Modeling temperature distribution inside an emulsion fuel droplet under convective heating: A key to predicting microexplosion and puffing

© 2016 by Begell House, Inc. Microexplosion/puffing is rapid disintegration of a water-in-oil emulsion droplet caused by explosive boiling of embedded superheated water sub-droplets. To predict microexplosion/puffing, modeling the temperature distribution inside an emulsion droplet under convective heating is a prerequisite, since the temperature field determines the location of nucleation (vapor bubble initiation from superheated water). In the first part of the present study, convective heating of water-in-oil emulsion droplets under typical combustor conditions is investigated using high-fidelity simulation in order to accurately model inner-droplet temperature distribution. The shear force due to the ambient air flow induces internal circulation inside a droplet. It has been found that for droplets under investigation in the present study, the liquid Peclet number PeL is in a transitional regime of 100 < PeL < 500. The temperature field is therefore somewhat distorted by the velocity field, but the distortion is not strong enough to form Hill's vortex for the temperature field. In the second part of the present study, a novel approach is proposed to model the temperature field distortion by introducing angular dependency of the thermal conductivity and eccentricity of the temperature field. The model can reproduce the main features of the temperature field inside an emulsion droplet, and can be used to predict the nucleation location, which is a key initial condition of microexplosion/puffing

Investigation of boost pressure and spark timing on combustion and NO emissions under lean mixture operation in hydrogen engines

Hydrogen may become a replacement for liquid fossil fuels, contributing to greenhouse gas emissions reductions by improving the thermal efficiency of boosted lean burn spark ignition engines. Single-zone engine combustion models are simple, but can yield useful results as a step in the design process for developing alternative fuel systems. The single-zone thermodynamic model is advanced by implementing a laminar flame speed sub-model to investigate combustion, an extended Zeldovich mechanism for nitric oxide emissions, and incorporating the Livengood-Wu integral model for knock characteristics. The results were validated using published experiments giving satisfactory predictions between simulation and experiment for spark timing variation, manifold air pressure, and equivalence ratios. A detailed analysis of boosted lean burn strategies showed that nitric oxide emissions increased with boosted pressure, hence emissions can be controlled through optimizing the excess air ratio and the start of combustion. Further techniques to achieve high thermal efficiency and to prevent knock for boosted lean burn hydrogen SI engine are discussed

Non-thermal plasma system for marine diesel engine emissions control

Air pollutants generated by ships in both gaseous and particulate forms, have a long term effect on the quality of the environment and cause a significant exposure risk to people living in proximities of harbors or in neighboring coastal areas. It was recently estimated, that ships produce at least 15% of the world’s NOx (more than all of the world’s cars, buses and trucks combined), between 2.5 - 4% of greenhouse gases, 5% black carbon (BC), and between 3-7% of global SO2 output. Estimation of contribution of maritime shipping to global emissions of VOC and CO is not yet available. In order to reduce the environmental footprint of ships, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) recently issued the legislation of Marpol Annex VI guidelines which implies especially the introduction of, inter alia, stricter sulphur limits for marine fuel in ECAs under the revised MARPOL Annex VI, to 3.50% (from the current 4.50%), effective from 1 January 2012; then progressively to 0.50 %, effective from 1 January 2020, subject to a feasibility review to be completed no later than 2018. The limits applicable in Emission Control Zones (ECAs) for SOx and particulate matter were reduced to 1.00%, beginning on 1 July 2010 (from the original 1.50%); being further reduced to 0.10 %, effective from 1 January 2015. The Tier III controls apply only to the specified ships built from 2016 while operating in Emission Control Areas (ECA) established to limit NOx emissions, outside such areas the Tier II controls apply. The United States and Canada adopted national regulations enforcing IMO Tier III equivalent limits within the North American ECA effective 2016. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rule for Category III ships, however, references the international IMO standards. If the IMO emission standards are indeed delayed, the Tier III standards would be applicable from 2016 only for US flagged vessels. One of the proposed solutions towards marine diesel emission control is the non-thermal plasma process. We designed and built a non-thermal plasma reactor (NTPR) using a combination of Microwave (MW) and Electron Beam (EB) for treatment of marine diesel exhaust gas. A numerical model has been developed to better understand the marine exhaust gas/plasma kinetics. The reactor modelling and design can sustain 10kW of combined MW and EB power with a gas flow rate of 200l/s. The removal of NOx and SOx was continuously monitored using a portable dual Testo gas analyzer system while all other parameters (MW power, EB power, gas temperature/flow rate, etc.) were remotely recorded & stored through a Labview DAQ system. The reactor performance in NOx and SOx removal will be tested on a 200 kW two stroke marine engine. This study is a part of the DEECON (Innovative After-Treatment System for Marine Diesel Engine Emission Control) FP7 European project.The work was supported by the European Commission under DEECON FP7 European Project "Innovative After-Treatment System for Marine Diesel Engine Emission Control", contract No. 284745

Computational analysis of an HCCI engine fuelled with hydrogen/hydrogen peroxide blends

Copyright © 2022 The Authors. In the current work, Chemkin Pro's HCCI numerical model is used in order to explore the feasibility of using hydrogen in a dual fuel concept where hydrogen peroxide acts as ignition promoter. The analysis focuses on the engine performance characteristics, the combustion phasing and NOx emissions. It is shown that the use of hydrogen/hydrogen peroxide at extremely fuel lean conditions (φeff = 0.1 − 0.4) results in significantly better performance characteristics (up to 60% increase of IMEP and 80% decrease of NOx) compared to the case of a preheated hydrogen/air mixture that aims to simulate the use of a glow plug. It is also shown that the addition of H2O2 up to 10% (per fuel volume) increases significantly the IMEP, power, torque, thermal efficiency (reaching values more than 60%) while also decreasing remarkably NOx emissions which will not require any exhaust after-treatment, for all engine speeds. The results presented herein are novel and promising, yet further research is required to demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed technology.EPSRC Network-H2 through Flexible Fund grant scheme with Grant No. RF080413 (NH2-006)

Numerical analysis of zero-carbon HCCI engine fuelled with steam diluted H<inf>2</inf>/H<inf>2</inf>O<inf>2</inf> blends

Copyright © 2022 The Author(s). The addition of hydrogen peroxide and steam to a hydrogen-fuelled HCCI engine was investigated at various fuel lean conditions (ϕeff = 0.2–0.6) and compression ratios (15–20) using a 0-dimensional numerical model. The use of hydrogen peroxide as an ignition promoter demonstrated increased IMEP (16%–39%), thermal efficiency (up to 2%), and reduced NOx (50%–76%) when compared to the conventional method of intake charge heating. When hydrogen peroxide was used as an ignition promoter, a 15% addition of steam was sufficient to reduce NOx by 93%–97%, though this reduced IMEP and thermal efficiency slightly. When heat transfer was considered and steam addition was increased from 0%–10%, no increase in intake air heating was able to match the IMEP of 5% hydrogen peroxide addition without an increase in the equivalence ratio (up to 40%). The parametric space of hydrogen peroxide (0%–25%) and steam (0%–40%) addition was explored in view of engine performance metrics, showing the complete range of conditions possible through control of both inputs. A three-order reduction in NOx was possible through steam addition. An optimal balance of performance and emissions occurred at 5%–10% hydrogen peroxide and 10%–15% steam addition. In a study of compression ratio, very little hydrogen peroxide addition (<5%) was required to achieve 98% of the maximum efficiency at higher compression ratios (19–20), though at lower compression ratios (<17) impractical quantities of hydrogen peroxide were required. The 10% steam addition present at these conditions led to extremely low NOx levels for ϕeff of 0.3 and 0.4, though at ϕeff of 0.5 NOx levels would require some after-treatment. Maintaining constant a high or low load across steam additions was possible through reasonable adjustment of hydrogen peroxide addition.The work of EAT was supported by the EPSRC Network-H2 through Flexible Fund grant scheme with Grant No. RF080413 (NH2-006). OF received financial support from Edinburgh Napier University through the Starter Grant scheme (N452-000)