i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f h y d r o g e n e n e r g y 4 4 ( 2 0 1 9 ) 9 4 3 8 e9 4 4 9

Available online at www.sciencedirect.com

ScienceDirect

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

Investigation on soot emissions from diesel-CNG

dual-fuel

Haiqin Zhou a,b, Xiangrong Li a, Chia-Fon F. Lee a,b,*

a
School of Mechanical Engineering, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 100081, China
b
Department of Mechanical Science and Engineering University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA

article info abstract

Article history: The burning of diesel and compressed natural gas (CNG) is attractive compared to diesel
Received 6 November 2018 fuel because of the reduction of CO2 emissions and particulate matter (PM) emissions.
Received in revised form While soot emissions from the diesel-CNG combustion can be tested in a real-world single-
31 January 2019 cylinder engine, the soot formation characteristics cannot be tested in the same way.
Accepted 4 February 2019 Therefore, to understand the mechanisms behind soot formation in diesel-CNG combus-
Available online 11 March 2019 tion, soot evolution must be investigated using a simulation model. In this study, the soot
evolution is investigated under different CNG substitution ratios with single and split fuel
Keywords: injection. An AVL 5402 single-cylinder diesel engine was modified to run diesel/CNG dual-
Dual-fuel combustion fuel to investigate the combustion and soot emissions. A new soot model using KIVA-3V R2
KIVA-3V R2 code code and integrated with a reduced heptane/methane PAH (polycyclic aromatic hydro-
Soot model carbons) mechanism was used to simulate soot behavior. For the combustion, the results
Single and split injection show that the ignition delay gets extended, the combustion duration gets shorter and the
peak pressure can be improved when CNG substitution ratio is increased both with single
and split injection. Additionally, a slight increase of pressure is observed when the split
injection is used. This is because the split injection is an effective strategy to change the
distribution and vaporization of fuel, which results in an incremental increase in com-
bustion efficiency and increase pressure. As the CNG substitution ratio is increased, soot
emissions get drastically reduced. The reason is the equivalence ratio distribution of air-
fuel becomes more homogenous and the local fuel-rich region shrinks with increasing of
CNG substitution ratios. Pyrene is an important intermediate specie to generate soot par-
ticles. The results show that pyrene distribution decreases, leading to a reduced generation
of soot precursors. As a result, the soot mass of CNG70 is less than the other two cases. The
basic reason is the prolonged ignition delay allowed for more time for fuel
air mixing,
which reduces soot mass formation.
© 2019 Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC.

* Corresponding author. Department of Mechanical Science and Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 61801, USA.
E-mail address: cflee@illinois.edu (C.-F.F. Lee).
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2019.02.012
0360-3199/© 2019 Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC.
 i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f h y d r o g e n e n e r g y 4 4 ( 2 0 1 9 ) 9 4 3 8 e9 4 4 9 9439

in the dual-fuel engine. Moreover, the ignition delay is pro-

Nomenclature longed with the introduction of natural gas. The above studies
were mainly carried out by employing test strategy. The soot
CNG Compressed natural gas
formation of diesel/CNG dual-fuel combustion is still unavai-
PM Particulate matter
lable. The soot evolution under different CNG substitution
PAH Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons
ratios with single and split fuel injection has not been studied
HRR Heat release rate
yet so far. In order to understand the soot emissions in diesel/
DRGEP Direct relation graph error propagation
CNG dual-fuel combustion, the soot evolution must be
EGR Exhaust gas recirculation
investigated. This study bridges this gap.
PRF Primary reference fuels
Multidimensional combustion simulation become an
BTDC Before top degree center
accepted tool to investigate the soot evolution in recent years
EVO Exhaust valve open
[14e16]. The development of soot models range from
simplistic phenomenological to complicated kinetic models
[17e19]. However, a phenomenological soot modeling
approach with reduced chemistry mechanisms can reduce
computational cost with spray combustion. Considering this
Introduction
factor, a phenomenological model is used to investigate the
soot characteristics under different CNG% in this study.
In recent years, air pollutants emitted from trucks and buses
As mentioned above, simulation studies on the soot for-
have created serious air pollution problems around the world.
mation characteristics of diesel-CNG combustion are scarce,
Many regulations and control measures have been made to
and studies on the mechanisms behind the fuel/air mixture of
improve the air quality in cities [1,2]. Due to produces low CO2
diesel-CNG combustion are even more less. So in the present
emissions and particulate matter (PM) emissions, the burning
work, a phenomenological soot model using KIVA-3V R2 code
of diesel and compressed natural gas (CNG) is attractive [3,4].
was used to simulate the soot behavior under different CNG%
Combustion and emissions performance of diesel/CNG dual-
with single and split fuel injection. The effect of PAHs and
fuel have been widely studied. Many researchers have found
polyene on soot inception was considered. An A1 adsorption
that CNG contributes to reducing CO2 emissions and particu-
model was used to describe the surface growth process, and
late matter (PM) emissions [5e8]. Yang et al. [3] studied the
the effect of oxidation on number density was also considered
effects of injection timings on the combustion and emissions
in this model. The pressure, heat release rate (HRR), and soot
performance under low load conditions. It has been reported
mass between the computational and experimental results
that combustion performance can be improved and exhaust
were analyzed. The transient behavior of soot and the inter-
emissions can be reduced of a dual-fuel engine by using
mediate species were also discussed. The equivalence ratio
appropriate natural gas injection timing at low loads. Kar-
distributions were also analyzed to reveal the soot formation
avalakis et al. [9] studied the effect of natural gas composition
mechanisms.
on the pollutants of light-duty vehicles. It was found that soot
emissions of dual fuel are much lower than that of pure diesel.
It has also reported that NOx concentrations can be reduced
Analytical method
due to the decreased local temperature. Yoshimoto et al. [10]
used different pilot fuels to study natural gas dual-fuel com-
Experimental setup
bustion. It was found that the efficiency of CNG substitution
under 75% was similar to that of pure diesel. With increased
An AVL 5402 single-cylinder diesel engine was modified to run
CNG substitution, UHC and CO emissions increased, while
diesel/CNG dual-fuel to investigate the combustion and soot
soot emissions were decreased due to increased premixed
emissions. The connecting rod length of the engine was
combustion. Sunmeet SinghKalsi al [11]. studied the effects of
85 mm. The stroke length was 90 mm. The nozzle diameter of
hydrogen blended compressed natural gas (HCNG) on perfor-
the injector was 0.18 mm. The nozzle number was 5. Table 1
mance, combustion and emissions characteristics of biodiesel
shows the details of the engine specifications.
fueled compression ignition engine. The experimental results
indicate brake thermal efficiency of the engine improved
significantly up to 64% of HCNG energy share. HC, CO and
smoke emissions at all HCNG energy shares are less as
compared to base CNG. Liu et al. [12] studied the emission Table 1 e Details of engine specifications.
characteristics of a CNGediesel dual fuel engine. It was found Engine type AVL 5402
that NOx emissions of dual fuel combustion were decreased by Number of cylinders 1
30% in comparison to the diesel combustion. The unburned Number of valves 4
HC emissions of dual fuel combustion were much higher than Displaced volume (cm3) 510.7
that of pure diesel combustion. Imran et al. [13] studied the Bore (mm) 85
Stroke (mm) 90
effect of pilot fuel quantity on the combustion characteristics
Displacement (L) 0.5
in a single-cylinder engine. It was found that the ignition delay
Compression ratio 17.1:1
is longer in the dual-fuel engine than in the diesel engine. The Nozzle holes (mm) 5  0.18
ignition delay decreases as the quantity of pilot fuel increases
9440 i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f h y d r o g e n e n e r g y 4 4 ( 2 0 1 9 ) 9 4 3 8 e9 4 4 9

oxidation. The ignition delay and important species have been

Table 2 e Injection setup.
validated with the measured results in shock tubes and
Diesel injection Direct injection counter-flow diffusion flames [16].
Diesel Injection system BOSCH common rail CP3
Number of injection holes 5 (3) PAH chemistry
Diameter of injection holes (mm) 0.18
CNG injection Port injection
The skeletal PAH formation mechanism was reduce
CNG injection system SOLARIS CNG injection system
using the direct relation graph error propagation (DRGEP)
and sensitivity analysis methods from the detail mecha-
In order to run diesel/CNG dual-fuel on the engine, a
nism developed by Slavinskaya et al. The mechanism in-
SOLARIS CNG injection system was used. The decompressed
cludes 13 species and 33 reactions. The reaction pathway
CNG was injected to the intake manifold and the amount can
diagram is shown in Fig. 1. The mechanism can describe the
be adjusted by using a control program. The CNG flow rate can
formation process from A1 to A4. The mole fraction for
be monitored by a mass flow meter (Omega). The diesel fuel
PAHs can be well predicted in n-heptane premixed laminar
flow rate can be measured by an in-house fuel consumption
flames.
device. More details can be found in Karthik [20]. The injection
setup can be found in Table 2.
Soot model
The diesel used in this study was the ultra-low sulfur diesel
A phenomenological soot model using KIVA-3V R2 code and
(ULSD). The CNG 99% methane gas was used in the experi-
integrated with a reduced n-heptane/methane/PAH mecha-
ments. The physico-chemical properties of diesel and CNG are
nism has been used to simulate the soot behavior under
shown in Table 3. The engine speed was 1200 RPM. The total
different CNG%. The model is shown as follows:
energy in the experiments was kept the same. The definition
of CNG substitution was the percentage of heat energy pro-
(1) Soot inception
vided by CNG. For example, CNG70 indicates that 70% of the
heat energy is provided by CNG. Table 4 shows the test
Researches have shown that PAH and polyene are impor-
conditions.
tant intermediate species to generate soot particles. Diac-
The engine was coupled with a GE type TLC-15 class 4-35-
etylene (C4 H2 ) and naphthalene (A2 ) were presumes to have
1700 dynamometer. A Dyne Systems DYN-LOC IV controller
an equally important effect on the soot particles nucleation
was used to control the dynamometer. ETAS was used to
process in Tao's soot model [19]. In addition, pyrene (A4 ) was
control and diagnostic parameters of the engine. INCA was
used to calculate soot inception process by Rolf D. Reitz [22].
used to realize data acquisition and real-time recording. A
Considering the above factors, the inception reaction scheme
Kistler type 6125B pressure transducer was used to test the in-
can be shown as below in this study.
cylinder pressure and in-cylinder pressure traces were aver-
  9
aged over 25 combustion cycles. A standard filter paper u_ 1
5000 >
C4 H2

!4CðpreÞ þH2 u_ 1 ¼ 1:0107 exp ½C4 H2  >
>
method was used to test soot emission. More details can be RT >
>
>
>
found in Karthik [20].   >
=
u_ 2
5000
C10 H8 ðA2 Þ

!10CðpreÞ þ4H2 u_ 2 ¼ 1:0107 exp ½A2 
The uncertainties of the measurements are given in Table RT >
>
  >
>
5. It is shown that the experiment data are acceptable. >
>
u_ 3
3974 >
>
C16 H10 ðA4 Þ

!16CðpreÞ þ5H2 u_ 3 ¼ 5:0109 exp ½A4  ;
RT
Numerical study
(1)
3
Chemistry mechanisms where ½C4 H2  indicates the concentration of C4 H2 in mole=cm .
Henceforth, ½  indicates concentration of species. R is gas
(1) Mechanism for methane oxidation constant, Tis temperature.

Since the experiment results were based on CNG with 99%
methane, methane was selected as the surrogate fuel. The
UBC-Mech 1.0 comprised of 38 species was applied as the base
mechanism for methane oxidation in this study [21].
(2) Lower carbon chemistry
A skeletal kinetic mechanism (Bin Pang's mechanism)
comprised of 57 species and 176 reactions was applied for PRF
(2) C2 H2 assisted surface growth
Research indicates that the surface growth contributes
considerably to soot particles mass growth. In this study, the
acetylene adsorption model which was proposed by Harris
and Weiner [8] is used to describe this process. The process is
proportional to the C2 H2 concentration and the soot particles
surface area. TheC2 H2 assisted surface growth can be shown
as below

Table 3 e Physico-chemical properties of diesel and CNG.

Formula Mole weight Density at 20  C (kg/m3) Boiling point ( C) Viscosity (mPa s) Heat content ((Btu/ft3)
Diesel CxHy 190e220 829 180e360 3.35 139000
Methane CH4 16 0.668
162 1.10 1011
 i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f h y d r o g e n e n e r g y 4 4 ( 2 0 1 9 ) 9 4 3 8 e9 4 4 9 9441

Table 4 e Test conditions.

Test conditions Fuel Single injection Single injection timing Split injection Split injection timing
CNG0 #2 Diesel 20 mg 4 BTDC 5 mg 12 BTDC
15 mg 4 BTDC
CNG40 60%#2 Dieselþ 40%Methane 12 mg 3 mg 12 BTDC
9 mg 4 BTDC
CNG70 30%#2 Dieselþ 70%Methane 6 mg 2 mg 12 BTDC
4 mg 4 BTDC

  9
u_ 4
12100 pffiffiffi >
>
CðpreÞ þ C2 H2






!3CðsÞ þ H2 _u4 ¼ 9:0  104  exp ½C2 H2  S > >
>
RT >
>
>
=
2
S ¼ p,ds Ns (2)
>
>
 1 >
>
6MWC ys 3 >
>
ds ¼ >
>
pNs rs ;

S is the soot surface area, ds is the particle size, Ns the soot 9

PO2 >
x¼ >
>
number density, ys is the soot mass fraction, MWC the mo- PO2 þ ðkT =kB Þ >
>
>
>
lecular weight of carbon, rs is the soot density and 1:8g=cm3 is n o >
>
g >
>
kA ¼ 3:0expð
15800=TÞ >
>
used in this study. cm s atm 2 >
>
n o >
=

3 g
kB ¼ 8:0  10 expð
7640=TÞ >
(5)
(3) PAH assisted surface growth 2
cm s atm >
>
n o >
>
g >
>
kT ¼ 1:51  105 expð
49800=TÞ >
>
2
cm s atm >
>
PAH assisted surface growth was used in Frenklach and >
>
n g o >
>
Wang's model [18], A1 was used to describe surface growth kZ ¼ 27:0expð3000=TÞ >
;
2
process in Bin Pang's model [16]. In this study, the PAH cm s atm
assisted surface growth can be shown as below. PO2 is the partial pressure of oxygen.

u_ 5
CðpreÞ þ A1






!7CðsÞ þ 3H2 u_ 5 (5) Soot oxidation by OH
 

6159 pffiffiffi
¼ 1:03  104  exp ½A1  S (3)
RT Soot oxidation by OH is also considered in this model [23].
 
u_ 7 1 3nOH 8RT
CðsÞ þ OH






!CO þ H2 u_ 7 ¼ gOH  S (6)
2 NA pMOH
(4) Surface oxidation
gOH is the OH collision efficiency (0.13 in this study), NA is
Avogadro constant, nOH is the OH number density, MOH is the
The NagleeStrickland and Constable model [22] is used to
mole fraction.
describe the surface oxidation process in this model.
 
1 u_ 6 12 kA PO2 (6) Soot particle coagulation
CðsÞ þ O2






!CO u_ 6 ¼ x
2 MWC 1 þ kZ PO2

The collision frequency in the present model is used by
þ kB PO2 ð1
xÞ S (4)
Pratsinis and Kazakov's expression [24].

kfm knc
u_ co ¼ (7)
kfm þ knc

sffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi 9
Table 5 e The uncertainties of the measurements. 6kB Tds >
>
kfm ¼ 4a >
>
rs >
>
Measurement devices Uncertainty (U) >
=
A mass flow meter (CNG) ±0.032 mg/cyc 8kB T (8)
±0.027 mg/cyc
knc ¼ ð1 þ 1:257kn Þ >
>
>
>
An in-house fuel consumption device m >
>
Kistler 6125B pressure transducer ±0.03 bar >
;
kn ¼ 2l=ds
A flow meter (sampling flow rate) ±0.0041 L/cyc
Soot mass ±0.2 FSN a is Van der Waals factor (2.0 in this study), kn is the Knudsen
9442 i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f h y d r o g e n e n e r g y 4 4 ( 2 0 1 9 ) 9 4 3 8 e9 4 4 9

Fig. 1 e Reaction pathway diagram.

number, kB is the Boltzmann constant, l is mean free path for a where mn ði4Þ and Nn ði4Þ are the soot mass concentration and
gas molecule. soot molar concentration.
Considering the oxidation effect on the soot number, four
(7) Soot precursor oxidation situations were discussed as follow [27]:

The soot precursor's oxidation processes have been 1) RG O  0. It's indicated that surface growth is faster than
described as Tao and Bi's model [19,25]. surface oxidation. The soot mass will increase at this time
step. The effect of surface oxidation on soot number can be
u_ 8 1
CðpreÞ þ OH






!CO þ H2 u_ 8 neglected in this situation. The soot molar concentration is
2
  calculated using the same equation as that in Tao's model.

39740  
¼ 1:0  10  exp
9
CðpreÞ ½OH (9)
RT

Nn ði4Þ ¼ Nn
1 ði4Þ þ u_ pre
u_ co  Dt (14)

(8) Soot mass and number density

The soot mass concentration in one computational cell can

be calculated by equation below [26]

dmðsootÞ 
¼ u_ pre  MWInc þ u_ gr
u_ ox  MWc (10)
dt
The increase of soot mass between soot particle surface
growth and oxidation in one computational cell can be given
by Ref. [26]

RG O ¼ u_ gr
u_ ox  MWc (11)

Two kinds of soot particles can be found initially for each

time step in one computational cell. One is the incipient soot
particles which are generated during the current time step.
The other is mature soot particles, as shown in Fig. 2. So the
mean particle size and molecular weight at current time step n
can be given by Eqs. (12) and (13) respectively,

 13
=
6mn ði4Þ
dn ði4Þ ¼ (12)
pNn ði4Þrs

mn ði4Þ
MWn ði4Þ ¼ (13) Fig. 2 e Soot particles in the cell at current time step.
Nn ði4Þ
 i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f h y d r o g e n e n e r g y 4 4 ( 2 0 1 9 ) 9 4 3 8 e9 4 4 9
Fig. 3 e Computational grid at TDC.
2) RG O < 0and dmði4Þ
dt < 0. It's indicated that surface oxidation is
faster than the combined effects of soot inception and
surface growth. In this case, it is assumed the incipient
soot particles burn out first and the soot mass will
decrease. The soot molar concentration is calculated using
the equation below
Nn ði4Þ ¼ Nn
1 ði4Þ
u_ co  Dt
3) RG O < 0, dmði4Þ
dt  0 and d ði4Þ  1:28nm. It's indicated that
n
surface oxidation is faster than surface growth, but the
soot mass will increase because of the incipient soot par-
ticles. In this situation, the diameter of incipient soot par-
ticles is assumed to be 1.28 nm. If the mean diameter of
soot particles dn ði4Þ is larger than or equal to 1.28 nm, only
the incipient soot molar concentration will decrease due to
oxidation effect.
 
RG O
Nn ði4Þ ¼ Nn
1 ði4Þ þ u_ pre þ  u_ pre
u_ co  Dt
MWInc
dmn ði4Þ
4) RG O < 0, dt 0 and dn ði4Þ < 1:28nm. This case almost the
same as the situation (3), but at this situation, the mean
diameter of soot particles dn ði4Þ is smaller than 1.28 nm.
The molar concentrations of both the incipient and mature
soot particles will decrease due to oxidation effect.
Fig. 4 e Ignition delay times of n-heptane oxidation between the present mechanism and shock tube test data.
9443
 
RG O 
Nn ði4Þ ¼ 1þ  u_ pre Dt
u_ pre Dt  MWInc þ N ði4ÞMW ði4Þ
n
1 n
1
þ Nn
1 ði4Þ
u_ co Dt
(17)
Numerical implementation
In this study, a 72 sector mesh was developed using the KIVA-
3V Release 2 code. The inlet and exhaust process are not
considered in the calculation. The computation interval is
from the inlet valve close to the exhaust valve open
(226 CA~480 CA). Fig. 3 shows the grid relevant to the com-
bustion chamber at TDC. The mesh independent had been
studied previously [28], and the mesh size used in this study
has little influence on the simulation results. For calculating
the fuel parcel injection dynamics, the ‘blob’ model is used.
For calculating the low Mach-number turbulent effect on
transportation and flow field, the RNG k-ε model is used. The
KelvineHelmholtz model is used to calculate spray atomiza-
tion and RayleigheTaylor model is used to calculate droplet
breakup process.
(15)
Results and discussion
Validation of the reduced mechanism
Fig. 4 shows the comparisons of ignition delay timing at
equivalence ratios equal to 0.5 and 1.0. It is shown that the
simulation results and experiment data are in a good agree-
ment, which means the present reaction mechanism can well
predict the ignition delay of n-heptane oxidation.
Fig. 5 shows the comparisons of mole fraction of important
species. The experimental data were taken from Obwald[30]. It
is shown that the simulation results and experiment data are
in a good agreement, especially the aromatic species, which
(16) are the important species in the soot formation.
Validation and analysis of CNG rate on combustion process
with single injection
Three cases were conducted on an AVL 5402 single-cylinder
diesel engine: a) CNG0, b) CNG40 and c) CNG70. The speed
was 1200 RPM and the injection timing was 4 BTDC. The
comparisons between the computational and experimental
9444 i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f h y d r o g e n e n e r g y 4 4 ( 2 0 1 9 ) 9 4 3 8 e9 4 4 9

Fig. 5 e Mole fraction of important species between the present mechanism and test data.

results are shown in Fig. 6. The simulation results and
experiment data are in a good agreement under different CNG
substitution ratios.
Fig. 7 shows the ignition delay, combustion duration, and
peak pressure of single injection. The time 10% of the
accumulated heat release is defined as the ignition delay. The
time interval between 10% and 90% mass-burned fraction is
defined as combustion duration. The ignition delay and
combustion duration have different trends. The ignition delay
gets progressively larger with increasing CNG%, whereas the

Fig. 6 e Pressure and HRR of single injection.

 i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f h y d r o g e n e n e r g y 4 4 ( 2 0 1 9 ) 9 4 3 8 e9 4 4 9
Fig. 7 e Ignition delay, peak pressure and combustion
duration with single injection.
combustion duration gets shorter up to CNG70. A difference of
1.2 of ignition delay was observed between CNG0 and CNG70.
The main reason is natural gas has low cetane number and
high self-ignition temperature which lead to an increase in
ignition delay period. A longer ignition delay allowed for more
time for fuel
air mixing and increasing premixed combus-
tion, so the combustion duration is dramatically shortened
with increasing CNG%, about 22.7% shorter of CNG70
compared to CNG0. For the peak pressure, it has a significant
upward trend with an increase of the CNG%. Due to the longer
ignition delay and the shorter combustion duration for heat
loss, the peak pressure is higher with increasing CNG%. Thus,
it can be concluded that the combustion duration can be
reduced and the peak pressure can be improved when CNG%
is increased.
Validation and analysis of CNG rate on soot emission with
single injection
Fig. 8 shows the comparisons of soot mass with single injec-
tion between the computational and experimental results.
The soot mass gets drastically reduced when CNG% is
increased, the basic reason is that more time is available for
premixing with the prolonged ignition delay. CNG40 provides
a 65.1% reduction, whereas CNG70 shows a 98.0% reduction.
The soot emissions calculated by the phenomenological soot
model and the experimental data are in good agreement at
Fig. 8 e Soot mass.
9445
Fig. 9 e In cylinder soot mass.
different CNG% with single injection. Therefore, it is reason-
able to believe that the multi-step phenomenological soot
model, coupled with the present mechanism, calculates the
soot emissions with acceptable accuracy.
Fig. 9 shows the evolution of soot mass and the equiva-
lence ratio distributions at the timing of 10 CAD at different
CNG% with the single injection. For the soot mass, the evo-
lution process of the three cases have the same trend. The
soot mass starts to increase rapidly and reaches their peaks at
around 10 CAD, which is due to soot formation is faster than
oxidation at the beginning. Then, the soot oxidation increases
and the total soot mass decreases quickly. For the peak soot
mass, it is dramatically decreased with increasing CNG%,
which is 3.87E-8 g/cyc at CNG70. By comparing the equiva-
lence ratio distributions, it can be observed that it becomes
more homogenous and the local fuel-rich region shrinks with
increasing of CNG%. Kitamura et al. reported that less soot
would be formed when the equivalence ratio was lower than
2. The equivalence ratio of CNG70 is less than 2, so less soot
will generate under this case and the peak soot mass of CNG70
is less than the other two cases, leading to a decreased soot
mass formation at EVO. The decrease of the soot mass along
with the increase of CNG% is because the prolonged ignition
delay allowed for more time for fuel
air mixing. Thus, CNG70
performed better.
Fig. 10 e In cylinder soot precursor.
9446 i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f h y d r o g e n e n e r g y 4 4 ( 2 0 1 9 ) 9 4 3 8 e9 4 4 9
Fig. 11 e Pressure and HRR of split injection.
Fig. 10 compares the evolution of in-cylinder soot precur-
sor, as well as the A4 distribution at the equivalence ratio ¼ 2.0
iso-surface. For the soot precursor, it increases and then de-
creases, reaching the highest at around 10 CAD of the three
cases. The decrease of soot precursors is because of particle
coagulation and soot precursor oxidation. For the peak soot
precursor, it has a significant downward trend with an in-
crease of the CNG substitution rate, which is 2.58E-8 g/cyc at
CNG70. Since the soot precursor is very sensitive to pyrene
(because it is important intermediate species related to soot
nucleation), the concentrations of pyrene at the equivalence
ratio ¼ 2.0 iso-surface is shown. By comparing the distribu-
tions of pyrene, it can be observed that the distribution of
pyrene less with the increase of CNG%, leading to reduced
soot precursor generators, so the soot mass of CNG70 is
smaller than the other two cases. Thus, the decrease of the
soot mass along with the increase of CNG% is because of the
reduction in soot precursor generators. The basic reason is
that the prolonged ignition delay allowed for more time for
Fig. 12 e Ignition delay, peak pressure and combustion
duration of split injection.
fuel
air mixing, so soot precursor reduces with the increase
of CNG%.
Validation and analysis of CNG rate on combustion process
with split injection
The comparisons between the computational and experi-
mental results are shown in Fig. 11. The simulation results
and experiment data are in a good agreement under different
CNG substitution ratios with split injection.
The measured ignition delay, combustion duration, and
peak pressure under different substitution rates of split in-
jection are shown in Fig. 12. The ignition delay and the com-
bustion duration have the same trend with the single
injection. The ignition delay increases, while the combustion
duration decreases. A difference of 0.7 and 6 of ignition delay
and combustion duration is observed between diesel and
CNG70. The longer ignition delay of CNG70 results in a higher
peak pressure, which is 71.69 bar. Comparing split and single
Fig. 13 e Soot mass of split injection.
 i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f h y d r o g e n e n e r g y 4 4 ( 2 0 1 9 ) 9 4 3 8 e9 4 4 9 9447

injection, a slight increase of pressure is observed when the

split injection is used. This is because a split injection is an
effective strategy to change the distribution and vaporization
of fuel, which subsequently increases in combustion effi-
ciency and increases pressure.

Validation and analysis of CNG rate on soot emission with

split injection

Fig. 13 shows the comparisons of soot mass between the

computational and experimental results. The soot mass gets
drastically reduced when CNG% is increased. CNG40 provides
a 64.2% reduction, whereas CNG70 shows a 98% reduction.
The soot emissions calculated by the phenomenological soot
model and the experimental data were in good agreement at
different CNG% with split injection. Comparing split and
Fig. 14 e In-cylinder soot mass.

Fig. 15 e The distributions of equivalence ratio.

9448 i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f h y d r o g e n e n e r g y 4 4 ( 2 0 1 9 ) 9 4 3 8 e9 4 4 9
Fig. 16 e In-cylinder soot precursors.
single injection, a slight decrease of soot mass is observed
when the split injection is used. This is because a split injec-
tion is an effective strategy to change the distribution and
vaporization of fuel, which subsequently reduce soot
emission.
Fig. 14 shows the evolution of in-cylinder soot mass and
the distributions of equivalence ratio on the spray-aligned cut
plane at the timing of 10 CAD of different CNG substitution
rate with split injection. For the soot mass, it has the same
trend with the single injection. It increases rapidly and rea-
ches their peaks and then decays quickly. For the peak soot
mass, it has a significant downward trend with an increase of
the CNG substitution rate, which is 2.90E-8 g/cyc at CNG70.
The equivalence ratio distributions becomes more homoge-
nous and the local fuel-rich region shrinks with increasing of
CNG% with split injection, so the soot mass is less at CNG70.
Fig. 15 shows the distributions of the equivalence ratio on
the spray-aligned cut plane. It is clearly shown that the
equivalence ratio has two peaks because of split injection. For
the first peak, the region where the equivalence ratio is higher
than 2 is very small and is reduced with increasing CNG%, so
the soot formation is very low and almost decays by oxidation
during this period. This is the main reason there is only one
peak soot mass in Fig. 14. For the second peak, a large region of
the equivalence ratio is higher than 2, the proportion of the
diesel diffusion combustion is increased, resulting in higher
soot emissions. With increasing CNG%, the region where the
equivalence ratio is higher than 2 is reduced, so the soot mass
of CNG70 is smaller than the other cases.
Fig. 16 compares the evolution of in-cylinder soot precur-
sor, as well as the A4 distribution at the equivalence ratio ¼ 2.0
iso-surface with split injection. For the soot precursor, it is
increased and then decline. For the peak soot precursor, it has
a significant downward trend with an increase of the CNG%,
which is 2.25E-8 g/cyc at CNG70. By comparing the pyrene
distributions, it can be observed that it decreases with the
increase of CNG%, leading to a reduced amount of soot pre-
cursor generators, so the soot mass of CNG70 is smaller than
the other two cases. By comparing in-cylinder soot precursors
of single injection and split injection, it can be observed that a
slight decrease of in-cylinder soot precursors is observed
when the split injection is used. Thus, the decrease of the soot
mass when the split injection is used with the increase of CNG
% is because of the reduced amount of soot precursor
generators.
Conclusions
The combustion performance and emission characteristics
under different CNG substitution ratios (CNG0, CNG40, and
CNG70) with single and split fuel injection are investigated in
this study. An experimental investigation of the combustion
and soot emissions was conducted on an AVL 5402 single-
cylinder diesel engine. A phenomenological soot model
using KIVA-3V R2 code and integrating with a reduced n-
heptane/methane/PAH mechanism has been used to investi-
gate the soot characteristics under different CNG substitution
ratios. The main conclusions are as follows:
(1) The present reaction mechanism can well predict the
ignition delay and mole fraction of important species of
n-heptane oxidation.
(2) For the combustion, the results show that the ignition
delay gets extended, the combustion duration gets
shorter and the peak pressure can be improved when
CNG substitution ratios are increased both with single
injection and split injection. Additionally, a slight in-
crease of pressure is observed when the split injection is
used. This is because the split injection is an effective
strategy to change the distribution and vaporization of
fuel, which subsequently increases in combustion effi-
ciency and increases pressure.
(3) Soot emissions drastically reduce as the CNG% is
increased. By comparing the spatial distributions of the
equivalence ratio, it can be observed that the equiva-
lence ratios distribution becomes more homogenous
and the local fuel-rich region shrinks with the increase
of CNG%. Therefore, the distribution of pyrene de-
creases with the increase of CNG substitution ratios,
leading to a smaller amount of generated soot pre-
cursors. As a result, the soot mass of CNG70 is less than
the other two cases.
references
[1] Park Wonah, Park Seunghyun, Reitz Rolf D, et al. The effect of
oxygenated fuel properties on diesel spray combustion and
soot formation[J]. Combust Flame 2017;180:276e83.
[2] Li XiangRong, Zhou Haiqin, Su Liwang, et al. Combustion and
emission characteristics of a lateral swirl combustion system
for DI diesel engines under low excess air ratio conditions[J].
Fuel 2016;184:672e80.
[3] Yang Bo, Xi Chengxun, Xing Wei, et al. Parametric
investigation of natural gas port injection and diesel pilot
injection on the combustion and emissions of a
turbocharged common rail dual-fuel engine at low load[J].
Appl Energy 2015;143:130e7.
[4] Bielaczyc Piotr, Szczotka Andrzej, Woodburn Joseph.
Regulated and unregulated exhaust emissions from CNG
fueled vehicles in light of Euro 6 regulations and the new
 i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f h y d r o g e n e n e r g y 4 4 ( 2 0 1 9 ) 9 4 3 8 e9 4 4 9
WLTP/GTR 15 test procedure[J]. SAE Int J Engines
2015;8:1300e12 (2015-01-1061).
[5] Papagiannakis RG, Krishnan SR, Rakopoulos DC, et al. A
combined experimental and theoretical study of diesel fuel
injection timing and gaseous fuel/diesel mass ratio effects
on the performance and emissions of natural gas-diesel
HDDI engine operating at various loads[J]. Fuel
2017;202:675e87.
[6] Wei Lijiang, Geng Peng. A review on natural gas/diesel dual
fuel combustion, emissions and performance[J]. Fuel Process
Technol 2016;142:264e78.
[7] Wang Zhongshu, Zhao Zhongxiang, Wang Dan, et al. Impact
of pilot diesel ignition mode on combustion and emissions
characteristics of a diesel/natural gas dual fuel heavy-duty
engine[J]. Fuel 2016;167:248e56.
[8] Harris Stephen J, Weiner Anita M. Determination of the rate
constant for soot surface growth[J]. Combust Sci Technol
1983;32(5-6):267e75.
[9] Karavalakis Georgios, Hajbabaei Maryam, Yu Jiang, et al.
Regulated, greenhouse gas, and particulate emissions from
lean-burn and stoichiometric natural gas heavy-duty
vehicles on different fuel compositions[J]. Fuel
2016;175:146e56.
[10] Yoshimoto Yasufumi. Combustion characteristics of a dual
fuel diesel engine with natural gas (study with fatty acid
methyl esters used as ignition fuels)[R]: SAE Technical Paper.
2010.
[11] Kalsi Sunmeet Singh, Subramanian KA. Experimental
investigations of effects of hydrogen blended CNG on
performance, combustion and emissions characteristics of a
biodiesel fueled reactivity controlled compression ignition
engine (RCCI)[J]. Int J Hydrog Energy 2017;42(7):4548e60.
[12] Liu Jie, Yang Fuyuan, Wang Hewu, et al. Effects of pilot fuel
quantity on the emissions characteristics of a CNG/diesel
dual fuel engine with optimized pilot injection timing[J]. Appl
Energy 2013;110:201e6.
[13] Imran S, Emberson DR, Ihracska B, et al. Effect of pilot fuel
quantity and type on performance and emissions of natural
gas and hydrogen based combustion in a compression
ignition engine[J]. Int J Hydrog Energy 2014;39(10):5163e75.
[14] Gokul Vishwanathan, Reitz Rolf D. Application of a semi-
detailed soot modeling approach for conventional and low
temperature diesel combustion–Part I: model performance[J].
Fuel 2015;139:757e70.
[15] Hou Jie, Yan Fuwu, Lee Timothy H, et al. Computational
investigation on soot mechanism of diesel and diesel/n-
butanol blend in constant volume chamber with various
ambient temperatures[J]. Energy Fuels 2016;31(1):916e31.
[16] Pang Bin, Xie Mao-Zhao, Ming Jia, et al. Development of a
phenomenological soot model coupled with a skeletal PAH
9449
mechanism for practical engine simulation[J]. Energy Fuels
2013;27(3):1699e711.
[17] Kazakov Andrei, Wang Hai, Frenklach Michael. Detailed
modeling of soot formation in laminar premixed ethylene
flames at a pressure of 10 bar[J]. Combust Flame 1995;100(1-
2):111e20.
[18] Frenklach Michael, Wang Hai. Detailed modeling of soot
particle nucleation and growth[M]Elsevier. 1991. p. 1559e66.
[19] Tao Feng, Reitz Rolf D, Foster David E, et al. Nine-step
phenomenological diesel soot model validated over a wide
range of engine conditions[J]. Int J Thermal Sci
2009;48(6):1223e34.
[20] Nithyanandan Karthik, Zhang Jiaxiang, Li Yuqiang, et al.
Diesel-like efficiency using compressed natural gas/diesel
dual-fuel combustion[J]. Journal of Energy Resources
Technology 2016;138(5):52201.
[21] Huang J, Hill PG, Bushe WK, et al. Shock-tube study of
methane ignition under engine-relevant conditions:
experiments and modeling[J]. Combust Flame 2004;136(1-
2):25e42.
[22] Gokul Vishwanathan, Reitz Rolf D. Development of a
practical soot modeling approach and its application to low-
temperature diesel combustion[J]. Combust Sci Technol
2010;182(8):1050e82.
[23] Fenimore Charles P, Jones George Wallace. Oxidation of soot
by hydroxyl radicals[J]. J Phys Chem 1967;71(3):593e7.
[24] Kazakov Andrei, Frenklach Michael. Dynamic modeling of
soot particle coagulation and aggregation: implementation
with the method of moments and application to high-
pressure laminar premixed flames[J]. Combust Flame
1998;114(3-4):484e501.
[25] Bi Xiaojie, Liu Haifeng, Ming Huo, et al. Experimental and
numerical study on soot formation and oxidation by using
diesel fuel in constant volume chamber with various
ambient oxygen concentrations[J]. Energy Conversion Manag
2014;84:152e63.
[26] Zhao Zhichao, Wu Han, Wang Mianzhi, et al. Computational
investigation of oxygen concentration effects on a soot
mechanism with a phenomenological soot model of
acetone–butanol–ethanol (ABE)[J]. Energy Fuels
2015;29(3):1710e21.
[27] Zhao Zhichao, Xu Zhengxin, Liu Jingping, et al. Experimental
and numerical investigation of soot mechanism of acetone-
butanol-ethanol (ABE) with various oxygen concentrations
[R]: SAE Technical Paper. 2015.
[28] Li Menghan, Meng Xiangyu, Jie Hou, et al. A numerical study
on the effects of hot EGR on the operation of natural gas
engine ignited by diesel-butanol blends[R]: SAE technical
paper. 2017.