Combustion and emission characteristics of a spark ignition engine fueled with ammonia/gasoline and pure ammonia

Shang Liu, Zhelong Lin, Yunliang Qi, Zhi Wang, Dongsheng Yang, Guoxiang Lu and Bo Wang

Applied Energy, 2024, vol. 369, issue C, No S0306261924009218

Abstract: The decarbonization movement has sparked interests in ammonia (NH3) as a fuel for internal combustion engines in the transportation sector. Despite its promise, the poor combustion and emission performance are the main obstacles to widespread application. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the combustion and emission performance of a single-cylinder spark ignition engine fueled with NH3/gasoline blends under different operating conditions. The effects of NH3 blending ratio, engine load, EGR ratio, engine speed, intake variable valve timing (VVT) phase and the composition and octane of the fuel were examined. The results indicated that blending NH3 could effectively suppress knock, optimize combustion phase and improve thermal efficiency. Blending NH3 had minimal impact on flame propagation in the main combustion duration (denoted by CA50 - CA10 and CA90 - CA50) under knock-free conditions but negative effects were exhibited on the development of initial flame kernel. The combustion stability under high NH3 blending ratios were improved by increasing engine load, decreasing EGR ratio, etc. Furthermore, stable and efficient combustion of pure NH3 with COV of 1.3% and indicated thermal efficiency of 41% was realized with a commercial ignition coil and without intake-charge heating. The fuel-type NOx exhibited a positive temperature correlation and negative pressure correlation. Accordingly, NOx emissions were decreased with spark timing (ST) advancing within a specific range of NH3 blending ratios. However, it remained essentially unchanged or showed a slight increase with advanced ST at high NH3 blending ratio. NH3 emission was simultaneously affected by both the “crevice mechanism” and the “flame quenching mechanism”. Particularly, the influence of the “flame quenching mechanism” intensified under higher NH3 blending ratio and lower engine load conditions. N2O emission was regulated by the low-temperature oxidation path of NH3. Increasing the combustion temperature could effectively decrease N2O emission.

Keywords: Ammonia combustion; Dual fuel; Spark ignition engine; Nitrogen-based emissions (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306261924009218
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:appene:v:369:y:2024:i:c:s0306261924009218

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/405891/bibliographic
http://www.elsevier. ... 405891/bibliographic

DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2024.123538

Access Statistics for this article

Applied Energy is currently edited by J. Yan

More articles in Applied Energy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().