Energy Conversion and Management 48 (2007) 608–618

www.elsevier.com/locate/enconman

Spark ignition natural gas engines—A review

Haeng Muk Cho a, Bang-Quan He b,*

a
Division of Mechanical Engineering and Automotive Engineering, Kongju National Univeristy,
276, Budae-Dong, Cheonan-City, Chungnam 330-717, Korea
b
State Key Laboratory of Engines, Tianjin University, 92, Weijin Road, Nankai District, Tianjin 300072, PR China

Received 25 November 2005; accepted 30 May 2006

Available online 22 August 2006

Abstract

Natural gas is a promising alternative fuel to meet strict engine emission regulations in many countries. Natural gas engines can oper-
ate at lean burn and stoichiometric conditions with different combustion and emission characteristics. In this paper, the operating enve-
lope, fuel economy, emissions, cycle-to-cycle variations in indicated mean effective pressure and strategies to achieve stable combustion of
lean burn natural gas engines are highlighted. Stoichiometric natural gas engines are briefly reviewed. To keep the output power and
torque of natural gas engines comparable to those of their gasoline or Diesel counterparts, high boost pressure should be used. High
activity catalyst for methane oxidation and lean deNOx system or three way catalyst with precise air–fuel ratio control strategies should
be developed to meet future stringent emission standards.
Ó 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Natural gas; Emission; Lean burn; Stratification; Turbulence; Catalyst

1. Introduction CO2 is a greenhouse gas in the exhaust gases from SI

In recent years, air quality has become a particularly
severe problem in many countries. Growing concern with
exhaust emissions from internal combustion engines has
resulted in the implementation of strict emission regula-
tions in many industrial areas such as the United States
and Europe. In the meantime, the Kyoto protocol calls
for a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions between 2008
and 2012 to the levels that are 5.2% below 1990 levels in
38 industrialized countries. Therefore, how to reduce haz-
ardous emissions and greenhouse gases from engines has
now become a research focus. If driven according to the
certifying cycle, modern spark ignition (SI) engines with
three way catalyst emit very low amounts of hazardous
emissions, along with large amounts of water and carbon
dioxide (CO2) emissions.
*
Corresponding author. Tel.: +86 22 27406842x8006; fax: +86 22
27383362.
E-mail address: bqhe@tju.edu.cn (B.-Q. He).
engines. Improving fuel economy, using a fuel with higher
hydrogen to carbon ratio (H/C) or using a renewable fuel
can all reduce CO2 emissions from engines. The fuel econ-
omy of SI engines can be improved by operating the engine
with diluted mixtures through extra air or exhaust gas
recirculation (EGR) due to low temperature combustion,
low heat transfer losses and low pumping losses at part
loads. Direct injection SI engines have reduced pumping
losses and heat transfer losses and, hence, have low fuel
consumption. Homogenous charge compression ignition
(HCCI) gasoline engines using diluted mixtures can also
improve their fuel economy.
Natural gas (NG), which is primarily composed of
methane, is regarded as one of the most promising alterna-
tive fuels due to its interesting chemical properties with
high H/C ratio and high research octane number (about
130). When changing the fuel from Diesel to natural gas,
its H/C ratio is approximately changed from 1.8 to 3.7 to
4.0. Also, natural gas has relatively wide flammability lim-
its. The lower peak combustion temperatures under ultra

0196-8904/$ - see front matter Ó 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.enconman.2006.05.023
 H.M. Cho, B.-Q. He / Energy Conversion and Management 48 (2007) 608–618
lean conditions in comparison to stoichiometric conditions
[1] lead to a lower knock tendency of natural gas engines,
allowing a higher power for the same engine displacement
by increasing the boost pressure level [2]. Accordingly, NG
engines using high compression ratio, lean burn mixture or
high exhaust gas recirculation would be expected to outper-
form gasoline engines in torque, power [3,4] and can allow
a remarkable reduction in pollutant emissions and an
improvement in thermal efficiency [4]. In the meantime,
natural gas engines can achieve CO2 levels below those of
Diesel engines at the same air–fuel ratio, while keeping
almost the same thermal efficiency under very lean condi-
tions [5,6]. CO2 emissions of natural gas engines can be
reduced by more than 20% compared with gasoline engines
at equal power [7].
In addition, particulate matter (PM) and nitrogen oxides
(NOx) emissions have serious health and environmental
implications when present in high enough concentrations,
causing and exacerbating human respiratory illnesses such
as asthma [8]. NG engines produce lower PM than Diesel
engines do [9], since natural gas does not contain aromatic
compounds such as benzene and contains less dissolved
impurities (e.g., sulphur compounds) than petroleum fuels
do [5]. A relatively low flame speed and low temperature
combustion of NG engines [10] help to mitigate engine
out NOx emissions when operating with high compression
ratio or when the engine is supercharged [11]. Very low lev-
els of NOx and carbon monoxide (CO) emissions can be
achieved at lean equivalence ratios [12]. Moreover, engine
out unburned hydrocarbons (HC) emissions can also be
reduced below the corresponding levels for gasoline
engines, since the gaseous state of compressed natural gas
(CNG) avoids wall wetting effects on intake manifold and
cylinder liner, especially at cold start conditions, which
improves cold startability of CNG engines [13] and induces
fuel consumption savings. The smaller percentage of HC
emissions from oil film adsorption–desorption phenomena
also contributes to the reduction of engine out HC emis-
sions compared to those of gasoline base line engines
[7,14]. Low density and high dispersal rates also are advan-
tages when safety is considered, since an explosive mixture
is unlikely to form in the event of a leak [11].
Even if natural gas cannot prove itself as an intrinsically
better fuel than gasoline and Diesel fuels in terms of engine
emissions, natural gas vehicles that operate on CNG fuel
are expected to find widespread use because the sources
of natural gas are far bigger than those of oil, and natural
gas will be available at a competitive cost for a long time
[15]. Consequently, various research projects have been
undertaken all over the world to convert light duty vehi-
cles, passenger cars, heavy duty trucks and buses, as well
as locomotive engines to use natural gas.
2. The operating envelope of lean burn engines
Low emission spark ignition CNG engines can be
achieved by the lean burn engine and the stoichiometric
609
engine with a three way catalyst. In a lean burn natural
gas engine, air–fuel ratio is extremely critical. As the mix-
ture is leaned out beyond a critical point to suppress
NOx emissions, the burning rate in the lean conditions is
reduced compared to that under stoichiometric conditions,
which results in an increase in the overall combustion dura-
tion and, in turn, leads to increased heat transfer losses to
the cylinder walls and decreased thermal efficiency [7]. Slow
flame propagation velocity results in slow heat release,
which causes combustion instability with high cyclic varia-
tions [16]. Hence, the efficiency gain of lean operation can-
not be realized. When flame propagation stops, misfire
cycles and incomplete combustion may occur in the end
zone and result in high HC emissions [21]. On the other
hand, a slight error in air–fuel ratio near the lean limits
can drive the engine into misfire, which causes dramatic
increases in exhaust emissions, engine roughness and poor
throttle response [22].
Several factors related to lean misfire limits include in-
cylinder air motion, available ignition energy, natural gas
composition, mixture temperature at ignition, residual
fraction and water from humidity in the air–fuel mixture.
In addition, the effect of mixture preparation on the homo-
geneity of the cylinder charge is important. Fig. 1 shows the
operating range under different conditions. The lambda
limits for natural gas engines are based primarily on lean
misfire and increased fuel consumption under lean burn
conditions and on the levels of NOx and knock and
increased fuel consumption under fuel rich conditions
[19]. With too much excess air, the combustion temperature
in the cylinder drops, which results in an increase in engine
out CO and HC emissions due to slower flame initiation
and propagation. For extremely lean mixtures, flame
quenching, partial burn and combustion instabilities could
be expected [7,23]. High amounts of residual gases from the
previous combustion cycle also limit engine combustion
stability at low and medium loads due to dilution. High
loads and high amounts of additional air or EGR results
in too low exhaust energy for sufficient boost pressure [15].
Knock is the self ignition of the end gas ahead of the
propagating flame front. It results in lower engine effi-
Fig. 1. Limitations in load and dilution for the engine mapping [15].
610 H.M. Cho, B.-Q. He / Energy Conversion and Management 48 (2007) 608–618
ciency, an increase of some emissions and even leads to
destruction of the engine under heavy knock operation.
Knock limits the increase in load when the amount of dilu-
tion decreases [15]. The optimization of valve duration and
timing is an effective solution for controlling the knock lim-
its and for improving thermal efficiency. Early closure of
inlet valves reduces the effective compression ratio and,
thus, decreases knock sensitivity by reducing the in-
cylinder mixture temperature, while the expansion ratio is
kept high, giving high efficiency. At part loads, the reduc-
tion in the amount of intake also reduces pumping losses
due to the higher intake pressure needed. Without modify-
ing intake ducts, reducing the intake stroke also results in
lower swirl number and increased efficiency as well [5].
Adding inert gases such as N2 and CO2 can improve the
knock rating and then enable the advance of knock limited
spark timing. However, CO2 shows a twice higher effect
than N2 [24]. On the other hand, EGR allows a reduction
in knocking tendency and can improve engine efficiency
through increased compression ratio [18]. The combination
of the Miller cycle and EGR improves brake mean effective
pressure (BMEP) to 1.7 MPa for the stoichiometric condi-
tion [25].
Cycle efficiency (gcycle) can be improved at lean burn
conditions, but combustion efficiency (gcomb) suffers due
to combustion instability and unburned mixture in the
end zone. NOx and THC (total hydrocarbon) emissions
levels and cycle efficiency are plotted versus lambda in
Fig. 2. THC emissions levels increase for lean mixtures,
in particular after lambda is higher than 1.6 [21].
The lean misfire limits of natural gas and air mixtures
increase with temperature, so that the engine can be run
at an elevated intake manifold temperature without pro-
ducing more NOx emissions. The reason is that a hot mix-
ture is less heated by the cylinder wall during the intake
stroke than a cool mixture, the volumetric efficiency of
an engine increases with manifold temperature, thus reduc-
ing the increase in manifold pressure required for the leaner
and hotter mixture. Although, CO and HC emissions show
a slightly increasing tendency with leaner mixture at higher
intake manifold temperatures, they hardly affect the abso-
Fig. 2. Effect of lambda on natural gas engine performance [21].
Fig. 3. NOx production for different intake-manifold temperatures with
adapted air-to-fuel ratios [26].
lute emission levels. It is possible to maintain specific NOx
emissions at a level of 140 g/GJ in the temperature range
from 25 to 80 °C by adapting only the air–fuel ratio shown
in Fig. 3. Approximately, every 10 °C reduction in mixture
temperature requires 1% reduction in air–fuel ratio. There-
fore, an engine management system is required to meet low
NOx emission levels under all circumstances. During a cold
start, mixture enrichment is required to avoid misfire when
the engine is normally run at an elevated intake manifold
temperature [26].
3. Lean burn natural gas engines
Although, the fuel economy of a lean burn natural gas
engine is not as high as a Diesel engine, it is higher than
that of a stoichiometric engine due to the increase of spe-
cific heat ratio [16–20]. The thermal efficiency of natural
gas engines is dependent largely on lambda, compression
ratio, burning rate and NOx emission levels. The optimum
value of lambda for maximizing the trade-off between spe-
cific fuel consumption and specific NOx emissions strongly
depends on the type and quality of ignition and combus-
tion. At part loads, the use of a throttle for lambda control
causes a significant deterioration in thermal efficiency.
However, to a certain extent, engine load under lean burn
conditions can be controlled without throttle through vary-
ing the air–fuel ratio. In turn, volumetric efficiency at part
loads can be increased due to reduced pumping losses. Fur-
thermore, combustion temperatures in lean burn condi-
tions decrease and, therefore, lead to reduced NOx
emissions. To keep NOx emissions low and obtain the best
fuel economy, NG engines are often operated close to lean
misfire limits. Because of an excess of oxygen available in
the exhaust, an oxidation catalyst can be applied to oxidize
CO and THC emissions and meet stringent CO and THC
 H.M. Cho, B.-Q. He / Energy Conversion and Management 48 (2007) 608–618
emissions limits [21]. On the other hand, the use of skip fire
at part loads can reduce or eliminate the effect of throttling
loss [19], which may improve fuel economy.
3.1. Cyclic variations under lean burn conditions
A particular important problem of lean burn engines is
the extent of cyclic variations in-cylinder pressure due to
cyclic variations in the combustion process. It is well
known that as the air–fuel mixture becomes leaner, the
time required for the initial flame development and the per-
iod for rapid flame development increase. Charge dilution
also affects flame propagation speed. Slow flame propaga-
tion velocity caused by a very lean mixture results in slow
heat release, low combustion quality [21], higher cycle-to-
cycle variations and poor combustion phasing [4]. Two
important measures of cyclic variations are the coefficient
of variation (COV) in indicated mean effective pressure
(IMEP) and in peak cylinder pressure. Vehicle drivability
problems are usually noticeable when the COV in IMEP
exceeds about 10% [27].
Cycle-to-cycle variations in the combustion process tend
to increase with increasingly lean mixture. The effect of
equivalence ratio on the COV in peak pressure is shown
in Fig. 4. Generally, the effect of equivalence ratio is much
more pronounced on the COV in peak pressure. When
spark ignition timing is 30° CA BTDC, COV in peak pres-
sure reaches the minimum value, 4%, at 0.9 equivalence
ratio and is increased to about 9% at 0.6 equivalence ratio.
At the maximum brake torque (MBT) timings, combustion
stability is partially regained due to lower COV in peak
pressure at lean burn conditions. However, at the same
operating condition, the COV in IMEP shown in Fig. 5
is less than 5% at 0.6 equivalence ratio at 30° CA BTDC
spark ignition timing and is reduced to 2.3% at the MBT
timing, which is an indication of good stability of combus-
tion process at such lean conditions [28]. The comparison
of the COV in IMEP for a gasoline engine, mixer type
Fig. 4. COV in peak pressure vs equivalence ratio [28].
611
Fig. 5. COV in IMEP versus equivalence ratio [28].
NG engine and port fuel injection NG engine shown in
Fig. 5 indicates that the port fuel injection NG engine is
much more stable due to better air–fuel ratio control
[12,28]. Although, the COV decreases with increasing
loads, it is still much higher than those under relatively rich
conditions [12]. Consequently, consideration should be
taken to ensure minimal cylinder to cylinder deviation in
fueling when natural gas engines are developed [29].
Cyclic variations in combustion also result in variations
in CO, HC and NOx emissions. The relative variations in
HC and NOx levels are higher at very lean conditions.
Extremely lean mixture operation even results in the high-
est COV in HC emissions [16].
Besides the fluctuations in local and cycle-to-cycle mix-
ture, variations in flow motion appear to be the major
cause of cyclic variations in combustion. Flow variation
includes local turbulence and bulk flow according to its
effect on the combustion process. The change in local tur-
bulence intensity and scales from one cycle to another
affects both flame growth rate and the rate of early turbu-
lent flame development, which alters the combustion pro-
cess significantly. Variations in the bulk flow intensity or
direction lead to notable heat loss or flame front quench-
ing due to contact with electrodes and the chamber wall
and, hence, result in significant cyclic variability [4].
Therefore, the flow at spark plugs to stabilize ignition
and support flame initiation and the flow in the combus-
tion chamber to favor flame propagation should be taken
into account [6]. The wall contact area of the small flame
is of major importance for the flame speed in the flame
development period due to the change of heat loss to
the spark plug electrodes related to mean flow direction
and magnitude [23]. Higher cycle-to-cycle variability and
poor combustion phasing also set a limit on the use of
very lean or high EGR mixtures [4]. Accordingly, the con-
trol of mixture formation is required in lean burn natural
gas engines [6].
612 H.M. Cho, B.-Q. He / Energy Conversion and Management 48 (2007) 608–618
3.2. Achievement of stable combustion at lean burn
conditions
It is well known that the mixture of methane and air has
low burning velocity compared with that of gasoline and
air [30,31]. Homogeneous lean burn mixtures result in
lower flame propagation, occurrence of misfire, low mix-
ture distribution quality in multi-cylinder engines and high
unburned HC emissions in the exhaust. To implement suc-
cessfully a lean burn strategy to natural gas engines with
minimum exhaust emissions and maximum thermal effi-
ciency, high compression ratio, high energy ignition sys-
tem, increased swirl and turbulence at the end of the
compression and catalytic coating on the combustion
chamber can be used [20]. Controlling the fluid flow inside
the combustion chamber is necessary to promote combus-
tion under all operating conditions [32,33].
Increasing the organized charge motion in the cylinder
leads to increased turbulence levels [34]. High levels of
charge turbulence in the combustion chamber profoundly
speeds up the combustion process in SI engines [35,36],
reduces cyclic variability [34] and compensates for the
decreased combustion quality under lean burn conditions
[16,37], which can improve thermal efficiency.
The level of turbulence in the chamber just prior to igni-
tion and during the combustion process has an important
impact on the burning rate of air–fuel mixture. The turbu-
lence intensity in the chamber is influenced by the design of
combustion chamber, intake ducts and valves lift laws
through the degree of swirl imparted to the mixture during
the intake process and by the squish motion generated as
the piston nears top dead center.
Various turbulence enhancing combustion chamber
geometries, in particular, the pistons with unusual bowl
shapes to generate squish flows or enhance the effects of
swirl, have been widely investigated [38–41]. Johansson
et al. found that combustion chambers with a square
cross section in the piston bowl have the fastest combus-
tion and, hence, late ignition timing for MBT. The flat
chamber without squish is clearly the slowest with twice
as long duration for the combustion [23]. Using a pre-
chamber can ignite very lean natural gas mixture and
eliminate the negative pumping loop of throttle controlled
carbureted engine [20]. In the meantime, the increased tur-
bulence produced by the prechamber has strong effect on
power output at the same air–fuel ratio mixture. Com-
pared to the conventional gas engine, stable ignition and
quick flame propagation are greatly improved due to
the prechamber, which leads to high burning rates and
short burning period in the main combustion chamber
[42].
The piston squish area has a direct effect on in-cylinder
air motion. Increases in squish area can give a high level of
shear and, hence, increase in-cylinder turbulence at the end
of compression stroke, which leads to fast burning rates
and an average 1.5% reduction in brake specific fuel con-
sumption (BSFC), or 1.5% increase in power output under
wide open throttle conditions in comparison with the slow-
est burning cases [33].
However, specific emission levels are generally higher
for a fast burning combustion chamber. In some cases,
a combustion chamber with the highest turbulence level
causes the highest emission levels [33]. On the other hand,
the exhaust gases are colder due to the increase in effective
expansion ratio. Even if a fast combustion chamber is
more tolerant to diluted mixtures, the cold exhaust gases
result in too low boost pressure at highly diluted condi-
tions [15].
The different forms of turbulence affect the combustion
process quite differently [43]. Very high turbulence levels
may extinguish the flame completely, particularly with very
lean or high EGR mixture [44] while the same high turbu-
lence levels located away from the spark might enhance the
flame propagation [33]. It is important, therefore, to con-
trol the fluid velocity at the spark plug location because
too high turbulence levels can attenuate the rapid early
flame kernel development. It is desirable to control engine
turbulence to enhance its positive effects and minimize its
negative effects, thus optimizing combustion of very lean
or high EGR mixtures.
Increased charge motion can be obtained through the
use of intake ports to produce swirl or tumble, or through
the use of shrouded intake valves to produce swirl. By
using tumble enhancing piston crown geometry and opti-
mizing the shape of the swirl control valve as shown in
Fig. 6, stable combustion can be achieved at an excess air
ratio of approximately 1.6 shown in Fig. 7, and fuel econ-
omy is improved approximately 10% compared with a stoi-
chiometric condition at MBT [7].
The results obtained from an engine with a straight
intake port and a swirl intake port show that in-cylinder
fuel distributions in the swirl plane can be controlled by
where the fuel is injected into the straight intake port, since
they affect the ignitability of the in-cylinder charge. Stable
ignition at extended lean limits can be realized if the fuel
gas were injected into regions A and B in Fig. 8 because
a rich region beneath an intake valve can be transported
Fig. 6. Intake gas flow [7].
 H.M. Cho, B.-Q. He / Energy Conversion and Management 48 (2007) 608–618 613

Fig. 9. The PSC spark plug injector: (1) metal body of plug; (2) insulator;
(3) capillary tube and (4) slot in threads connects to delivery hole (5) [11].

installed close to the plug to prevent back flow of com-

Fig. 7. Lean burn characteristics under partial load condition [7].
bustion gases. Lean burn natural gas engines can utilize
either pre-mixed or stratified charge combustion strate-
gies. Without PSC, the COV in IMEP is higher than
10% at lambda = 1.66, the engine stability is unaccept-
able. However, the partial stratification through pure fuel
injection increases diffusion combustion and reduces the
COV in IMEP to below 5%, which is similar to a Diesel
engine. However, at a given air–fuel ratio, partial stratifi-
cation increases NOx emissions due to higher in-cylinder
temperature and pressure. The magnitude of NOx
increase is highly dependent on the quantity of partial
stratification. Higher PSC flow rates correspond to
increased NOx emissions as shown in Fig. 10. Although

Fig. 8. Four regions of intake passage [45].

to the vicinity of the spark plug at spark ignition timing

[45].
To further extend the lean limit of natural gas engines,
it is possible partially to stratify the air–fuel charge such
that the mixture in the region of the spark plug is richer
than the surrounding ultra lean homogeneous mixture
[46,47]. Additional fuel injection to produce a rich mix-
ture near the spark plug has been shown successfully
[47–50].
Reynolds et al. developed a partially stratified charge
(PSC) system shown in Fig. 9 to improve the lean burn
combustion process on a natural gas engine. High pres-
sure natural gas (20 bar) was supplied to the spark plug
injector. A fast response solenoid valve was used to con-
trol the injection timing and mass flow. A capillary tube
with 0.53 mm internal diameter directed the injected fuel Fig. 10. NOx emissions versus injection timing (1500 rpm, wide open
to the custom made spark plug injector and a check valve throttle, lambda = 1.65, ignition at 50° CA BTDC) [51].
614 H.M. Cho, B.-Q. He / Energy Conversion and Management 48 (2007) 608–618
PSC does tend to increase NOx levels, engine out NOx
emissions are low, due to earlier heat release and
improved combustion. Retarding spark can reduce NOx
without performance penalties [11]. When the engine
operated at lambda of 1.66, pure fuel PSC increased gross
indicated mean effective pressure by approximately 15%,
and improved brake specific fuel consumption by a corre-
sponding amount [11]. The highest heat release rate and,
hence, the fastest combustion event were observed when
pure fuel was micro-injected. A progressive improvement
in engine performance was observed as the micro-injected
charge was made richer, but premixed air–fuel charges
were less effective than pure fuel injection [51]. In the
meantime, THC emissions decrease with increasing air–
fuel ratio due to decreased unburned fuel trapped in cre-
vices. Also, the excess air in the combustion chamber
makes the post oxidation of the crevice gas more effective
during the expansion and exhaust strokes. When the mix-
ture is very lean, however, THC emissions tend to
increase due to very low flame propagation, incomplete
combustion and misfire.
Different from conventional high energy ignition sys-
tems, laser induced sparks have high surface area with peak
temperature and pressure on the order of 105 K and
103 atm, respectively. When a laser ignition system is used,
the misfire limit can be significantly extended and the total
operating envelope is increased by 46%, and half the min-
imum level of NOx emissions using the conventional spark
ignition system can be achieved with no appreciable degra-
dation in thermal efficiency while hydrocarbon emissions
are comparable. However, early ignition using a laser igni-
tion system results in a slight decrease in the knock limit
[52]. In addition, at low load and low speed, two spark
plugs per cylinder help to stabilize combustion at delayed
spark advance to light off catalyst during cold condition
[14].
3.3. Spark ignition timings
The MBT timing should take into account the reduc-
tion of flame speed and the increase of combustion dura-
tion under lean conditions. Usually, MBT spark advance
varies with the composition of natural gas and air–fuel
ratio for low fuel consumption and emissions. If ignition
timing were overly retarded in a lean burn engine, the
mixture temperature in the end zone could drop below
the misfire temperature due to expansion and quenching.
When the misfire margin approaches zero, occasional mis-
fire and poor combustion quality with increased THC
emissions occur at lean burn, late ignition timing, and
low mixture temperature conditions. Therefore, to provide
adequate combustion quality and stable combustion,
using lower lambda and advance timing at part load is
necessary as compared to the lean lambda at full load
[21]. The MBT spark timing for natural gas is advanced
between 2° and 10° crank angle more than that for gaso-
line [53]. The spark timing under lean conditions must be
advanced compared to stoichiometric operation, which
may then lead to knock. In the meantime, advancing
the spark timing can effectively extend lean limits while
keeping thermal efficiency high. Since MBT spark timings
are based on average conditions, some cycles may be
slower or faster than the average cycle. At extreme lean
operating conditions, where the flame development time
and the rapid burn periods are long, cyclic variations
inevitably limit engine operation. More spark advance
and ignition energy are required. As a result, the optimum
air–fuel ratio is related to the ignition energy and spark
timing, an adaptive control system that simultaneously
controls the air–fuel ratio and the ignition timing would
be well suited for such an application [22].
Fig. 11 [28] shows the relationship between MBT tim-
ings and equivalence ratios. As the mixture becomes leaner,
MBT timings advance. When the engine load is increased,
the increased cylinder pressure and temperature help to
promote flame propagation. Thereby, MBT timings need
somewhat lesser advance than the others.
Injection positions in the intake port also affect the mix-
ture formation in the cylinder and, hence, influence the
MBT ignition timings. Fig. 12 shows the MBT ignition tim-
ings obtained from a natural gas engine with two intake
ports shown in Fig. 8. The differences of the MBT ignition
timings between region A and region B and between region
C and region D are quite small, which suggests that the
combustion histories after the flame development periods
may be different. The steady state simulation results
showed that in the case of region B, richer mixture was
mainly distributed around the outer portion of the cylin-
der, and MBT was also retarded the most. As a result,
the mixture could not be burned completely due to insuffi-
cient time for combustion and unfavorable spatial mixture
distribution and led to the worst efficiency at all conditions.
The highest thermal efficiency was obtained in the case of
Fig. 11. MBT spark timings at different equivalence ratios [28].
 H.M. Cho, B.-Q. He / Energy Conversion and Management 48 (2007) 608–618
Fig. 12. MBT ignition timing [45].
region A because the combustion events occurred around
the cylinder center due to the lower cooling loss caused
by effective charge stratification and stable ignition [45].
Using a lean burn strategy with a carefully optimized
combustion chamber geometry, ignition system, spark igni-
tion timings and oxidation catalytic converter, natural gas
engines can meet the increasingly stringent exhaust emis-
sions targets, for example, the proposed US EPA 2007 reg-
ulation to reduce NOx and PM for heavy duty truck and
bus engines [54].
4. Stoichiometric natural gas engines
Compared to SI gasoline engines, engine out NOx emis-
sions for stoichiometric natural gas engines with early
spark timing are lower due to lower combustion velocity
while engine out THC emissions stay low at full loads
[14]. However, the thermal efficiency of stoichiometric nat-
ural gas engines is lower than that at lean conditions. One
way to get better fuel economy than pure stoichiometric
operation is to use EGR.
Usually, the flame conditions during the early flame
development are nearly laminar due to small size of the
flame compared to the integral length of turbulence. When
EGR is applied to a natural gas engine, the laminar flame
speed is more reduced compared to lean operation, due to
lower oxygen concentration in the mixture. Since EGR has
a strong influence on the early combustion, combustion
duration increases with increased EGR. Therefore, a fast
combustion chamber is required under the operating condi-
tions with high EGR rates.
Engine out HC emissions increase with the increase of
EGR since the modes with the highest amounts of EGR
have slower and colder combustion, but HC emissions
decrease with increased BMEP as shown in Fig. 13 in stoi-
chiometric conditions.
Stoichiometric natural gas engine with EGR and three
way catalyst is a preferred strategy to meet future stringent
emission regulations [55]. Einewall et al. found that NOx
615
Fig. 13. Engine out HC emissions with EGR dilution for various load
cases [15].
emissions can be reduced by 99.9% and HC emissions by
90–97% by operating the stoichiometric engine with EGR
and a three way catalyst compared to the lean high effi-
ciency strategy [15].
When three way catalysts with higher catalytic conver-
sion are used, air–fuel ratio should be precisely controlled.
A sequential multi-port injection system (MPI) can help to
precisely control air–fuel ratio as closely as possible to the
stoichiometric air–fuel ratio under any engine operating
conditions by utilizing air–fuel sensor, heated oxygen sen-
sor and fuel injection control. For the exhaust system fitted
with a close coupled converter and an under floor three
way catalytic converter, in order to achieve a higher cata-
lytic conversion efficiency, an air–fuel ratio sensor on the
upstream of a close coupled converter can be used to con-
trol the mixture at stoichiometric air–fuel ratio, and a
heated oxygen sensor on the downstream of an under floor
converter can be employed to compensate precisely the air–
fuel ratio. If the air–fuel ratio is out of the lean side of the
window at all, NOx conversion efficiency sharply
decreases. Therefore, the air–fuel ratio is controlled to shift
toward the slightly rich side. Ignition timing retard is
applied after engine start in open loop mode in order to
increase exhaust temperature and to shorten catalyst light
off times [13].
The basic demands of natural gas engines in power gen-
eration, cogeneration and vehicle markets are low exhaust
emissions (especially NOx), high brake thermal efficiency,
low fuel consumption, high power density, low investment
and low maintenance cost [56]. The lean burn natural gas
engines can achieve high thermal efficiency and moderately
low NOx emission without deNOx system. To meet strin-
gent emission regulations, lean burn engines need a rather
complex deNOx system like selective catalytic reduction
(SCR) method, which requires additional reductants. This
potentially favors the stoichiometric engine equipped with
three way catalyst, but the stoichiometric engine with three
way catalyst shows rather inferior performance to the lean
616 H.M. Cho, B.-Q. He / Energy Conversion and Management 48 (2007) 608–618
burn engine in the form of lower BMEP and lower brake
thermal efficiency. It is, therefore, important to develop
innovative methods to achieve a high BMEP, low specific
fuel consumption stoichiometric engine, with performance
competitive to that of Diesel engines [57].
To meet the demands of increased efficiency and reduced
exhaust emissions, future clean internal combustion engine
technology may combine some of the best features found in
different types of conventional technologies. The operating
mode transition from lean burn to stoichiometric burn
spark ignition engines or from SI engines to HCCI engines
may be selected, depending on speed, load and emissions
requirements.
5. Problems needed to be solved
There are several major problems when using lean burn
natural gas engines. First, the set point for the best com-
promise between emissions and fuel economy is not clear,
although wide range exhaust gas oxygen sensors have
recently become available. Second, even if this set point
is known for a given fuel and operating condition, the opti-
mum air–fuel ratio changes with both operating conditions
and fuel properties [22]. Third, the exhaust temperatures of
natural gas engines operating in lean burn conditions are
below 750 K at most operating conditions, comparable to
the base Diesel engines [12]. The lower exhaust tempera-
tures increase the difficulties in methane oxidation and
result in low THC conversion efficiency. If catalyst inlet
temperatures were always very high (>550 °C), low THC
conversion could be attributed to the increase of space
velocity (ratio of exhaust gas flow rate to catalyst volume),
since the increase of space velocity decreases the contact
time between the reactants and the catalyst [58]. Further-
more, HC emissions from natural gas engines are mainly
composed of methane. This would not be necessary if stan-
dard emissions regulations would impose different limits
for methane and non-methane hydrocarbons [14]. How-
ever, methane is the most difficult hydrocarbon to be oxi-
dized, the large methane fraction of the HC emissions
from NG engines could be a problem for three way cata-
lysts. Therefore, in order to minimize HC emissions, some
management strategies such as optimization of the mixture
formation and the internal flow characteristics is necessary,
which may lead to fuel consumption increasing. In addi-
tion, the lack of NOx emission catalytic control in lean
conditions would make problematic the compliance with
future stricter emission limits [58].
Natural gas as a vehicle fuel has low energy density
and exists in a gaseous state in the intake manifold. The
lack of latent heat of evaporation of natural gas decreases
volumetric efficiency by about 3% compared to sequential
injection gasoline engines [13]. Unless a direct injection
fuelling approach is adopted, the volumetric efficiency of
a port fuel injection (PFI) engine is reduced by between
10% and 15%, depending on engine optimizations
[11,14]. Hence, a PFI CNG engine will suffer power out-
put losses over 10% compared to the same size gasoline
engine due to the displacement of the air by the gas fuel
[59]. In fact, these performance losses can be recovered in
part by increasing the compression ratio, since natural gas
engines can be safely operated at compression ratios
approaching 15:1 provided gas quality is maintained
[59]. Intake and exhaust valves with high lift can also
be used to increase torque and power [13]. In order to off-
set power density losses due to lean operation and keep
output power and torque comparable to those of a gaso-
line or Diesel engine, high turbocharger boost is often
used to increase the amount of air in the cylinder [60].
However, lean burn at high pressure conditions requires
significant increased ignition energy to ignite mixtures
when conventional spark plug technology is used, which
significantly reduces the service life of conventional spark
plugs. The achievable boosting pressure and lean burn
limit is, therefore, primarily limited by the spark plug.
Shortened and unpredictable spark plug life causes
increasing maintenance cost [56]. Hence, durable spark
plugs are needed to be developed for high efficiency lean
burn natural gas engines.
CNG lacks the latent heat of evaporation to cool intake
charge. Accordingly, the temperatures of piston, cylinder
wall, valve and valve seat increase. Figs. 14 and 15 show
the results obtained from a four cylinder 2.2 L, 4 valve
CNG engine modified from a Camry gasoline engine at
wide open throttle (WOT). Because of the absence of the
liquid fuel spray acting as a cooling agent or lubrication
property for CNG engines like that of gasoline, intake
valves run hotter, which results in increased intake valve
and seat wear rates. When run on gaseous fuels, standard
gasoline exhaust valves are also subject to increased reces-
sion. Exhaust valve and seat materials should be developed
for natural gas engines [58]. Intake valves are also subject
to increasing deposit build up due to the lack of liquid fuel
spray with detergent additive as a cleaner. This means that
assurance of reliability against thermal loads and wear of
sliding parts is a serious issue. The durability and reliability
of a new CNG engine can be achieved and even improved,
Fig. 14. Temperature of piston and cylinder head [13].
 H.M. Cho, B.-Q. He / Energy Conversion and Management 48 (2007) 608–618
Fig. 15. Valve seat temperature [13].
mainly by selecting suitable materials and surface
treatment methods for the valves, valve seats, spark plugs
and other parts [7]. The self lubrication of exhaust valves
and valve seats can improve wear [13]. Additionally, high
strength pistons made of heat resistant material and mod-
ified water jacket design in the cylinder head can be
employed to reduce deformation. The piston pin boss in
a taper shape and the application of surface treatments
to piston top surface and skirt can also be utilized to
improve seizure resistance [13].
From the fuel storage standpoint, at the same energy
content, CNG at 20.7 MPa occupies about five times the
volume of Diesel fuel and four times the volume of petrol,
which poses a significant problem in limiting the driving
range in vehicular applications [16].
6. Conclusions
1. Lean burn is an effective way to improve fuel efficiency
and reduce NOx emissions. Lean burn limits are depen-
dent on combustion chamber geometry, ignition tim-
ings, ignition energy and turbulence. Cycle-to-cycle
variation in indicated mean effective pressure should
be controlled to operate natural gas engines under lean
burn conditions. To enhance the power density of natu-
ral gas engines, turbocharging technology should be
used. To meet stringent emission regulations, lean burn
engines need a rather complex deNOx system like selec-
tive catalytic reduction method.
2. Stoichiometric natural gas engines equipped with three
way catalyst can meet future stringent emission regula-
tions, but it needs precise air–fuel ratio control strategies
and highly efficient catalyst to oxidize methane. To get
617
better fuel economy at pure stoichiometric SI operation
conditions, the addition of EGR to a stoichiometric
mixture is one option.
3. Brake mean effective pressures of natural gas engines are
limited by knocking and thermal loading. EGR can
improve knock limit by reducing combustion tempera-
ture. The combination of Miller cycle and EGR is effec-
tive in increasing BMEP of natural gas engines.
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the Korea Research Foun-
dation Grant (KRF-2005-212-102028).
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