Evolution of Soot Particle Number, Mass and Size Distribution along the Exhaust Line of a Heavy-Duty Engine Fueled with Compressed Natural Gas

Elia Distaso, Riccardo Amirante, Giuseppe Calò, Pietro De Palma and Paolo Tamburrano
Additional contact information
Elia Distaso: Department of Mechanics, Mathematics and Management, Politecnico di Bari, 70126 Bari, Italy
Riccardo Amirante: Department of Mechanics, Mathematics and Management, Politecnico di Bari, 70126 Bari, Italy
Giuseppe Calò: Department of Mechanics, Mathematics and Management, Politecnico di Bari, 70126 Bari, Italy
Pietro De Palma: Department of Mechanics, Mathematics and Management, Politecnico di Bari, 70126 Bari, Italy
Paolo Tamburrano: Department of Mechanics, Mathematics and Management, Politecnico di Bari, 70126 Bari, Italy

Energies, 2020, vol. 13, issue 15, 1-16

Abstract: An experimental study has been conducted to provide a characterization of the transformations that particle size distributions and the number density of soot particles can encounter along the exhaust line of a modern EURO VI compliant heavy-duty engine, fueled with compressed natural gas. Being aware of the particles history in the exhausts can be of utmost importance to understand soot formation and oxidation dynamics, so that, new strategies for further reducing these emissions can be formulated and present and future regulations met. To this purpose, particle samples were collected from several points along the exhaust pipe, namely upstream and downstream of each device the exhaust gases interact with. The engine was turbocharged and equipped with a two-stage after-treatment system. The measurements were carried out in steady conditions while the engine operated in stoichiometric conditions. Particle emissions were measured using a fast-response particle size spectrometer (DMS500) so that size information was analyzed in the range between 5 and 1000 nm. Particle mass information was derived from size distribution data using a correlation available in the literature. The reported results provide more insight on the particle emission process related to natural gas engines and, in particular, point out the effects that the turbine and the after-treatment devices produce on soot particles. Furthermore, the reported observations suggest that soot particles might not derive only from the fuel, namely, external sources, such as lubricant oil, might have a relevant role in soot formation.

Keywords: soot emissions; particle number; particle mass; particle size distribution; compressed natural gas engines; heavy-duty engines (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/13/15/3993/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/13/15/3993/ (text/html)

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:gam:jeners:v:13:y:2020:i:15:p:3993-:d:393666

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().