Combustion Performance and Low NOx Emissions of a Dimethyl Ether Compression-Ignition Engine at High Injection Pressure and High Exhaust Gas Recirculation Rate

Inmo Youn and Joonho Jeon
Additional contact information
Inmo Youn: Korean Institute of Energy Technology Evaluation and Planning, 14 Teheran-ro 114 Gil, Gangnam-gu, Seoul 06175, Korea
Joonho Jeon: Department of Fire Protection Engineering, Pukyong National University, 45 Yongso-ro, Nam-gu, Busan 48513, Korea

Energies, 2022, vol. 15, issue 5, 1-11

Abstract: Dimethyl ether (DME) is a promising alternative to diesel for compression-ignition (CI) engines used in various industrial applications. However, the high nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions of DME combustion have restricted its use. The primary cause of high NOx emissions is a high combustion temperature. In this study, a high exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) rate was used when testing a common-rail direct injection CI engine suitable (with minor modifications) for a passenger car. A modified fuel supply system created high injection pressure during evaluation of combustion performance. The physical and chemical properties of DME were the principal determinants of the ignition delay, combustion speed, and heat release rate. Although a high injection pressure accelerated formation of the fuel-air mixture and the combustion speed, combustion performance deteriorated with increased NOx emissions. An increased EGR rate affected combustion and the NOx concentration. A high EGR rate effectively reduced NOx formation and emission under low-temperature combustion conditions. Also, the good DME combustion characteristics were maintained when the EGR rate was high, unlike for an ultra-low sulfur diesel engine.

Keywords: dimethyl ether; exhaust gas recirculation; nitrogen oxides; combustion process (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: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/15/5/1912/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/15/5/1912/ (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:15:y:2022:i:5:p:1912-:d:765076

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 ().