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PERFORMANCE STUDIES OF A BIOGAS FUELED DIESEL ENGINE OPERATING

IN A DUAL FUEL MODE

Conference Paper · November 2003

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 Proceedings of the
International Conference on Power Engineering-
Engineering-03
(ICOPE-
(ICOPE-03) November 9- 9-13, 2003, Kobe, Japan

PERFORMANCE STUDIES OF A BIOGAS FUELED DIESEL ENGINE

OPERATING IN A DUAL FUEL MODE
M. Z. Haq*, M. H. Rahman ** and Z. A. Bhutto†

*Department of Mechanical Engineering, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, Dhaka

**901 Central Workshop, EME, Bangladesh Army, Dhaka Cantonment

†
Adhoc Field Workshop, EME, Bangladesh Army, Dhaka Cantonment

ABSTRACT The present paper reports the experimental and modeling studies of a 4-cylinder, 4-stroke, direct
injection diesel engine. Study is carried out for two modes of operations – one with straight diesel fueling and
another in dual-fuel mode using natural gas and biogas of two compositions with a fixed amount of pilot diesel
injection for the ignition of the charge. Both experiments and simulations are carried out for different engine
speeds at different loading conditions. The results obtained from the simulations are in reasonable agreement with
the experimental results; however, neglect of detailed combustion in the model resulted in higher rated power
estimate of the engine. Lower cylinder gas pressure and higher bulk gas temperatures are obtained in case of
fueling by natural gas, and these quantities decrease with increase in the carbon dioxide content of biogas.

Keywords: Diesel engine, Alternative fuels, Heat release, Natural gas, Biogas.

methane + 30% carbon dioxide is denoted by BG30, and

1. INTRODUCTION
Existing stationary diesel engines can be retrofitted
fairly easily for operation with alternative gaseous fuels,
such as natural gas and biogas. Natural gas is now being
widely used to fuel combustion engines, however its reserve
is limited in many areas of the world. Hence, biogas is a
potential alternative fuel that is renewable in nature and
thereby does not contribute to the net atmospheric
concentration of the green house gas carbon dioxide. It is a
colorless combustible gas produced by the fermentation of
cellulose materials, manure or cow-dung [1]. Methane and
carbon dioxide constitute about 95% of biogas and rests are
trace organic/non-organic elements of variable compositions.
Moreover, the amount of methane and carbon dioxide in
biogas varies with the sources of origin and the variation
affects combustion process and heat release rates [2].
Fortunately, same reaction mechanism can be used to model
both methane and biogas combustion [3], and modeled
methane combustion data is very consistent with the
available experimental results [4]. Hence, comprehensive
engine modeling and simulation is possible where the
various engine-operating parameters can be studied to obtain
optimum condition [5]. The modeled data also provides
valuable insight into the complex inter-relationship
characterizing diesel engine operation.
The present paper reports the performance studies,
both experimental and modeling, of a direct injection diesel
engine for two modes of operations – one with straight diesel
fueling and another in dual-fuel mode using natural gas and
biogas of two compositions (on volumetric basis, 70%
50% methane + 50% carbon dioxide is denoted by BG50).
Study is carried out for four different engine speeds of 2100,
2200, 2250 and 2300 rpm at different loading conditions, and
various engine performance parameters are analyzed.
2. HEAT RELEASE
In general, literature reports the maximum amount of
heat available from stoichiometric combustion of unit mass
of fuel, known as heating value. However, practical
combustion processes are not essentially stoichiometric, and
heat release depends on the equivalence ratio, φ. Therefore,
two useful definitions of heat release quantity at standard
condition of 0.1MPa pressure and 25oC are:
1. Specific energy, SE − net heat available from charge of
unit mass (kJ/kg-charge), and
2. Energy density, ED − net heat available from charge of
unit volume (kJ/m3-charge).
Shown in Fig. 1 are the heating values of methane,
gasoline, diesel and biogas of two compositions. It is seen
that the heating values of biogas are significantly lower than
those of hydrocarbon fuels and the deviation is higher for
higher carbon dioxide content of biogas. Shown in Figs. 2
and 3 are the variations of specific energy and energy density,
respectively, plotted as a function of equivalence ratio for the
same fuels. It is observed that the heat release for a given
amount of charge depends on both equivalence ratio and the
fuel itself, and the heat releases from biogas premixtures are
significantly lower than those of the hydrocarbon based fuels
and the deviation increases with increase in its carbon
dioxide content.
 regulating the gas flow rates. The pilot fuel injection in case
of gaseous fuels are required because of the auto-ignition
70
temperature of methane (540oC) which is significantly
Higher Heating Value Lower Heating Value
60 higher than diesel (260oC) and the temperature generated
Heating Value (MJ/Kg fuel)

50
from the compression of the air inside the engine cylinder is
not sufficient for the ignition of the charge [6]. A schematic
40 diagram of the engine setup is shown in Fig. 4. All
30 measuring instruments are calibrated using relevant standard
procedures. Experimental procedures reported in [7] are
20
used as general guideline for experimentation. British
10 Standard BS-5514, equivalent to ISO Standard 3046 and
0 SAE Standard J1349 [8], has been used for ‘de-rating’ the
Gasoline Diesel Methane BG30 BG50 engine brake power and fuel consumption rates. Details of
the experimental procedure are described in [9].
An engine model, with similar configuration to the
Fig. 1. Heating values of diesel, gasoline, methane and experimental engine, is also simulated using commercial
biogas of two compositions. engine simulation software GT-Power [10]. A schematic
diagram of the important components of the model is shown
in Fig. 5. In the present modeling, direct injection Weibe
3.0 combustion model is used to impose the combustion rates
using a three term Weibe function as outlined in [10], and the
SE (MJ/Kg of Charge)

2.5
superposition of three functions make it possible to model
pre-ignition and larger tail present in the typical diesel engine
heat release profile [11]. Chen-Flynn friction model [12] is
2.0 used to calculate engine friction and Woschni heat transfer
correlation [13] is used to estimate the heat transfer from the
1.5 Gasoline Diesel Methane
cylinder, while Colburn analogy [14] is used to predict
BG30 BG50 convective heat transfer coefficient in ducts and pipes
1.0 forming the intake and exhaust manifolds. Various
0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 parameters required in the modeling are selected as per
φ guidelines presented in [10]. In all cases of the modeling,
ambient air is assumed to be at BS-5514 standard condition
(0.1 MPa pressure, 300 K temperature and 60% relative
Fig. 2. Specific energy of fuel-air premixtures.
humidity) and modeling is carried out for the same
conditions as those of the experiments. Details of the model
and the simulations are reported in [15].
4.0

3.5 4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

ED (MJ/m of Charge)

3.0
Shown in Figs. 6 and 7 are the cylinder gas pressures
2.5 and bulk gas temperatures, respectively, of the diesel engine
3

2.0
1.5
1.0
0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4
Fig. 3. Energy density of fuel-air premixtures.
3. EXPERIMENTAL SETUP AND ENGINE MODEL
Experiments are carried out in a 4-stroke, 4-cylinder
direct injection diesel engine, specification of which is
presented in Appendix-I. Diesel has been feed to the injector
pump under gravity, and gaseous fuels are supplied to the
intake manifold of the engine by fumigation method. In case
of fueled by gaseous fuels, a fixed amount of diesel (2kg/hr)
is injected directly into the engine cylinder as a pilot fuel to
ignite the charge and the engine loads are varied by
generating approximately same amount of output power
when it is fueled by diesel, natural gas and biogas of two
Gasoline Diesel Methane compositions. It is seen that, peak cylinder gas pressure, Pmax,
B30 B50
is the highest for diesel fuel that is followed by natural gas,
BG30 and BG50. However, in case of bulk gas temperatures,
φ natural gas produced the highest peak temperature and the
diesel operations produced the lowest one. In cases of both
temperatures and pressures, biogas produced lower values
than the corresponding natural gas values and the deviations
increase with increase in carbon dioxide content of biogas.
The lower pressure and higher temperatures generated in
case of natural gas operations are in line with the
experimental observations made in the present study [9].
Shown in Fig. 8 are the indicator diagrams for the same
conditions as shown in Figs. 6 and 7. It is seen that, indicator
diagrams are very close to each other because of the fact that
similar amount of heat addition with different fuels produced
similar amount of brake power, and thereby estimated brake
thermal efficiencies are also close to each other.
 Fig. 4. Experimental setup showing the major instrumentation.

Fig. 5. GT-Power model of the engine.

TDC BDC TDC BDC

8 1800
Fuel Qin Pb ηb Pmax
Cylinder Gas Pressure (MPa)

7 1600
Bulk Gas Temperature (K)

(kW) (kW) (%) (MPa)

6 Diesel 48.3 17.7 36.6 7.2
NG 50.3 18.2 36.1 7.0 1400
5 BG30 50.3 17.9 35.9 6.9
BG50 50.3 17.4 35.7 6.8 1200
4
Fuel Qin Pb ηb Tmax
3 1000
Start of injection

(kW) (kW) (%) (K)

2 Diesel 48.3 17.7 36.6 1714
800 NG 50.3 18.2 36.1 1784
1 BG30 50.3 17.9 35.9 1750
600 BG50 50.3 17.4 35.7 1693
0
-30 0 30 60 90 120 150 180 -30 0 30 60 90 120 150 180
Crankshaft Angle (deg) Crankshaft Angle (deg)

Fig. 6. Cylinder gas pressures for similar output power for Fig. 7. Cylinder gas temperatures for similar output power
different fuels used, engine speed is 2250 rpm. for different fuels used, engine speed is 2250 rpm.

8 engine performance when the engine is fueled by alternative
Fuel Qin Pb
Cylinder Gas Pressure (MPa)
(kW) (kW)
6 Diesel 48.3 17.7
NG 50.3 18.2
BG30 50.3 17.9
4 BG50 50.3 17.4
2 hence generate similar pressures, and the differences is bmep
0 and are not irrelevant differences such as size [16]. For spark
0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3
Displacement Volume (litre)
Fig. 8. Indicator diagrams for different fuels used.
Shown in Fig. 9 are the variations of brake specific
fuel consumption, bsfc, with brake power, Pb, at different
test conditions when the engine is fueled by diesel only. It is
seen that bsfc is high at part loading and its value decreases
with increase in the brake power until the brake power
reaches the rated value where the bsfc is minimum and any
further increase in brake power results in higher bsfc. The
values of bsfc for the slower engine operation shows lower
values at part load condition, and the situation is found to be
reversed at overload condition. It is also observed that the
rated power increases with engine speed, within the speed
range considered in the present study. This behavior of bsfc
vs brake power can be explained by considering the different
components involved in frictional losses: a significant
fraction of total frictional loss is directly related to the engine
speed, a fraction of the total is directly related to the peak
engine cylinder pressure while a fraction of the total loss
remains essentially constant [15]. At low load conditions,
the effect of engine cylinder pressure is not significant,
rather the frictional losses are dictated by the energy
consumed in moving the shafts, valves and pumps, and these
losses increase with speed. Therefore, at low load conditions,
bsfc is low for low speed operations. However, at higher
load, the effect of peak cylinder pressure becomes more
significant and peak engine pressure for slower engine
operations are higher for the same power generation and
hence higher frictional losses. Moreover, at higher engine
speed less heat is lost through the cooling system. Therefore,
at high-speed operations, values of bsfc's are lower for rated
power conditions. However, beyond the rated power, supply
of air is not sufficient to ensure complete burning because of
the heterogeneous mixture of air and fuel, and in case of
overall stoichiometric mixture some portion of the charge
starve from oxygen to complete the combustion. Therefore,
at rated load, average mixture is always lean and beyond the
rated load conditions, combustion is not completed and some
of the energy input is lost in the form of incomplete
combustion products and results in higher values of bsfc's.
Brake specific fuel consumption, bsfc, is also a
measure of engine overall efficiency, generally expressed as
brake thermal efficiency, ηb, and theses quantifies are
inversely related, so that the lower the bsfc, the higher the
efficiency of the engine. However, for different fuels having
different heating values, the values of bsfc's might be
misleading in indicating engine performance. Therefore,
brake thermal efficiency is employed in the analyses of
ηb Pmax fuels such as natural gas and biogas. In the present analysis,
(%) (MPa)
36.6 7.2
brake mean effective pressure, bmep, is used instead of brake
36.1 7.0 power, Pb. The bmep removes the effect of the engine size,
35.9 6.9 and this quantity is roughly comparable even in very
35.7 6.8
different engines, as different engines burn the same fuel,
necessarily under approximately the same conditions and
are known to represent genuine engine design differences
0.4 ignition engines, maximum values of bmep’s are in the range
of 0.85 to 1.05 MPa at the engine speed where maximum
torque is obtained and at the maximum rated power, bmep
values are 10 to 15% lower. For naturally aspirated diesel
engines, the bmep is in the 0.7 to 0.9 MPa range, with the
bmep at the maximum rated power of about 0.7 MPa [11].
300
290
280
N (rpm) Vp (m/s)
bsfc (g/kW-hr)
270 2100 5.74
260 2200 6.01
2250 6.15
250
2300 6.29
240
230
220
5 10 15 20 25
Pb (kW)
Fig. 9. Brake specific fuel consumption of diesel for
different engine speeds.
Figure 10 shows the brake thermal efficiency plotted
as a function of bmep for straight diesel operation. Brake
thermal efficiencies, as shown in Figs. 11-13, have trend
similar to the diesel fueling as shown in Fig. 10, when the
diesel is substituted partially by natural gas, BG30 and BG50.
Both the experimental and modeled results are plotted in
these figures. It is seen that, in case of pure diesel operation
as shown in Fig. 10, the experimental values of the brake
thermal efficiency increases with increase in bmep until it
reaches its maximum value at the rated brake power of the
engine corresponding to that speed. Beyond the rated power,
brake thermal efficiency is reduced because of the decrease
of combustion efficiency resulting from the shortage of
oxygen required to burn the fuel completely. In case of
natural gas fueling, as shown in Fig. 11, the efficiency
continues to increase even beyond the rated power for the
diesel operation. It is because of the increased combustion
efficiency resulted from the combustion of premixed natural
gas which is inducted into the intake manifold by fumigation
method. It is possible to significantly overload the engine
when fueled by natural gas, however with a potential to
damaged engine caused by overheating. Engine efficiency is
slightly reduced in case of biogas fueling, as shown in Figs.
12 and 13. Moreover, the modeled results show the reduction
of power for higher carbon dioxide in biogas which is due to
the presence of carbon dioxide that does not supply any
energy but absorbs some heat when exhausted in the form of 40
raised temperature. 38
In the results plotted in Fig. 10-13, it is seen that the 36
modeled values are within 2-3% of the experimental results 34
up to the rated engine power and the modeling predicts 32

ηb (%)
higher thermal efficiency in all cases considered. Moreover, 30 N (rpm) Model Expt.
28 2100
in case of straight diesel fueling the modeling also failed to
26 2200
show any noticeable decrease in thermal efficiency beyond 2250
24
the rated power because of its limitation to model real 22 2300
combustion that causes the efficiency to be reduced beyond 20
the rated power because of the heterogeneous nature of the 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0
charge. However, for gaseous fuel operations as shown in bmep (MPa)
Figs. 11-13, slight reduction in thermal efficiencies beyond
some higher rated powers can be anticipated. Practically Fig. 12. Brake thermal efficiencies for different engine
negligible engine speed effect is observed in the results speeds when the engine is fueled by biogas BG30 and pilot
shown in Figs. 10-13, where brake thermal efficiencies are diesel fuel.
plotted as a function of brake mean effective pressure.
Hence, these plots emphasize the importance of the uses of
bmep rather than brake power in engine data representation
which provide a more useful basis for extending the results
40
for engines of different sizes and speeds. 38
36
34
40 32
ηb (%)

38 30
N (rpm) Model Expt.
36 28
2100
34 26
2200
32 24
ηb (%)

2250
30 22
N (rpm) Model Expt. 2300
28 20
2100
26 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0
2200
24 bmep (MPa)
2250
22 2300
20
0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 Fig. 13. Brake thermal efficiencies for different engine
bmep (MPa)
speeds when the engine is fueled by biogas BG50 and pilot
diesel fuel.
Fig. 10. Brake thermal efficiencies for different engine
speeds when the engine is fueled by straight diesel.
5. CONCLUSIONS

40
Major conclusions of the present study are:
38 1. Diesel fuel can be partially substituted by natural gas
36 and biogas in diesel engines. The conversion to
34 dual-fuel mode by fumigation method demands only
32 simple modification of the engine intake system.
ηb (%)

30 N (rpm) Model Expt. However, pilot diesel injection is required to ignite the
28 2100 charge as methane has higher auto-ignition temperature
26 2200 than that of diesel.
24 2250
2. With modest efforts, it is possible to use GT-Power code
22 2300
to model diesel engines with gaseous alternative fuels
20
0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0
such as natural gas and biogas. Results thus obtained are
also in reasonable agreement with the experimental
bmep (MPa)
results.
3. Modeling and simulation using GT-Power provide
Fig. 11. Brake thermal efficiencies for different engine valuable insight into the complex inter-relationship
speeds when the engine is fueled by natural gas and pilot characterizing diesel engine operations. Once the model
diesel fuel. is verified against the experimental results, it can be
used to study the effects of various engine operating
parameters for optimum engine performance.
4. Modeling with the neglect of details of combustion
processes results in higher rated capacity estimate of the
 diesel engine for the fuels considered in the present
study.
5. Lower cylinder gas pressure and higher bulk gas
temperature are generated in case of Diesel engine
fueled by primarily natural gas. These quantities
decrease with increase in carbon dioxide content of the
biogas.
Performance, M.Sc. thesis (2003), Bangladesh
University of Engineering and Technology.
16. Lumley, J. L., Engines – An Introduction, (1999),
Cambridge University Press.
8. APPENDIX-I

Engine Specifications
6. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Model : Kubota V1502B,
Type : Vertical, water cooled,
The authors are grateful to Dr. Syed Wahiduzzaman of 4-cylinder, diesel engine
Gamma Technologies for providing the GT-Power software Bore x Stroke : 76 mm x 82 mm
to Department of Mechanical Engineering, BUET. Total displacement : 1487 cc
Compression ratio : 21
Rated power : 17 kW at 2250 rpm
Fuel injection pump : Bosch K type
7. REFERENCES Fuel injection : at 12.5 bTDC
Fuel injection pressure : 13.73 MPa
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Symbol unit
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BDC Bottom Dead Centre -
4. Gu, X., Haq, M. Z., Lawes, M. and Woolley, R.,
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Laminar Burning Velocity and Markstein Lengths of
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S., Integrated Engine/Vehicle Simulation and Control,
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John Wiley and Sons, Inc., NY. Pb Brake power kW
Pmax Peak cylinder gas pressure MPa
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Thermodynamics – A Laboratory Course, (1986),
SE Specific energy kJ/Kg
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Dual-Fuel Diesel Engine, M.Sc. thesis, (2003), ηb Brake thermal efficiency %
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Tutorial. Version. 5.2, (2001).
11. Heywood, J. B., Internal Combustion Engine
Fundamentals, (1988), McGraw-Hill Book Company,
N.Y.
12. Chen, S. K. and Flynn, P. F., Development of a Single
Cylinder Compression Ignition Research Engine, SAE
Paper 650733 (1965).
13. Woschni, G., A Universally Applicable Equation for the
Instantaneous Heat Transfer Coefficient in the Internal
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Mass Transfer, (2001), John Wiley and Sons, N.Y.
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Engine with Biogas/Diesel Dual Fueling for Optimized

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