper outlines a novel sensor selection and observer design algorithm for linear time-invariant systems with both process and measurement noise based on H2 optimization to optimize the tradeoff between the observer error and the number of required sensors. The optimization problem is relaxed to a sequence of convex optimization problems that minimize the cost function consisting of the H2 norm of the observer error and the weighted l1 norm of the observer gain. An LMI formulation allows for efficient solution via semi-definite programing. The approach is applied here, for the first time, to a turbo-charged spark-ignited engine using exhaust gas circulation to determine the optimal sensor sets for real-time intake manifold burnt gas mass fraction estimation. Simulation with the candidate estimator embedded in a high fidelity engine GT-Power model demonstrates that the optimal sensor sets selected using this algorithm have the best H2 estimation performance. Sensor redundancy is also analyzed based on the algorithm results. This algorithm is applicable for any type of modern internal combustion engines to reduce system design time and experimental efforts typically required for selecting optimal sensor sets.

Natural gas–ammonia dual-fuel combustion in spark-ignited engine with various air–fuel ratios and split ratios of ammonia under part load condition

Considering the revised standards pertaining to the regulations on the carbon dioxide emissions of marine engines by international maritime organizations, the use of low- or zero-carbon fuel is necessitated to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the engine-out mixture. In this study, a natural gas–ammonia dual-fuel spark-ignited engine is experimentally investigated, focusing on its feasibility for marine engine operation. An 11 L 6-cylinder turbocharged spark-ignited engine is used to operate a dual-fuel combustion with various air–fuel ratios and split ratios of ammonia. A relatively low speed (840 rpm) with low-load operation is selected for this study because of its similarity with the operating point of typical marine engines. In addition, simulations are conducted to obtain the laminar flame speed of each point corresponding to the real experimental operating points. It is observed that increasing the air–fuel ratio and split ratio of ammonia retarded the laminar flame speed.By substituting natural gas with ammonia (by more than 50% of the volume fraction), specific carbon dioxide emissions reduced by approximately 28%. It is discovered that the air–fuel ratio is limited to a lambda value of 1.5, resulting in the deterioration of combustion efficiency and emission characteristics. As for nitrogen oxide emissions, the fuel-bound emissions dominated the total emission level of nitrogen oxides because combustion phasing retarded owing to the slow flame speed and large amount of minimum ignition energy when the ammonia fraction increased. The slow laminar flame speed of ammonia substantially affected the initial flame propagation.

Feasibility Study on Model Predictive Control for an EGR-Air Path System in a Turbocharged SI Engine

Abstract The purpose of this study is to develop model predictive control (MPC), which addresses MIMO system optimization control problem under constrains while providing efficient engine calibration process, and to be applied to an intake system control in a turbocharged spark ignition engine. Extended Kalman filter, which was based on an air flow sensor and a pressure sensor, was employed to achieve robustness against actual variations and MPC plant model reduction. The control methodology was demonstrated in MILS through its application to torque and EGR cooperative control using throttle and EGR valves. The results show the control outputs are in good agreement with reference trajectories under various transient operations without large amount of calibration efforts associated with the target valve position.

Study on combustion irreversibility in turbocharged spark-ignition engines

The direct-injection (DI) and turbocharging strategies are recently adopted for spark-ignition (SI) engines in order to achieve better fuel economy and lower pollutant emissions. A comprehensive analysis is required in order to evaluate the effects of aforementioned strategies on in-cylinder combustion processes. The second law analysis is a proficient thermodynamic tool which is used for identifying irreversibilities and exploring the possibilities of thermal systems optimisation. The present work aims at carrying out an exergetic analysis of a downsized turbocharged DI SI engine. The engine is fuelled with E10 (gasoline with 10% of ethanol content) while experimental data is acquired for different engine operating conditions. The exergetic analysis identified the combustion irreversibilities. Moreover, a comparison between second law analyses of a previously analysed port fuel injection (PFI) naturally aspirated SI engine and turbocharged DI SI engine is also presented. The study concluded with the potential benefits and drawbacks of newly adopted strategies for SI engines.

Study on combustion irreversibility in turbocharged spark-ignition engines

The direct-injection (DI) and turbocharging strategies are recently adopted for spark-ignition (SI) engines in order to achieve better fuel economy and lower pollutant emissions. A comprehensive analysis is required in order to evaluate the effects of aforementioned strategies on in-cylinder combustion processes. The second law analysis is a proficient thermodynamic tool which is used for identifying irreversibilities and exploring the possibilities of thermal systems optimisation. The present work aims at carrying out an exergetic analysis of a downsized turbocharged DI SI engine. The engine is fuelled with E10 (gasoline with 10% of ethanol content) while experimental data is acquired for different engine operating conditions. The exergetic analysis identified the combustion irreversibilities. Moreover, a comparison between second law analyses of a previously analysed port fuel injection (PFI) naturally aspirated SI engine and turbocharged DI SI engine is also presented. The study concluded with the potential benefits and drawbacks of newly adopted strategies for SI engines.

Advantages of the unscavenged pre-chamber ignition system in turbocharged natural gas engines for automotive applications

In view of the increasing restrictions for CO2 mitigation, the evaluation of alternative fuels to ensure sustainability of transportation is becoming increasingly important. Since some of these alternatives can be refined from renewable sources, they are interesting from the perspective of both: the use of the current power-plants and the CO2 emission. In this sense, natural gas arises as an interesting propellant to substitute fossil fuels. Therefore, combining this fuel with specific combustion strategies can help to decrease the environmental footprint of transportation in the broadest sense. In this paper, an evaluation of the possible advantages of this combination has been conducted. The investigation has been carried out in a port fueled turbocharged spark-ignition engine, using compressed natural gas (CNG) and a passive pre-chamber ignition system. The effects of the CNG fuel properties on combustion have been analyzed and the global impact of using CNG for transportation has been appraised by means of the life cycle assessment. Results show that combustion of CNG refined by different renewable sources not only reduces the global CO2 emission but also can contribute to remove the existent pollution. In addition, they show an increase of the engine thermal efficiency when combining CNG and the pre-chamber ignition concept.

Impact of Exhaust Gas Recirculation on Gaseous Emissions of Turbocharged Spark-Ignition Engines

Exhaust gas recirculation is one of the technologies that can be used to improve the efficiency of spark-ignition engines. However, apart from fuel consumption reduction, this technology has a significant impact on exhaust gaseous emissions, inducing a significant reduction in nitrogen oxides and an increase in unburned hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide, which can affect operation of the aftertreatment system. In order to evaluate these effects, data extracted from design of experiments done on a multi-cylinder 1.3 L turbocharged spark-ignition engine with variable valve timing and low-pressure exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) are used. The test campaign covers the area of interest for the engine to be used in new-generation hybrid electric platforms. In general, external EGR provides an approximately linear decrease of nitrogen oxides and deterioration of unburned hydrocarbon emissions due to thermal and flame quenching effects. At low load, the impact on emissions is directly linked to actuation of the variable valve timing system due to the interaction of EGR with internal residuals. For the same external EGR rate, running with high valve overlap increases the amount of internal residuals trapped inside the cylinder, slowing down combustion and increasing Unburnt hydrocarbon (HC) emissions. However, low valve overlap (i.e., low internal residuals) operation implies a decrease in oxygen concentration in the exhaust line for the same air–fuel ratio inside the cylinders. At high load, interaction with the variable valve timing system is reduced, and general trends of HC increase and of oxygen and carbon monoxide decrease appear as EGR is introduced. Finally, a simple stoichiometric model evaluates the potential performance of a catalyst targeted for EGR operation. The results highlight that the decrease of nitrogen oxides and oxygen availability together with the increase of unburned hydrocarbons results in a huge reduction of the margin in oxygen availability to achieve a complete oxidation from a theoretical perspective. This implies the need to rely on the oxygen storage capability of the catalyst or the possibility to control at slightly lean conditions, taking advantage of the nitrogen oxide reduction at engine-out with EGR.