Journal of Cleaner Production 271 (2020) 122450

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Journal of Cleaner Production

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jclepro

Experimental investigation of compressed natural gas using in an

indirect injection diesel engine at different conditions
Yoones Bayat , Mohsen Ghazikhani *
Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Azadi Square, 9177948974, Mashhad, Iran

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Because of deficiency of fossil fuels and stringent emission legislations of environmental pollutants,
Received 2 November 2019 many researches have been done on the sustainable fuel resources. Natural gas ranks as one of the most
Received in revised form popular alternative fuels for public transportation due to its lower impact on human health and air
14 May 2020
quality, low cost, and appropriate availability. The novelty of this experimental work is replacing different
Accepted 20 May 2020
mass fractions of diesel fuel with natural gas in an indirect injection diesel engine and evaluating its
Available online 24 May 2020
effect on the emissions of soot and nitrogen oxides, and brake specific fuel consumption in the presence
Handling editor: Giorgio Besagni of cold exhaust gas recirculation. The test bed is provided in the internal combustion engine laboratory of
the Ferdowsi University of Mashhad by modifications on a naturally aspirated indirect injection diesel
Keywords: engine. Experiments were done at different equivalence ratios with 1200, 2000, and 3000 rpm and at 25,
Indirect injection diesel engine 50, and 75% of the full load in each speed. Replacing 40% mass fraction of input diesel fuel by adding
Natural gas natural gas resulted in a maximum 74% reduction of soot; the reason is a decrease in carbon to hydrogen
Brake specific fuel consumption ratio in the mixture. Also adding 40% natural gas made a maximum 54% reduction in nitrogen oxides
Nitrogen oxides
mainly because of more homogeneity in the fuel mixture which reduces hot spots in the combustion
Soot
chamber, and lower nitrogen content in the fuel. Moreover, maximum decrease in brake specific fuel
consumption was 15%, due to increase in power output meanwhile lubricated engine friction remains
unchanged in each speed. These research engine improvements in average are 62% for NOx and 35% for
soot emission indicating acceptable decrease in exhaust emissions in comparison with allowable
decrease in Euro emission standards.
© 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction thermal efficiencies (Ravichandra et al., 2019; Roy et al., 2014). (see
Fig. 1)
Since the first oil embargo in 1973 done by Organization of Air pollution is a major problem of recent decades, which has a
Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and the second oil-shock in serious toxicological impact on human health and the environment
1979 (Srinivasnaik et al., 2015) to nowadays, increasingly fossil fuel (Ghorani-Azam et al., 2016). Two of the most air quality harmful
consumption has caused a threaten to energy security (Jiaqiang factors are nitrogen oxides (NOx) and soot. Temperatures above
et al., 2017). The fuel consumption of transportation in 2019 ac- 1600
C in the cylinders cause the nitrogen to react with oxygen
counts for 20% of the world’s energy consumption (Huaqiang et al., and create NOx emissions. So, the major influences of the NOx
2020). The lack of fossil fuels and also air pollution due to com- formation are the high temperature, concentration of oxygen in the
bustion emissions has led to stringent emission legislations for intake air (Jiaqiang et al., 2017; Resitoglu et al., 2015), residence
responsibilities of environmental obligations and these factors have time for the reaction to take place, the equivalence ratio (Jiaqiang
been changed fundamentally the automotive industry, as one et al., 2017), and nitrogen content of diesel fuel. Most particulate
symbol of industrial society. Increased demands of downsized matters (PM)) are resulted from incomplete combustion of the
turbocharged engines with feasible alternative fuels and better hydrocarbons in the fuel and lube oil. More than 50% of the total PM
emissions are soot that is seen as black smoke (Resitoglu et al.,
2015).
* Corresponding author.
Industrialization and economic growth have led to more fossil
E-mail addresses: Yoones.Bayat@mail.um.ac.ir (Y. Bayat), Ghazikhani@um.ac.ir fuel consumption and atmospheric pollutants so that the total NOx
(M. Ghazikhani).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.122450
0959-6526/© 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
2 Y. Bayat, M. Ghazikhani / Journal of Cleaner Production 271 (2020) 122450

Nomenclature C2H6 ethane

C3H8 Propane
NOx* dimensionless nitrogen oxide
Abbreviations Soot* dimensionless soot
NOx nitrogen oxide O2 oxygen
NO nitric monoxide H2O water
NO2 nitrogen dioxide LHV low heat value
N2 nitrogen CH4 methane
CO carbon monoxide
CO2 carbon dioxide Subscripts
OPEC organization of petroleum exporting countries mix mixture
PM particulate matter m measured
DI direct injection d dry
IDI indirect injection v vapour
EGR exhaust gas recirculation a air
BSFC brake specific fuel consumption f fuel
CH4 methane ac actual
NG natural gas s stoichiometric
CNG compressed natural gas die diesel
UHC unburned hydrocarbon
m mass Greeks
T temperature d uncertainty
P pressure w arbitrary parameter
C Carbon

worldwide. Diesel engine exhaust emissions may be under control

in some ways: internal purification technology or engine modifi-
cation; external purification technology or exhaust gas after-
treatment devices (Hossain et al., 2020; Yuanwang et al., 2019);
and by using alternatives to diesel fuel (Hossain et al., 2020). For
controlling the diesel emissions, engine manufacturers and re-
searchers are more interested in alternative fuels with simple en-
gine modifications by minimum cost and complexity like Exhaust
Gas recirculation (EGR).
EGR as a NOx emissions reduction technique decreases the
flame temperature by lowering oxygen concentration in the com-
bustion chamber; therefore, it reduces the emissions of NOx (M.
Ghazikhani, Feyz and Joharchi, 2010; Jiaqiang et al., 2017) and the
emissions of soot increases when EGR is used (Qi et al., 2011; Zheng
et al., 2004). According to research results of Nidal (2003), EGR
cooling decreases NOx and CO2 but increases CO and exhaust soot.
Zamboni and Capobianco (2012) reported a reduction in specific
fuel consumption for turbocharged diesel engines during high-
pressure EGR. Therefore, the use of exhaust gas recirculation in
addition to reducing nitrogen oxides may also reduce specific fuel
consumption.
Fig. 1. Test bed components. He et al., (2018) carried out series of experiments on the effects
of different alcohol contents and EGR rates on combustion char-
acteristics and PM emission. The results indicated that using diesel
emissions of electrical generation sector in 2012 have been fuel with higher alcohol content combined with EGR may be a
accounted for approximately 33% of total NOx production in China better choice for the diesel engines at high load condition.
(Wang et al., 2019). One of the alternative fuels for cleaner production in combus-
Diesel engines have higher durability, better thermal efficiency, tion processes is natural gas (NG). Using natural gas as a primary
and longer life compared to gasoline engines. Moreover, they create fuel will dominate both oil and coal consumption for the next de-
more torque at lower speeds and consume less fuel. Upgrading the cades and will be characterized by its lower environmental impact
diesel engines with advanced technologies significantly improves and cleaner combustion (less greenhouse gas) in comparison to
the performance and reduces the exhaust gas emissions of diesel other conventional fossil fuels, as well as its low cost and appro-
engines (Ravichandra et al., 2019). In 2018, the average number of priate availability (Dyr et al., 2019; Strantzali et al., 2019). Due to its
new diesel-numbered passenger cars in Europe reached about 36% lower carbon to hydrogen ratio (C/H) and also because of better
of all passenger cars (Tietge et al., 2019). That is the reason for lots physical and chemical properties, natural gas can be added to en-
of researches on these engines to improve efficiency and emissions. gines as an alternative fuel that can result in less soot production,
Exhaust emissions legislations are becoming increasingly strict especially at high and medium torques. Some of these properties of
 Y. Bayat, M. Ghazikhani / Journal of Cleaner Production 271 (2020) 122450 3

Fig. 2. Test bed components-a: CNG Tank, b: Air Oscillation Damper, c: Dynamometer.

natural gas are a wide range of flammability limits and high octane 2.1. Engine test equipment
number (Shu et al., 2019).
Compared with a pure diesel engine, natural gasediesel dual- The experiments are conducted in the author’s laboratory on a
fuel engine has three main advantages: first, the higher ignition Perkins model 4.108 naturally aspirated, four-cylinder, and IDI swirl
temperature is suited for engines with higher compression ratios. pre-chamber type diesel engine. Other specifications of engine are
Second, the two modes (pure diesel mode and dual-fuel mode) can listed in Table 1, and the engine is installed in the laboratory of
be switched easily during operation. Third, NOx, soot and CO2 internal combustion engine of Ferdowsi University of Mashhad. The
emissions will be reduced (Dong et al., 2017; Dyr et al., 2019; Huang dynamometer used in this experiment is a fluid friction type of
et al., 2019; Zhang et al., 2019). Heenan and Froude DPX 1 model with a capacity of 112 kW (150
Zhang et al. (2019) conducted an experimental work on hp) and a maximum speed of 7500 rpm.
replacing diesel fuel with natural gas in a naturally aspirated direct In addition to usual diesel refueling system, the engine uses a
injection (DI) diesel engine and concluded that, at 40% replacement 25 L CNG tank that adds natural gas into air manifold. Since the air
rate, NOx emissions go down by 6.8% and soot decreases by 92.9%. suction in the internal combustion engines is oscillatory and there
Mahla et al. (2018) investigated the influence of EGR on combus- is no uniform air flow at the engine inlet, an oscillation damper
tion, performance, and emissions characteristics of CNG-diesel/ system including an orifice and manometer is used to measure the
biodiesel fuelled DI diesel engine at different operating loads and air flow more accurately.
showed that using EGR in the dual fuel engine decreases NOx
emissions and the smoke opacity is lower when compared to the
conventional diesel engine throughout engine loading conditions, 2.2. Test method
with no significant negative impact on combustion and perfor-
mance characteristics. The present study has been performed at 1200, 2000, and
Nithyanandan et al. (2016) concluded that natural gas added to 3000 rpm with torques of 25, 50, and 75% of the maximum avail-
diesel engine can penetrate into diesel fuel and reduce the oxida- able torque at each speed and for different amounts of EGR and
tion reaction potential of soot. Lee & Kim, (2017) used diethyl ether natural gas addition. The numbers of experiments are 81 and in
fuel as an alternative fuel to replace conventional diesel fuel in a DI each speed, the engine was run at steady-state condition for 10 min
diesel engine and achieved fuel conversion efficiency similar to and data were measured three times and then averaged to test
pure diesel fuel. Furthermore, they showed that using a combina- repeatability and emit malfunctions.
tion of two fuels could help to reduce pollutants such as unburned The analyzer AVL-415 was used for measuring soot and gas
hydrocarbon (UHC), carbon monoxide (CO), and PM. analyzer Delta 1600-S for pollution. The precision and uncertainty
The attention of this experimental research was focused on
replacing 0e40% mass fraction of input diesel fuel by adding natural
Table 1
gas in a naturally aspirated, indirect injection (IDI) diesel engine. Specifications of diesel engine.
Besides the reduction of soot and nitrogen oxides emissions, brake
Model Natural Aspirated PERKINS 4.108
specific fuel consumption (bsfc) as an important disadvantage of IDI
Engine type 4 Stroke diesel engine
diesel engine is decreased by applying 0, 5, and 10% cold EGR at Number of cylinders 4
several equivalence ratios. The experiments were done at 1200, Injection type Indirect injection
2000, and 3000 rpm and 25, 50, and 75% of the maximum available Bore Diameter (mm) 79.8
torque in each speed. Stroke (mm) 88.9
Piston displacement (cc) 1760
Compression ratio 22:1
Maximum power (kW) 28
2. Experiment and method Maximum Torque (N.m) 89
Maximum speed (rpm) 4500
Fuel injection Pressure (bar) 200
In this section test equipment and method is described.
4 Y. Bayat, M. Ghazikhani / Journal of Cleaner Production 271 (2020) 122450

values of the measuring tools in this experiment are presented in

the uncertainty analysis section. m _ Gas hGas þ m
_ air hair þ m _ EGR hEGR ¼ m
_ mix hmix (5)

where Enthalpy changes are presented in Equation (6):

dh ¼ Cp dT (6)
2.3. The governing equations
and since the equivalence ratio of fuel to air in a diesel engine is
To calculate the EGR ratio in experiments, based on Fig. 3, the smaller than 1, the combustion products can be considered as ideal
formula below was applied (Hountalas et al., 2008): gas with variable heat capacity (Mohsen Ghazikhani et al., 2014):

_ EGR
m Cp ¼ 28:11 þ 0:1967  102 T þ 0:4802  105 T2  1:966
EGR Ratio ¼ (1)
_ mix
m
 109 T3
The mass of the exhaust mixture m_ mix is as follows: (7)

m _ air þ m
_ mix ¼ m _ EGR þ m
_ Gas (2) By replacing Equations (2), (6) and (7) in Equation (5) and
setting an initial guess for EGR mass, EGR temperature (TEGR) and
Equation (3) was used to determine the mass fraction of natural the final EGR mass (mEGR) can be calculated by several trial and
gas: error steps.
The fuel to air equivalence ratio is one of the main parameters
m_ Gas affecting pollutants and is defined as Equation (8):
CNG ratio ¼ (3)
_ Diesel þ m
m _ Gas  . 
_f m
m _a
The pressure, humidity, and temperature of the ambient air ∅ ¼  . ac: (8)
inducted into an engine, at a given engine speed affect the air mass _f m
m _a
flow rate and the power output. Correction factors were used to st:

adjust measured wide-open-throttle power to standard atmo- 

spheric conditions to provide a more accurate evaluation _f
m _ Die: þ m
¼m _ Gas  LHVGas= (9)
ac: LHV Die:
(B.Heywood, 1988).
Where the subscripts s and m denote values at the standard and where m _ f is equivalent mass flow rate of diesel and natural gas
measured conditions, respectively, the power correction factor CF is combination in g/s and LHV in kJ/kg.
given by Brake specific fuel consumption (bsfc) reflects the combustion

1=2 efficiency of an internal combustion engine and measures by
Ps;d Tm dividing the fuel mass flow rate to the engine output power
Cf ¼ (4)
Pm  Pv;m Ts (B.Heywood, 1988):
.
Typical standard ambient conditions used are shown in Table 2: _f
bsfc ¼ 3600  m (10)
Due to intermittent suction of the cylinders in internal com- Power
bustion engines, the inlet air flow is highly oscillatory, and close-
ness of the temperature sensor to the three-way mixing of air and where power is in kW and bsfc is in g/kWh.
gas and EGR may affect the measured EGR mass and temperature. In this study, for determining actual fuel to air ratio, the
Therefore, it is more accurate to measure EGR temperature theo- measured amounts of fuel and air are used during the experiments.
retically. According to the control volume of Fig. 3, the first law of Moreover, to determine stoichiometric fuel to air ratio, complete
thermodynamics is as follows: combustion equation is written for diesel with chemical formula
C12.3 H22.14 and natural gas with a composition of 98.5% methane,
1% ethane and 0.5% Propane fuel:

C12:3 H22:14 þ xð0:985CH4 þ 0:01C2 H 6 þ 0:005C3 H8 Þ

þ yð0:0205O2 þ 0:765N2 þ 0:03H2 OÞ / zCO2 þ wH2 O þ vN2
(11)

_ Gas =MGas
m
x¼ (12)
_ Die: =MDie:
m

22:14
y ¼ 12:3 þ
4
þ xð0:985 þ 0:02 þ 0:015 þ ð3:94 þ 0:06 þ 0:04Þ = 4Þ (13)

 .  MDie: þ xMGas
_f m
m _a ¼ (14)
st: y*4:87*Mair
After the experiments, the amounts of carbon monoxide, oxy-
gen, nitrogen oxides, unburned hydrocarbons, and soot emissions
and specific fuel consumption were extracted; finally, these values
Fig. 3. Control volume of mixing Tee-way. of pollutants were used to determine the combustion reaction.
 Y. Bayat, M. Ghazikhani / Journal of Cleaner Production 271 (2020) 122450 5

Table 2
Typical standard ambient condition (B.Heywood, 1988).

Dry air pressure Water vapour pressure Temperature

736.6 (mmHg) 9.65 (mmHg) 29.4 C

For better comparison of pollutants in the case of diesel/natural Table 4

gas and the case of pure diesel fuel; two dimensionless parameters, Molar fraction of four case experiments.

NOx* and soot* have been introduced. B 6.95 2.77 0 8.19

C 450.4 149.5 153.9 230.8
NOx ðCNG addingÞ D 0.069 0.025 0.024 0.03
NOx* ¼ (15) E 0.008 0.003 0.003 0.003
NOx ðno CNG addingÞ
F 0.47 0.263 0.079 0.444
G 18.39 14.46 11.91 19.74
soot ðCNG addingÞ H 0.047 0.008 0.003 0.023
soot* ¼ (16) I 0.006 0.066 0.011 0.008
soot ðno CNG addingÞ
J 344.3 114 118.1 176.1
K 38.1 21.1 15.6 34.3
L 59.4 7.4 14.3 12.4

2.4. Combustion equation of diesel fuel and natural gas with

exhaust gas recirculation
ratio, CNG percentage, NOx* and Soot*. The uncertainties related to
measuring instruments of the experimental setup are listed in
Combustion reaction of diesel fuel with chemical formula C12.3
Table 5.
H22.14 and natural gas fuel with a composition of 98.5% methane,
If R is a function of ‘n’ independent linear parameters as
1% ethane, and 0.5% Propane can be written as follows:
R ¼ R(v1, v2, v3, …., vn), the uncertainty of function R is calculated
C12:3 H22:14 þ bð0:985CH4 þ 0:01C2 H þ 0:005C3 H8 Þ as (Kline and Mc Clintock, 1953; Moffat, 1988; Sardarabadi et al.,
6
2017):
þ cð0:0205O2 þ 0:765N2 þ 0:03H2 OÞ / dNO þ eNO2 (17)
sffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
þ fCO þ gCO2 þ hCH4 þ iC þ jN2 þ kH2 O þ lO2
2
2
2
vR vR vR
dR ¼ d v1 þ dv2 þ … þ dvn (18)
The gas analyzer measures the total amount of NOx including vv1 vv2 vvn
NO and NO2. In diesel engines, the amount of NO2 pollutants
comprises between 5 and 15 percent of total amount of NOx where dR is the uncertainty of function R, dvi is the uncertainty of
(Resitoglu et al., 2015). Air entering into cylinder is pure air at 60% vR is the partial derivative of R with respect to
parameter vi, and vv i
humidity with a mixture of 20.5% oxygen, 76.5% nitrogen, and 3% parameter vi. If function R is defined as equation (19) and the pa-
water. For each of the 81 experimental cases, chemical equilibrium rameters v1 ; v2 ; …::; vm ; vmþ1 ; …:; vn are measured with the inde-
was carried out by molar fractions. Tables 3 and 4 show the data pendent uncertainties dv1 ; dv2 ; dvm ; dvmþ1 ; …::; dvn ; then the
and molar fractions of just four cases of overall experiments. fractional uncertainty of R is written as equation (20) (Sardarabadi
et al., 2017):
3. Uncertainty analysis
v1  v2  …::  vm
R¼ (19)
An uncertainty analysis is done to determine Power, bsfc, EGR vmþ1  …::  vn

sffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi

2
2

2

dR dv1 dv2 dvm 2 dv dvn 2
¼ þ þ…þ þ  mþ1 þ…þ  (20)
R v1 v2 vm vmþ1 vn

Table 3
According to equation (Eq. (17)); fractional uncertainties of Po-
Data of four case experiments.
wer, bsfc, EGR ratio, CNG percentage, NOx* and Soot* can be
Speed (rpm) 1200 1200 2000 3000 calculated. As an example, Power is a function of Torque and Speed;
Torque (N.m) 21 63 45 59
therefore, the maximum fractional uncertainty of Power can be
Load (%) 25 75 50 75
EGR (%) 0 10 10 10
obtained by considering the maximum uncertainties for each
Natural gas (%) 40 20 0 40 parameter based on the following equation:
Power (kW) 2.93 8.67 10.42 20.3
Diesel fuel Cons. (gr/s) 0.168 0.432 0.777 0.712 sffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
NG fuel Cons. (gr/s) 0.112 0.115 0 0.559
 2
2
dT dðPowerÞ dN
O2 (%vol) 13.9 5.1 9.6 5.5 Power ¼ f ð T; NÞ ¼ ¼ > ¼ þ ¼ ±0:01
CO (%vol) 0.11 0.18 0.05 0.2 Power T N
CO2 (%vol) 4.3 9.9 8.02 8.8
(21)
NOx (ppm) 180 187 180 150
HC (ppm) 110 58 19 104 This means that the maximum uncertainty of the power in the
soot (mg/m3) 15 455 72 36
experiments is about 1.0%. By Using a similar method, the
6 Y. Bayat, M. Ghazikhani / Journal of Cleaner Production 271 (2020) 122450

Table 5
Measuring equipment and their uncertainties.

Parameters Unit Range Accuracy Tools Uncertainty Maximum uncertainty (in experiments)

Pressure gauge mmHg 0e1000 ±5 0.577 5.77

Thermocouple C 0e500 ±0.01 0.003 3.48
humidity % 0e100 ±1 0.289 1.45
Torque N.m 0e80 ±1 0.289 0.58
Speed meter rpm 0e5000 ±0.1 0.029 14.53
Soot meter mg/m3 0e10000 ±0.5 0.144 9.28
Rotameter l/min 0e50 ±1 0.289 0.58
Caliper mm 0e300 ±0.01 0.003 4.41
digital stopwatch s e ±0.01 0.006 0.03
CO %vol 0e10 ±0.01 0.003 0.003
CO2 %vol 0e20 ±0.1 0.029 0.088
O2 %vol 0e21 ±0.01 0.003 0.058
NOx ppm 0e5000 ±1 0.289 4.410
HC ppm 0e5000 ±1 0.289 3.712

Table 6
Fractional uncertainties of functions.

dðPowerÞ= dðbsfcÞ=ðbsfcÞ dðEGRÞ=ðEGRÞ dðCNGÞ=ðCNGÞ dðNOx* Þ=ðNOx* Þ dðSoot * Þ=ðSoot * Þ

ðPowerÞ

0.0099 0.0139 0.0173 0.0199 0.0230 0.0240

uncertainties for other functions is calculated and reported in 4.1. Validation of experiments
Table 6 where it can be seen that the maximum absolute uncer-
tainty for all parameters is about 4.5% in the experiments. This is an To verify the results, the authors tried to use the results of other
indication of the reliability of the measured data. researchers related to the subject. For this purpose, the test results
have been compared with the experimental data of reference
(Ravichandra et al., 2019) for a turbocharged direct injected diesel
4. RResults and discussion engine.
The basis of the comparison is based on the brake mean effective
In this study, the effect of natural gas addition at different pressure and for the emission of NOx. The results of the comparison
equivalence ratios is investigated on the nitrogen oxides and soot are presented in Fig. 4.
emissions and brake specific fuel consumption (bsfc) in an indirect According to Fig. 4, it can be seen that the results of comparison
injection diesel engine with EGR. First of all, the validation mech- for the use of diesel fuel in the equal BMEP are close to each other.
anism will be described.

Fig. 4. Comparison of NOx with BMEP for diesel and CNG adding between this study and Ravichandra study 2019.
 Y. Bayat, M. Ghazikhani / Journal of Cleaner Production 271 (2020) 122450 7

Fig. 5. Variation of exhaust temperature vs. adding natural gas.

Fig. 6. Variation of bsfc vs. equivalence ratio with no EGR.

The maximum difference is about 13% at BMEP of 4.78. Reduction of natural gas and speeds with 0, 5, and 10% EGR.
NOx by adding more CNG percentages is in accordance with other Replacing the diesel fuel by adding 40% mass fraction of natural
researcher findings (Dyr et al., 2019; Zhang et al., 2019). gas reduces brake specific fuel consumption averagely 4%, due to
increase of output power as well as higher torque and faster com-
4.2. Exhaust temperature bustion, meanwhile, lubricated engine friction remains unchanged
in each speed. The maximum bsfc reduction was 15% for the case
Fig. 5 illustrates a slight increase in exhaust temperature by 2000 rpm, 75% torque, 5% EGR and 40% natural gas; the amount of
adding natural gas in different engine loads and speeds at no EGR. bsfc reached from 233 to 198 g/kWh.
This increase has an insignificant effect on the reduction of soot
emission and re-burning it. 4.4. Engine exhaust emissions

4.3. Brake specific fuel consumption Emissions including NOx and soot were measured and can be
seen in Figs. 9e14. The engine operated at a 1200, 2000, and
Figs. 6e8 illustrate the variation of brake specific fuel con- 3000 rpm and three loads (25, 50, and 75% of maximum torque). All
sumption (bsfc) with equivalence ratio for different percentages of of the emissions data were recorded at steady-state conditions in
8 Y. Bayat, M. Ghazikhani / Journal of Cleaner Production 271 (2020) 122450

Fig. 7. Variation of bsfc vs. equivalence ratio with 5% EGR.

Fig. 8. Variation of bsfc vs. equivalence ratio with 10% EGR.

each case (see Fig. 2). 4.4.2. Nitrogen oxides

Nitrogen oxides in engines products are often produced from air
nitrogen, but nitrogen can also be found in fuel compounds,
4.4.1. Soot
although the content of nitrogen in fuel compounds has a minor
Figs. 9e11 show the changes of soot with equivalence ratio for
role in the production of nitrogen oxides.
different percentages of natural gas and EGR. The results have
According to Figs. 12e14, at constant percentages of natural gas
shown that an increase in EGR will lead to an increase in soot. Also
and with increasing torque, the equivalence ratio increased to the
an increase in CNG decreases the soot; and of course, the soot
amount of less than the stoichiometric ratio (∅ ¼ 1), the flame
reduction due to CNG adding is stronger than EGR effect on soot
temperature rose, and more nitrogen oxides were produced due to
increasing.
the available nitrogen in the fuel. Also, as the engine speed
Since natural gas has a lower carbon to hydrogen ratio than
increased, the time required to transfer heat from the cylinder to
diesel fuel, one of the main reasons for the soot reduction is the
atmosphere was reduced and the combustion temperature of the
change in fuel type; the average amount of soot production
flame rose.
decreased 51% by replacing 40% mass fraction of input diesel fuel
The results show that as the proportion of natural gas increases,
with adding natural gas. The maximum soot reduction was 74% for
the amount of nitrogen oxides decreases due to the reduction of
the case 1200 rpm, 25% torque, no EGR and 40% natural gas; the
nitrogen in the fuel. These results confirm a reduction of up to 40%
amount of soot production reached from 58 to 15 mg/m3.
in nitrogen oxides in 10% EGR.
Increasing speed from 1200 rpm to 3000 rpm has increased the
volume of inlet air to the engine and reduced the soot by an average
of 61%.
 Y. Bayat, M. Ghazikhani / Journal of Cleaner Production 271 (2020) 122450 9

Fig. 9. Variation of soot vs. equivalence ratio at 1200 rpm.

Fig. 10. Variation of soot vs. equivalence ratio at 2000 rpm.

4.5. Implications for theory and practice In this paper, by defining the dimensionless parameters, NOx*
and soot* as below, for NOx and soot emissions, the comparison of
Growing demand for fossil fuels on one hand and depletion of pollutants in the case of using natural gas and the case of pure
fossil fuel resources and the stringent emission legislations for diesel fuel have been shown in Figs. 15 and 16.
obtaining cleaner combustion on the other hand have led to the Based on Figs. 15 and 16 and equations (15) and (16), it is found
more usage of CNG fuels as an attractive alternative mostly because that, as a result of adding CNG, the dimensionless parameters, Nox*
of its low price. and soot* decrease.
10 Y. Bayat, M. Ghazikhani / Journal of Cleaner Production 271 (2020) 122450

Fig. 11. Variation of soot vs. equivalence ratio at 3000 rpm.

Fig. 12. Variation of NOx vs. equivalence ratio at 1200 rpm.

In case of 0% CNG, the values of parameters NOx* and soot* decrease for soot* is from 1 to 0.26 at 1200 rpm, 25% load, 0% EGR,
equal 1. The parameters NOx* and soot* decrease by adding CNG to and 40% CNG.
diesel fuel. For example maximum reduction for NOx* is from 1 to The emissions of NOx and soot (in g/km) between two cases of
0.46 at 2000 rpm, 25% load, 0% EGR, and 40% CNG, and maximum 0% CNG-0% EGR and 40% CNG-10% EGR for speeds 1200, 2000, and
 Y. Bayat, M. Ghazikhani / Journal of Cleaner Production 271 (2020) 122450 11

Fig. 13. Variation of NOx vs. equivalence ratio at 2000 rpm.

Fig. 14. Variation of NOx vs. equivalence ratio at 3000 rpm.

3000 rpm and loads 25%, 50%, and 75% are listed in Table 7. The standards. The improvement of maximum allowable NOx pollution
average Nox and soot reduction between these two cases are 62% in standard Euro V compared to latest version is 56%. These im-
and 35%, respectively. provements for allowable PM emission are 0%.
Table 8 has listed the allowable amount of NOx and PM emis- According to Resitoglu et al. (2015), more than 50% of the total
sions in accordance with Euro IV, Euro V, and Euro VI emission PM emissions are soot. Our research test bed improvements in
12 Y. Bayat, M. Ghazikhani / Journal of Cleaner Production 271 (2020) 122450

Fig. 15. Variation of NOx* vs. equivalence ratio at 0% EGR.

Fig. 16. Variation of soot* vs. equivalence ratio at 0% EGR.

average are 62% in NOx and 35% in soot for 40% substitution of can be reduced from 21 kg/year to about 7.5 kg/year and soot
diesel by natural gas and indicate acceptable decrease in engine production decreases from 3.1 kg/year to 1.6 kg/year.
exhaust emissions in comparison with allowable decrease in Euro
emission standards. This issue indicates the important role of
adding natural gas into the diesel fuel of engine. 5. Conclusion
For a normal operation of this light diesel engine (1200 hourly
per year by 40% CNG and 10% EGR) the NOx emission production By doing 81 experiments on an IDI CNG-Diesel engine the
following results are obtained by substitution of diesel fuel with
 Y. Bayat, M. Ghazikhani / Journal of Cleaner Production 271 (2020) 122450 13

Table 7
Emissions of NOx and soot in g/km between two cases. (0% CNG & 0% EGR-40% CNG & 10% EGR).

Case experiments 25% load 50% load 75% load Average NOx Reduction (%) Average soot Reduction (%)

g/km g/km g/km

1200 RPM 0% CNG-0% EGR 3.49 0.49 5.93 0.76 5.85 3.39
40% CNG-10% EGR 2.34 0.24 3.76 0.63 2.84 2.16
Improvement (%) 33% 52% 37% 17% 51% 36% 40% 35%
2000 RPM 0% CNG-0% EGR 2.21 0.38 3.90 0.52 5.18 0.87
40% CNG-10% EGR 0.87 0.22 2.17 0.48 3.21 0.66
Improvement (%) 61% 43% 44% 6% 38% 24% 48% 24%
3000 RPM 0% CNG-0% EGR 2.39 0.18 4.84 0.37 6.56 0.66
40% CNG-10% EGR 1.01 0.10 1.73 0.23 2.37 0.30
Improvement (%) 58% 45% 173% 37% 64% 54% 98% 45%
62% 35%

Table 8
Allowable amount of Nox and PM emissions in Euro IV, Euro V, and Euro VI emission standards in comparison with research engine.

Emissions Standard

Euro IV (g/km) Improvement (%) Euro V (g/km) Improvement (%) Euro VI (g/km) Improvement in this Research (%)

NOx 0.25 0.18 0.08

28% 56% 62%
PM 0.025 0.005 0.005
80% 0% 35%

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