Applied Energy 143 (2015) 262–270

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Applied Energy
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/apenergy

Injection strategy for simultaneous reduction of NOx and soot emissions

using two-stage injection in DME fueled engine
Su Han Park a, Seung Hyun Yoon b,⇑
a
School of Mechanical Engineering, Chonnam National University, 77 Yongbong-ro, Buk-gu, Gwangju 500-757, Republic of Korea
b
Division of Automotive Engineering, Yeungnam College of Science & Technology, 170 Hyeon chung-ro, Nam-gu, Daegu 705-703, Republic of Korea

h i g h l i g h t s

 The two-stage injection strategy is applied to reduce emissions.

 NOx and soot can be reduced by multiple injection below single injection mode.
nd
 The pilot injection strategy with advanced 2 injection is best to the reduction of emissions.

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The ultimate purpose of this study is the reduction of exhaust emissions from a dimethyl ether (DME)
Received 25 September 2014 fueled diesel engine without deterioration of engine performance, such as indicated mean effective pres-
Received in revised form 8 January 2015 sure (IMEP) and indicated specific fuel consumption (ISFC). In this study, we applied multiple injection
Accepted 12 January 2015
strategies to achieve the research goal. In a comparison between diesel and DME single injection combus-
Available online 30 January 2015
tion, the IMEP in both fuels was similar around the top dead center (TDC) injection condition (this is the
typical injection timing). However, the nitrogen oxide (NOx) emission in DME was higher than that in die-
Keywords:
sel. The single injection combustion in DME and diesel was compared on the basis of the same energy
DME (dimethyl ether)
Multiple injection strategy
input condition. When the injection timing was advanced in order to reduce the DME NOx emission,
NOx (nitrogen oxides) emission the IMEP in DME decreased below the diesel level. Therefore, multiple injection strategies, including pilot
Pilot injection strategy injection, split injection, and advanced + post injection, were applied in this study. In the experimental
results, the pilot injection strategy with advanced main injection (2nd injection) resulted in the lowest
NOx, HC, and CO emissions. In the case of soot emission, DME itself has soot free combustion, and emitted
an ignorable amount of soot. Moreover, the pilot injection strategy showed the highest IMEP level and the
lowest ISFC level in the test conditions.
Ó 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
In order to replace depleting fossil fuels and satisfy the
strengthened emission regulation, the research and development
of various environmentally-friendly alternative fuels is critically
needed. Dimethyl ether (DME) has attracted attention as a substi-
tute for conventional diesel fuel in a compression ignition (CI) die-
sel engine with high thermal efficiency. Hence, over the past few
decades, many researchers have attempted to apply DME to the
CI engine [1–4]. Because DME has a smaller lower heating value
(LHV), it should be supplied at a greater amount than diesel by
1.67 times in order to supply DME corresponding to diesel with
the same energy density [5]. In addition, the low viscosity and
bad lubricity of DME induce wear of moving part and fuel leakage
⇑ Corresponding author. Tel.: +82 53 650 9231; fax: +82 53 625 0863.
E-mail address: shyoon@ync.ac.kr (S.H. Yoon).
in the engine. Therefore, some modifications in the fuel supply sys-
tem are needed. On the other hand, DME has a higher cetane num-
ber than diesel, which is a very important factor for determining
the combustion quality. Moreover, soot free combustion is possible
because DME has no carbon-to-carbon bond (CH3–O–CH3). DME
can be produced from various sources, such as natural gas, crude
oil, propane, residual oil, coal and biomass waste products [6].
Therefore, DME is sufficiently suitable as a substitute of diesel.
Due to these characteristics of DME, the spray, atomization, com-
bustion and exhaust emissions of the DME fueled diesel engine
system, as well as the applicability and properties of DME, have
been investigated by many researchers [7–9].
Park and Lee [6,10], Thomas et al. [11], and Arcoumanis et al.
[12] summarized the overall characteristics of DME combustion
and emissions in a diesel engine, including fuel properties, spray
and atomization. In addition, Teng et al. [5,13–16] spent several
years analytically studying DME fuel in terms of its properties,

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2015.01.049
0306-2619/Ó 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
 S.H. Park, S.H. Yoon / Applied Energy 143 (2015) 262–270
Nomenclature
BTDC before top dead center (°)
CA crank angle (°)
CO carbon monoxide
DME dimethyl ether
HC hydrocarbon
IMEP indicated mean effective pressure (bar)
IS- indicated specific-
ISFC indicated specific fuel consumption (g/kW h)
mdiesel injection quantity of diesel (mg)
spray characteristics, combustion and emissions characteristics. In
order to improve the combustion performance and reduce emis-
sions from the DME fueled engine, various new injection technol-
ogies have been applied to the DME engine. Suh et al. [17]
studied the effect of multiple injection strategies on the neat
dimethyl ether (DME) fuel atomization and reduction of exhaust
emission characteristics in a compression ignition (CI) engine. Pilot
and split injections under various injection mass and timing condi-
tions as a multiple injection strategy were applied to reveal their
effect on the improvement of spray atomization and the reduction
of exhaust emissions. In their research, it was revealed that multi-
ple injection strategies for DME fuels lead to poor atomization
characteristics, and can achieve a simultaneous reduction of NOx
and soot emissions in comparison to single injection results. Suh
et al. [17] also reported that the advance of the first injection tim-
ing caused the gradual decrease of NOx emission without increas-
ing soot emissions. Yoon et al. [18] researched the effect of spray
angle and injection strategy on DME combustion, emissions char-
acteristics, and particle size distribution characteristics in a com-
mon-rail diesel engine. They revealed that the combustion
pressure from single combustion for narrow-angle injectors (60°
and 70°) increased, compared to the results of the wide-angle
injector (156°) with advanced injection timing. DME combustion
for all test injectors indicated low levels of soot emissions. NOx
emissions for narrow-angle injectors simultaneously increased in
proportion to the advance in injection timing up to BTDC 25°,
whereas this was BTDC 20° for the wide-angle injector. For multi-
ple injections, the combustion pressure and rate of heat release
(ROHR) of the first injection with narrow-angle injectors are com-
busted more actively, and the ignition delay of the second injected
fuel is shorter than with the wide-angle injector. In addition, they
reported that the particle numbers of narrow-angle injectors (60°
and 70°) were similar between multiple and single injections.
The injector with a 60° angle showed a smaller total particle vol-
ume than the injector with a 70° angle, despite the higher total
particle number. However, the injector with a wide-angle (156°)
revealed the higher total number and total volume of particles
due to the increase in particle size.
As mentioned in various studies regarding DME combustion,
the weakest aspect of DME fuel in a diesel engine is the high NOx
emission. In order to reduce the NOx emission, the exhaust gas
recirculation (EGR) [19] method and an after-treatment device
have usually been used [20,21]. However, the disadvantage of
EGR is the decrease of engine performance and an increase of other
emissions (soot, HC, and CO) [22–24]. Furthermore, after-treat-
ment devices, such as lean NOx trap (LNT), Urea selective catalytic
reduction (SCR) incur costs. Therefore, the authors have attempted
to decrease the NOx emission without deterioration of soot emis-
sion and engine performance in a common-rail diesel engine with-
out using an after-treatment device and EGR system. Zheng et al.
[25] have investigated that the effect of two-stage injection on
combustion and emissions characteristics in a diesel engine. They
263
mDME injection quantity of DME (mg)
NOx nitrogen oxides
Pinj injection pressure (bar)
ROPR rate of pressure rising (bar / °)
Sengine engine speed (rpm)
TDC top dead center (°)
s injection timing (°)
u equivalence ratio
revealed that the application of pilot injection close to main injec-
tion caused the reduction of the peak of premixed heat release rate
and maximum pressure rise rate. Also, they reported that the inter-
val between pilot and main injections is important to reduce the
smoke emission. Zhuang et al. [26] also studied the effect of injec-
tion strategy (single injection and multiple injection) on combus-
tion performance and emission characteristics in a direct
injection diesel engine. They reported that the application of pilot
injection can reduce NOx emission with an acceptable level of soot
emission. Besides above two studies, there are more literatures
about multiple injection combustion strategy including two-stage
injection [27–29].
The purpose of this study is to find optimal injection strategies
for the simultaneous reduction of NOx and soot emission without
the deterioration of engine performance, as well as the achieve-
ment of low HC and CO emission. In order to achieve this purpose,
DME was used in this study, and three types of injection strategies
with multiple injections were introduced.
2. Experimental setup and procedure
2.1. Experimental setup
A modified single-cylinder diesel engine with a common-rail
direct injection system was used in this study as shown in Fig. 1.
The fuel supply and return system were modified for DME. As
shown in Fig. 1, the DME fuel tank was pressurized over 6 bar
(0.6 MPa) by nitrogen gas for supplying a liquid phase DME. The
fuel return part in test injector was also modified to keep pressure
over 6 bar. The compression ratio and displacement volume of the
test engine are 17.8 and 373.3 cc, respectively. Table 1 shows the
detailed engine specifications. In order to control the DME engine,
a DC dynamometer with 55 kW was used. The combustion pres-
sure from the engine combustion chamber was measured using a
piezoelectric pressure transducer (6057A80, Kistler) coupled to a
charge amplifier (5018A, Kistler), and was acquired using a PC-
based data acquisition system. In addition, the injection timing,
fuel injection quantity, and injection strategies were controlled
by an injector driver (TDA-3300, TEMS). Exhaust emissions, such
as HC, CO, NOx, and soot, were measured and analyzed using an
emission analyzer (Horiba, MEXA-554JK) and soot analyzer (AVL,
AVL-415-S) with a filter paper method. In order to supply a
liquid-phase DME fuel, a gas-phase DME was pressurized at over
6 bar with nitrogen gas. The detailed specifications for the emis-
sion analyzer, and the properties information for DME and diesel
are listed in Tables 2 and 3, respectively.
2.2. Experimental procedure
In this study, the injection pressure and engine speed were
fixed at 600 bar and 1200 rpm, respectively. In a single injection
mode, the injection timing, which is called ‘start of energizing’
264 S.H. Park, S.H. Yoon / Applied Energy 143 (2015) 262–270

Pressure controller
High pressure pump

Common-rail

N2
tank
DME Fuel
tank
Injector

Exhaust

Pre-mixed
chamber Smoke
meter
Pressure Exhaust gas
sensor analyzer
(NOx, HC, CO)
Air flow
meter
Encoder
Charge
amplifier
Timing pulse
generator
Air compressor

Data Experimental DC
acquisition system engine Dynamometer

Fig. 1. Schematic of experimental apparatus.

Table 1 Table 3
Specifications of single-cylinder diesel engine. Physical and chemical properties of diesel and DME.

Item Specification Property DME Diesel

Engine type Direct injection diesel engine Chemical formula CH3OCH3 C8–C25
Number of cylinder 1 Molar mass 46.07 200
Bore  stroke 75.0 mm  84.5 mm Vapor pressure at 20 °C, bar 5.1 <0.01
Displacement volume 373.3 cc Boiling temperature, °C 25 150–380
Fuel injection system Bosch common rail Liquid density at 20 °C, kg/m3 660 800–840
Valve type DOHC 4 valves Liquid viscosity at 25 °C, kg/ms 0.12–0.15 2–4
Compression ratio 17.8 Gas specific gravity (vs air) 1.59 –
Lower heating value, MJ/kg 28.43 42.5
Injector
Cetane number 55–60 40–55
Number of hole 6
Stoichiometric A/F ratio, kg/kg 9.0 14.6
Hole diameter 0.128 mm
Enthalpy of vaporization at NTPa, kJ/kg 460 ( 20 °C) 250a
Spray angle 156°
a
Normal temperature and pressure.

Table 2
Specifications of the exhaust emission analyzer.
each injection amount of diesel and DME is 10 mg and 16.4 mg,
Item Specification respectively, because the LHV of DME is 1.4-fold lower than that
Model MEXA-554JKNOx (Horiba) of diesel fuel. On the other hand, three types of injection strategies
NOx Principle of measurement CO, HC: non-dispersive infrared rays were applied in this study, including pilot injection (mode 1), split
HC NOx: chemical method (ECS sensor) injection (mode 2), and advanced + post injections (mode 3). Gen-
CO Measuring range HC: 0–10,000 ppm vol.
CO: 0–10 vol.%
erally, the pilot injection strategy (mode 1) is used to reduce the
NOx: 0–4000 ppm engine noise and NOx emissions [30,31], and the split injection
Measuring accuracy HC: ±12 ppm vol. strategy (mode 2) was used in order to reduce both particulate
CO: ±0.06 vol.% matter and NOx emission from the diesel engine [32–34]. In the
NOx: less than ±1.0%
advanced + post injections strategy (mode 3), the first injection
Response 90% response within 10 s
with a relatively large injection amount was injected at the
Soot Model AVL-415S
advanced injection timing (generally, around BTDC 30°), and the
Principle of measurement Filter paper method
Measuring range 0–10 FSN (0–32,000 mg/m3) second injection with a relatively small injection amount was
Repeatability 0.005 FSN + 3% injected at around TDC. The diagram for these injection strategies
Response 0.001 FSN/0.01 mg/m3 is shown in Fig. 2.
On the other hand, the combustion pressure data was ensem-
(SOE) in this study, was changed from TDC to BTDC 40° as an inter- ble-averaged at over 300 cycles in order to compensate for the
val of 5°. The SOE was determined as the time when the injection cycle-to-cycle variations. The combustion pressure data was ana-
signal was conducted to the injector. For single injection mode, lyzed to calculate the rate of heat release (ROHR) using the first
 S.H. Park, S.H. Yoon / Applied Energy 143 (2015) 262–270
Fig. 2. Injection strategies for the simultaneous reduction of NOx and soot
emissions from DME combustion.
law of thermodynamics. Detailed test conditions are listed in
Table 4.
3. Results and discussions
3.1. Comparison of combustion and emission characteristics of diesel
and DME in a single-injection combustion mode
Fig. 3 shows a comparison of the IMEP and ISFC characteristics
of diesel and DME fuels in a single injection mode. As shown in
Fig. 3(a), the IMEPs in diesel and DME fuels showed decreasing
trends with the advance of injection timing. In contrast to the IMEP
in conventional injection timings (around TDC), the IMEP at BTDC
30° crank angle (CA) has a decreased value of about 62.7%. This
explains why the advance of injection timing induced the ignition
before TDC, which caused the increase of negative work. With the
advance of injection timing, the IMEP in DME combustion showed
a lower value than that in diesel combustion. This is why the DME
with a high cetane number ignited earlier than diesel; conse-
quently, it affected the increase of the negative work of DME com-
bustion although diesel and DME were supplied to the combustion
cylinder as the same energy density. On the other hand, the slightly
Table 4
Experimental conditions.
Engine speed (rev/min)
Intake temperature (K)
Mass flow rate of intake air (kg/h)
Overall equivalence ratio
Injection pressure (bar)
Injection timing and injection quantity
Single injection
Multiple injection Pilot injection (mode 1)
Split injection (mode 2)
Advanced + post injection (mode 3)
265
high IMEP of DME can be found around the injection conditions of
BTDC 5° and TDC, compared to that of diesel. The reasons for high
IMEP of DME can be explained by non-luminous flame [35] and
higher combustion efficiency of DME [36]. The non-luminous flame
implies a lower heat radiation; consequently, the cooling loss can
be reduced through the cylinder wall [35]. In addition, the higher
combustion efficiency means the low fraction of incomplete com-
bustion product such as HC and CO [36]. From the results of
Fig. 3(a), it can be seen that the excessive advance of injection tim-
ing for the reduction of exhaust emissions may induce the signifi-
cant deterioration of combustion performance.
Fig. 3(b) shows the fuel consumption characteristics of diesel
and DME fuels. With the advance of injection timing, the ISFC gen-
erally increased. This result concurs closely with the IMEP results,
and it commonly has an inverse proportion to IMEP. Fig. 3(b)
shows the high fuel consumption in DME combustion. This result
can be explained as follows. As shown in Table 3, DME has a lower
LHV than diesel. Therefore, DME was supplied by as much as 1.64
times compared to diesel in order to supply the same energy per
injection. In Fig. 3(b), the average fuel consumption of DME is lar-
ger than that of diesel at about 71% of all the injection conditions.
This ratio of fuel consumption in diesel and DME is the same as the
ratio of the amount of fuel supply in both fuels.
Fig. 4 shows the combustion characteristics such as combustion
pressure, rate of heat release (ROHR), and rate of pressure rise
(ROPR) characteristics of diesel and DME in a single injection
mode. The combustion characteristics of diesel and DME fuels were
compared at two injection timings of TDC and BTDC 30° CA. The
primary combustion characteristics (premixed combustion dura-
tion and ignition delay) are listed in Table 5. As shown in Fig. 4,
the ignition in DME occurred in advance because of the high cetane
number (at TDC: about 0.5 CA degrees, at BTDC 30°: about 1.5 CA
degrees). In the TDC injection case, the ignition in both fuels was
started in the expansion stroke, and the peak combustion pressure
in DME is higher than that in diesel because DME was ignited
under a higher ambient temperature and ambient pressure. The
other reason for the high peak combustion pressure of DME is
the greater fuel injection of DME. These combustion characteristics
in TDC affected a slightly high IMEP of DME as shown in Fig. 3(a). In
the ROHR and ROPR curves, the peaks of DME at TDC injection
were slightly lower than those of diesel. This can be explained by
the fact that DME combustion has an insufficient air–fuel mixing
period due to the short ignition delay. On the other hand, the diesel
combustion with the relatively sufficient premixing period rapidly
progressed immediately after ignition, and was then represented
as a higher peak value in ROHR and ROPR. In addition, the combus-
tion period of DME is longer than that of diesel in the comparison
of the ROHR curves of both fuels due to the longer injection dura-
tion. These phenomena also affected the lower peak of ROHR in
DME combustion.
1200
320 ± 5
12.34
0.43
600
Injection timing Injection quantity
BTDC 40°–TDC (5° step) mfuel,diesel = 10 mg mfuel,DME = 16.4 mg
 1st injection: BTDC 30° 4.9 mg + 11.5 mg
 2nd injection: BTDC 5°, TDC, ATDC 5° 8.2 mg + 8.2 mg
11.5 mg + 4.9 mg
266 S.H. Park, S.H. Yoon / Applied Energy 143 (2015) 262–270

6 120 450
Pinj=600bar, Global φ: 0.43, single injection
Pinj=600bar, Sengine=1200rpm
τ=TDC τ=BTDC 30 o 400

Combustion pressure (bar)

mfuel,diesel=10mg, mfuel,DME=16.4mg 100
5 diesel 350
diesel DME DME

ROHR (J/degree)
80 300
4
IMEP (bar)

250
60
200
3 -62.7%
40 150
2 20 100
50
1 0
0
-40 -20 0 20 40
0
-40 -30 -20 -10 0 Crank angle (deg. ATDC)
Injection timing (deg. ATDC) (a) Combustion pressure and ROHR
(a) IMEP
25
Pinj=600bar, Global φ: 0.43, single injection
1200 τ=TDC τ=BTDC 30o
Pinj=600bar, Sengine =1200rpm
20 diesel
DME

ROPR (bar/degree)
m fuel,diesel =10mg,mfuel,DME =16.4mg
diesel DME 15
900
ISFC (g/kWh)

10

600
5

0
300

-40 -20 0 20 40

0 Crank angle (deg. ATDC)

-40 -30 -20 -10 0 (b) ROPR
Injection timing (deg. ATDC)
Fig. 4. Combustion characteristics of diesel and DME fuels in TDC and BTDC 30°
(b) ISFC injection timings.

Fig. 3. Comparison of IMEP and ISFC characteristics of DME and diesel fuels in
various injection timing conditions.

tumble flow. Most of the injected spray at Region C flows into

In the condition of the BTDC 30° injection, DME also showed
higher peak combustion pressure due to the larger fuel injection
amount. In contrast to the TDC condition, the peaks of ROHR and
ROPR in DME combustion are higher than those in diesel combus-
tion. The significant reason for this result is the difference of pro-
cess; BTDC 30° injection is under a compressed process, while
TDC injection is under an expanded process. Although DME has
short ignition delay, its low boiling temperature provides better
fuel/air mixing and superior atomization due to the flash boiling
effect. Hence, DME combustion in the BTDC 30° injection condition
has a shorter combustion period and a higher peak ROHR and ROPR
than diesel combustion.
Fig. 5(a) compares the ISNOx emission characteristics of diesel
and DME are shown in wide injection conditions from BTDC 40°
through to TDC with the interval of 5°. Fig. 5(b) shows the spray
targeting points for various injection timings, which were
extracted from Ref. [37] in order to enhance understanding. As
shown in Fig. 5(a), the comparison of ISNOx emissions characteris-
tics in diesel and DME showed different results according to the
injection timings. Hence, the regions of injection timings were
divided into three parts, including Region A, Region B, and Region
C, for convenience of explanation. The spray targeting characteris-
tic of each region corresponded to the region shown in Fig. 5(b). For
example, when the fuel was injected at Region A, most of the
injected spray reached the deepest points in the piston bowl. In
the case of Region B, the injected spray was targeted to the upper
side of the piston bowl, then progressed along to the wall with
the crevice or squish areas. Detailed information with spray images
can be found in Ref. [37]. In the comparison of ISNOx emission in
Region A, DME emitted larger NOx than diesel. This can be
explained by the oxygen effect in DME. When both fuels are
injected in Region A, the injected spray forms a mixture with air
for ignition, and can utilize most of the oxygen in the combustion
chamber. Hence, both fuels actively combust using oxygen in the
piston bowl. In the case of DME, combustion that is more active
is possible because DME can use more of its oxygen. Consequently,
the cylinder temperature in the DME combustion increased more
than that in diesel combustion, and it then provided more appro-
priate environment for the formation of NOx. Therefore, the ISNOx
from DME is higher than that from diesel. On the other hand, when
the injection timing is advanced to Region B, the ISNOx emission
from DME is lower than that from diesel. In Region B, the injected
spray forms a more uniform mixture than in Region A and Region
C. Due to the oxygen contents of DME, a leaner air/fuel mixture is
formed in DME combustion. In addition, the superior evaporation
characteristics of DME decrease the in-cylinder temperature.
Therefore, for the above reasons, DME combustion emitted lower
ISNOx emission than diesel combustion. In addition, the tempera-
ture reduction due to the evaporation of DME explains the lower
ISNOx than diesel. Finally, in the section for NOx emission in the
single combustion mode, the ISNOx from DME seems higher than
that from diesel in Region C. This is due to the incomplete combus-
tion of diesel. This result can be explained in more detail using
soot, HC, and CO emission as shown in Fig. 6.
 S.H. Park, S.H. Yoon / Applied Energy 143 (2015) 262–270 267

Table 5 diesel is lower than that from DME in Region C. This is because die-
Ignition delay and premixed combustion duration (CA10–CA50) in Fig. 4. sel spray is mostly emitted as soot after combustion reaction as
Premixed combustion Ignition delay (°) shown in Fig. 6(a). However, unburned DME emitted as HC because
duration (CA10*–CA50**) (°) DME does not form soot emission due to the absence of C–C bond.
Diesel (s = TDC) 1.4 6.6 Therefore, it seems that DME emitted higher ISHC than diesel in
DME (s = TDC) 2.3 6.1 Region C. In the injection timings corresponding to Region A and
Diesel (s = BTDC 30°) 1.6 12.8 Region B (after BTDC 25°), the ISSoot, ISCO, and ISHC emissions
DME (s = BTDC 30°) 1.1 11.3
from DME are very low, and close to zero emission, or these emis-
*
CA10: the crank angle at which 10% of the total heat release has occurred. sions are much lower than those from diesel.
**
CA50: the crank angle at which 50% of the total heat release has occurred. Figs. 5 and 6 illustrate that DME showed lower HC, CO, and Soot
emissions than diesel, while NOx in DME combustion showed
higher emission than that in diesel at the same energy supply con-
ditions. These results are almost similar to those reported in other
60 literatures. In order to minimize the ISNOx emissions of DME below
Pinj=600bar, Sengine=1200rpm
diesel emissions, the injection timing should be advanced as
mfuel,diesel=10mg, mfuel,DME=16.4mg
diesel DME
shown in the results in Fig. 5 (such as Region B). However, the
advance of injection timing induced some deterioration of combus-
ISNO x (g/kWh)

40 tion performance, such as the decrease of IMEP and the increase of

20
Region C Region B
0 Three types of multiple injection strategies are introduced in
-40 -30 -20
Injection timing (deg. ATDC)
(a) ISNOx
(b) Spray targeting for injection timings [38]
Fig. 5. ISNOx emission and spray targeting points of DME and diesel in various
injection timings. ((b) Was cited from Ref. [30]).
Fig. 6 shows the ISSoot, ISCO, and ISHC emissions characteristics
of diesel and DME in a single injection mode. In the injection tim-
ings before BTDC 25° (corresponding to Region C), DME showed
very low ISSoot, ISCO emission, and high ISHC emission results.
As mentioned in the above section (Fig. 5), these results can be
explained as the incomplete combustion of diesel fuel. When the
injection timing advanced before BTDC 25°, the injected spray tar-
geted toward the piston lib or squish or ultimately to the cylinder
wall. The diesel spray then reached the wall of the piston or cylin-
der because the diesel spray has a longer spray tip penetration and
worse evaporation characteristics than the DME spray [38–41]. The
impinged spray formed a thin fuel film on the wall. These fuel films
create incomplete combustion and a locally fuel-rich region. The
incomplete combustion provides more CO emission and the fuel-
rich region create soot emission. In addition, the incomplete com-
bustion induced a low in-cylinder temperature; consequently, the
ISNOx emission from diesel combustion is lower than the DME
combustion as shown in Fig. 5. On the other hand, the ISHC from
ISFC. Therefore, various multiple injection strategies are applied in
order to reduce the exhaust emissions while maintaining the com-
bustion performance in this study.
3.2. Two-stage injection strategies for emission reduction from DME
combustion
Region A
-10 0
this study. The results from multiple injection were compared to
the results from single combustion mode at TDC and BTDC 30°.
In multiple injection strategies, the injection pressure was fixed
at 600 bar, and the first injection timing was also fixed at BTDC 30°.
Fig. 7 shows a comparison of the ISNOx emissions from various
multiple injection strategies and single combustion mode of diesel
and DME. First, the ISNOx emission from the three combustion
modes with multiple injections showed lower than single combus-
tion modes in diesel and DME when the second injection timing
was TDC. When the second injection timing was advanced, the
ISNOx in mode 1 and mode 2 significantly decreased, and that in
mode 3 increased compared to the single combustion results at
the TDC injection timing in diesel and DME. In addition, the
retarded second injection timing induced the increase of ISNOx
emission in mode 1 and mode 2, while the ISNOx in mode 3
decreased. The main feature in the three combustion modes with
multiple injection strategies is the ratio of injection quantity in
the first and second timings. The first injection quantity increases
according to the change from mode 1 through to mode 3. As shown
in Fig. 7, the combination of the pilot injection and advanced main
injection resulted in the lowest ISNOx emission in all test condi-
tions. The higher IMEP characteristics of mode 1 with advanced
main injection, is one of the reasons for the lowest ISNOx emission.
Fig. 8 shows the ISsoot emission results from the various multi-
ple injection strategies. As shown in the figure, the soot emission
values from DME combustion are very low compared to the diesel
soot emission. Although little difference is shown between the
injection strategies, they cannot be compared because they are sig-
nificantly low. In the same injection mode, the advance and retar-
dation of the main injection caused an increase of the ISSoot
emission.
The comparison of ISHC and ISCO emissions in the single and
multiple combustion strategies of diesel and DME are shown in
Figs. 9 and 10. The change of modes from mode 1 through to mode
3 caused the increase of ISHC and ISCO in all test cases. The change
of mode implies an increase of injection quantity at first timing,
which then causes an increase of incomplete combustion fraction.
On the other hand, the change of the second injection timing has
little influence on the ISHC and ISCO emissions at each combustion
mode. Therefore, it can be said that the ISHC and ISCO emissions
268 S.H. Park, S.H. Yoon / Applied Energy 143 (2015) 262–270

1.2 Pinj=600bar, Global φ: 0.43

Pinj=600bar, Sengine=1200rpm 25 st o
1 injecon ming: BTDC 30 (fix)
m fuel,diesel =10mg, mfuel,DME=16.4mg Pilot injecon Split injecon Adv. + post injecon
0.9 diesel DME
20
ISsoot (g/kWh)

DME (τ=BTDC 30o)

ISNOx (g/kWh)
0.6 Diesel (τ=BTDC 30o)
15

0.3 DME (τ=TDC)

10
Diesel (τ=TDC)

0.0 5 Change of 2nd injection

timing

-40 -30 -20 -10 0 0

TDC injection -- -- Adv. injection -- Ret. injection
Injection timing (deg. ATDC)
Injection strategy
(a) ISsoot
Fig. 7. ISNOx emission characteristics of DME fueled diesel engine in various two-
120 stage injection strategies (change of 2nd injection timings and injection strategy).
Pinj=600bar, Sengine =1200rpm
mfuel,diesel =10mg, m fuel,DME=16.4mg
diesel DME
90 Pinj=600bar, Global φ: 0.43
2.0 1st injecon ming: BTDC 30o (fix)
ISCO (g/kWh)

Pilot injecon Split injecon Adv. + post injecon

60 Diesel soot emission
τ=BTDC 30o : 0.1743g/kWh
ISsoot (g/kWh, *10-3)
1.5 τ=TDC : 0.0055g/kWh

30
1.0
DME (τ=TDC)

0
Change of 2nd injection
0.5 timing
-40 -30 -20 -10 0
Injection timing (deg. ATDC) DME (τ=BTDC 30o)

(b) ISCO 0.0

TDC injection -- -- Adv. injection -- Ret. injection
10 Injection strategy
Pinj=600bar, Sengine =1200rpm
mfuel,diesel =10mg, m fuel,DME =16.4mg Fig. 8. ISsoot emission characteristics of DME fueled diesel engine in various two-
8 diesel DME stage injection strategies (change of 2nd injection timings and injection strategy).
ISHC (g/kWh)

6
Pinj=600bar, Global φ: 0.43
4 1st injecon ming: BTDC 30 o (fix)
4
Pilot injecon Split injecon Adv. + post injecon

DME (τ=BTDC 30o)

2 3
ISHC (g/kWh)

0
-40 -30 -20 -10
Injection timing (deg. ATDC)
(c) ISHC
Fig. 6. Comparison of ISsoot, ISCO, and ISHC emissions in DME and diesel
combustion.
were mainly affected by the first injection strategies. In terms of
the ISHC and ISCO emissions, combustion mode 1 is superior to
the other combustion modes. Combustion mode 1 showed the
lower ISHC and ISCO than diesel and DME combustion at BTDC 30°.
Fig. 11 shows the combustion performance including IMEP and
ISFC in diesel and DME combustion. In a single combustion mode
of diesel and DME, IMEP at the injection timing of TDC is approxi-
mately 4.6–4.8 bar. As shown in Fig. 11(a), combustion mode 1
2
0 Change of 2 nd injection
timing
1 Diesel (τ=BTDC 30o)
DME, diesel (τ=TDC)
0
TDC injection -- -- Adv. injection -- Ret. injection
Injection strategy
Fig. 9. ISHC emission characteristics of DME fueled diesel engine in various two-
stage injection strategies (change of 2nd injection timings and injection strategy).
showed almost 4.8 bar, regardless of the second injection timings.
The IMEP of combustion modes 2 and 3 is lower than that of com-
bustion mode 1. However, these are higher than IMEP at BTDC 30°
in diesel and DME single combustion. Generally, as shown in
 S.H. Park, S.H. Yoon / Applied Energy 143 (2015) 262–270 269

Pinj=600bar, Global φ: 0.43 4. Conclusions

40 1st injecon ming: BTDC 30o (fix)
Pilot injecon Split injecon Adv. + post injecon 1. By advancing the injection timing, the ISNOx in DME can be
DME (τ=BTDC 30o)
reduced below that in diesel. However, this induces the deteri-
30 Diesel (τ=BTDC 30o) : 88.92g/kWh
oration of IMEP. In addition, the adjustment of the injection
timing (e.g., BTDC 25°–BTDC 20°) can reduce the emission
ISCO (g/kWh)

region in a DME single injection combustion mode.

20 2. ISNOx and ISSoot emissions can be reduced below the levels of
Change of 2nd injection
the diesel single injection combustion mode due to the multiple
timing injection. In addition, ISNOx emission was show when the 2nd
10
injection was triggered in advance at the pilot injection mode.
ISHC and ISCO emissions increased with the increase of the
1st injection quantity. The injection timing of the 2nd injection
Diesel (τ=TDC)
DME (τ=TDC) has little influence on the ISHC and ISCO emissions.
0
TDC injection -- -- Adv. injection -- Ret. injection 3. The IMEP showed the highest level and the ISFC showed
Injection strategy the lowest level at the pilot injection combustion mode.
The 2nd injection timing has little effect on IMEP and ISFC
Fig. 10. ISCO emission characteristics of DME fueled diesel engine in various two- characteristics.
stage injection strategies (change of 2nd injection timings and injection strategy). 4. Synthesizing the experimental results of this study, the pilot
injection strategy with advanced 2nd injection timing is
optimal to achieve the simultaneous reduction of ISNOx and
ISSoot emission without deterioration of engine performance
7 (IMEP and ISFC), with low ISHC and ISCO emissions.
P ni j=600bar, Global φ : 0.43
1st injection timing: BTDC 30o (fix)
DME injection strategy
6 Pilot injection Split injection Adv. + post injection

Acknowledgement
IMEP (bar)

5
This study was financially supported by Chonnam National Uni-
versity, 2014.
4

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