2009 Second International Conference on Environmental and Computer Science
Lambda Characterization of Diesel-CNG Dual Fuel Engine
R.R. Saraf
Research Scholar, MNIT, Jaipur India.
Email-rsaraf_123@yahoo.com
Dr. S.S. Thipse
Asstt. Director, ARAI, Pune, India
Email-thpse.edl@araiindia.com
Abstract-India today is facing challenge of energy depletion
and environmental pollution. The transport sector in India is
major energy consuming sector. The dependence on liquid
fuels in road transport sector is deep routed and is increasing
exponentially as the number of vehicles on road is shooting
up. Besides dependence on liquid oil environmental pollution
is another problem which modern society is facing today. The
exhaust from liquid fuel is diminishing air quality day by day
which is increasing human health problems like respiratory
diseases, increasing hospitalization, decreasing visibility
during peak hours in Indian metros. It is therefore necessary
to switch over to alternate fuels like CNG which is clean
alternative fuel.CNG has clean burning properties and CNG
vehicles generate fewer exhaust and greenhouse gas emissions
than their gasoline or diesel powered counterparts.CNG costs
about 15 to 40 % less than gasoline or diesel.CNG can be used
on dedicated engine which exclusively operates on natural gas
or dual fuel engine, with diesel. Dual fuel engines offer
number of potential advantages like fuel flexibility, lower
emissions, higher compression ratio, better efficiency and easy
conversion of existing engines. In order to understand
operation of diesel-CNG dual fuel engine it is necessary to
study effect of CNG substitution on lambda of engine.
Lambda is excess air ratio which is ratio of actual air fuel
ratio to stoichiometric air fuel ratio. This paper presents
lambda characterization analysis using diesel-CNG dual fuel
engine. Value of lambda has been calculated for each
percentage substitution of diesel by using Brettschneider
equation. Lambda has been calculated from percentages of
pollutants like Carbon dioxide, Carbon monoxide, Nitrogen
oxides and oxygen. Computed lambda was plotted with % of
substitution, speed, power and torque. Results and graphs
have been discussed in paper.
Keywords: CNG, Compressed natural gas,Brettschneider
Equation, Lambda Characterization, Diesel, Dual Fuel,
Engine.
I. INTRODUCTION
In diesel-CNG dual fuel engine mixture of natural gas
and air is induced in engine cylinder and is compressed
during compression stroke.CNG is mixed with air in mixer
978-0-7695-3937-9/09 $26.00 © 2009 IEEE
DOI 10.1109/ICECS.2009.29
Dr.P.K.Saxena
Prof.in mech engg,MNIT,Jaipur,India
email- pksaxena24@gmail.com
and then supplied to engine cylinder. Air fuel mixture in
cylinder is ignited by injecting small quantity of diesel called
as pilot injection in cylinder at the end of compression
stroke. Diesel is ignited due to heat of compression and then
burns CNG which produces work in engine cylinder.
Compressed natural gas has advantages like high octane
number, wide flammability range, low exhaust emissions,
capability to form homogeneous air fuel mixture, low
photochemical reactivity and lower toxicity of exhaust gases
as compared to diesel engine.
CNG is found in petroleum reservoirs. It is derived from
the remains of plant, animals and microorganisms that lived
millions of year ago. It consists predominantly of methane
(CH4).It also contains ethane (C2H6), propane (C3H8),
butane (C4H10) and pentane (C5H12). [1]
II. CURRENT TRENDS IN WORLDWIDE DUAL
FUEL ENGINE TECHNOLOGY
Main applications of dual fuel engines are railway
engines, marine vessels, heavy duty trucks, buses and power
generation systems. Detroit diesel corporation and Stewart
and Stevenson have developed dual fuel system for two
stroke diesel transit bus engine.Pielstick has developed PA 5
DF four cylinder dual fuel engine which produced 224
kW/cylinder [2,3]. Energy conversions Inc.has converted
locomotive diesel engines to dual fuel engines for Burlington
Northern Railroad. Cooper Cleanburn TM and the
Coltec/Fairbanks Morse were converted to dual fuel
operation with prechamber [4, 5].
Literature review shows different experimental aspects of
dual fuel engine. Impact of gas air composition on
combustion parameters of dual fuel engine was studied [6].A
single cylinder compression ignition DI engine with bore 90
mm,stroke 90 mm,compression ratio 16.8 and power 6.1 kW
was tested. It was observed that composition of inlet gas air
mixture influences events of gas combustion. In rich range of
gas air mixture, rate of gas combustion determines
parameters of combustion like pressure, rate of pressure rise
and heat release rate. In lean range of mixture these
parameters are mainly influenced by combustion of pilot
diesel.
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 A single cylinder four stroke cycle, direct injection
diesel engine was tested and experimental results were
compared with theoretical results obtained from computer
simulation program[7,8].It was observed that dual fuel
operation has positive effect on NOx and soot emissions
compared to normal diesel operation. It was observed that
peak cylinder pressure is lower and brake specific fuel
consumption is more in dual fuel operation as compared to
normal diesel operation.
A single cylinder, indirect injection, four stroke cycle
engine with bore 76.2mm, stroke 111.1 mm, compression
ratio 22 and power 9 kW has been tested and parameters
along with combustion noise were studied [9].
A four stroke, four cylinder, water cooled, indirect
injection, naturally aspirated diesel engine with bore 84.2
mm,stroke 102.2mm,compression ratio 21 and power 16.3
kW was tested and effects of engine speed on different
parameters were studied. It was observed that maximum
cylinder pressure in dual fuel mode is slightly less than
diesel mode. It was observed that brake power reduces as
percentage of CNG substitution increases. Maximum
exhaust gas temperature in dual fuel mode was lower than
in diesel mode [10].
Above engine was operated in turbocharged condition
and different engine parameters were studied. Power
developed by engine and thermal efficiency in turbocharged
dual fuel mode operation was more as compared to
naturally aspirated dual fuel mode [11].
Above literature review shows that lot of parametric
study has been done on dual fuel engine, but lambda
characterization for each percentage substitution of diesel
has not been done so far. Therefore lambda computation by
using Brettschneider equation has been done in this paper.
Fig 1.Dual fuel engine.
III. NEED FOR LAMBDA CHARACTERIZATION
In dual fuel engine two fuels, diesel and CNG are used.
Diesel is substituted by CNG in certain percentage at
different loads. Thus dual fuel engine is operated by
combining diesel and natural gas in appropriate ratios to
obtain smooth combustion and engine performance. Engine
starts in diesel mode and switches to dual fuel operation
automatically when engine reaches normal operating
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temperature. Peak substitution of natural gas occurs at full
load with 90% of the engine operating energy supplied by
natural gas and the remainder by diesel charge. The percent
energy supplied by natural gas in the dual fuel mode is called
instantaneous substitution rate. At idling and light load
conditions natural gas substitution rate is low and diesel fuel
consumption is higher. At high speeds or loads substitution
rate is higher and results in lower emissions. Instantaneous
and average substitution rates for vehicles are influenced by
drive cycles and power to weight ratios. Lambda which is
called excess air ratio is ratio of actual air fuel ratio to
stoichiometric air fuel ratio. When λ =1, mixture is
stoichiometric.When λ>1, mixture is lean and when λ <1,
mixture is rich. As CNG is introduced in dual fuel engine,
lambda comes in picture and lambda characterization is
essential. For diesel operation it is not so important because
mixture is lean. It is necessary to compute lambda to study
combined effect of CNG and diesel.
IV. BRETTSCHNEIDER EQUATION
The Brettschneider equation is standard method used to
calculate the normalized air fuel balance (lambda).Brett
Schneider established a method to calculate Lambda by
comparing the ratio of oxygen molecules to carbon and
hydrogen molecules in the exhaust. Lambda is calculated
from the measured values of CO, CO2, unburned HC and
unconsumed O2 in the exhaust.
Brettschneider equation is
⎛⎛ ⎞ ⎞
⎜⎜ ⎟ ⎟
⎡ CO ⎤ ⎛ NO ⎞ ⎜ ⎜ HCV 3.5 ⎟ OCV ⎟
[CO2] + ⎢ ⎥ + [O2] + ⎜ ⎟+⎜ × − × ([CO2} + [CO])
⎣ 2 ⎦ ⎝ 2 ⎠ ⎜ 4 3.5 + [CO] ⎟ 2 ⎟
⎜⎜ ⎜ ⎟ ⎟⎟
λ =
⎛ HCV OCV ⎞
⎝⎝ [CO 2 ] ⎠ ⎠
⎜1 + − ⎟ × ([CO2] + [CO] + (Cfactor × [ HC]))
⎝ 4 2 ⎠
Where:
[xx]= Gas concentration in % volume.
Hcv= Atomic ratio of Hydrogen to Carbon in fuel.
Ocv= Atomic ratio of Oxygen to Carbon in fuel.
Cfactor= Number of Carbon atoms in each of the HC
molecules being measured.
This equation compares all of the oxygen in the
numerator, and all of the sources of carbon and hydrogen in
denominator. This equation gives value of lambda which is
dimensionless term which relates to stoichiometric value of
air to fuel. At the stoichiometric point, lambda=1.0.A lambda
value of 1.05 is 5 % lean, and a lambda value of 0.950 is 5 %
rich. Once lambda is calculated, air fuel ratio can be easily
determined by multiplying lambda times the stoichiometric
air fuel ratio for the fuel selected.14.71 for gasoline, 15.87
for LPG and 17.45 for CNG.The equation directly reflects
the degree of leanness of the air fuel mixture and is
independent of efficiency of oxidization of fuel. [12]
V. LAMBDA CHARACTERIZATION
Computation of lambda is important because air fuel
ratio for particular fuel can be calculated by multiplying
stoichiometric air fuel ratio of that fuel by lambda.
Thus active air fuel ratio= λ × stoichiometric air fuel
ratio. AS two fuels diesel and CNG are used in dual fuel
engine, it is necessary to see effect of substitution of diesel
by CNG on lambda value. Thus lambda values have been
computed for each percentage of substitution of CNG.From
this lambda value actual air fuel ratio for each percentage
substitution can be calculated by using above relation. This
calculation of lambda values for dual fuel engine has been
referred as lambda characterization.
Following table shows data used for computation of
lambda values. [13]
For applying Brettschneider equation to above data,
initially all parameters were found.Ocv which is atomic
ratio of oxygen to carbon in fuel is zero for both diesel and
CNG as they don’t contain any oxygen atoms in their
chemical formula.Hcv which is atomic ratio of hydrogen to
carbon in fuel is calculated by dividing no of hydrogen
atoms by no of carbon atoms. This was multiplied by
respective percentage of substitution and added. For
example for calculating Hcv for ten percent substitution of
CNG i.e. fuel with mixture of ten percent CNG and 90
percent diesel following method was used.
Atomic ratio of hydrogen to carbon for diesel (C16H34)
= 34÷16=2.125.
Atomic ratio of hydrogen to carbon for CNG (CH4) =
4÷1=4.
Hcv for fuel mixture of 10% CNG and 90% diesel =
(0.1× 4) + (0.90 × 2.125) = 2.3125.
Cfactor which is no of carbon atoms in each of HC
molecules being measured is 1 for CNG and 16 for diesel.
All calculated values were substituted in Brett Schneider
equation and lambda values were calculated.
N1, N2, N3 are three terms of numerator and D1, D2 are
two terms in denominator in Brett Schneider equation. Ocv
is zero for both the fuels.NOx and HC readings were in
ppm.They were converted to % volume by multiplying
them by 10-4.Hcv which is atomic ratio of hydrogen to
carbon in fuel was calculated by multiplying by percentages
of CNG and diesel and adding them as mentioned
earlier.Cfactor was calculated in similar manner.CO, CO2,
O2, NOx and HC values were taken as average of set of
readings. From Bret Schneider analysis different graphs
have been plotted. Speed was plotted against lambda, torque
172
and power. Percentage substitution was plotted against
lambda, torque and power. Lambda was plotted against
speed, power and torque.
Fig 2 shows graph of percentage substitution vs. lambda.
It shows increasing and decreasing trend. Value of lambda
varies between 1.2282 to 1.3667.Maximum value of lambda
was observed at 60 % substitution. It was 1.484604.Fig 3
shows graph of speed vs. lambda which shows increasing
and decreasing trend. Fig 4 shows graph of speed vs. torque.
It was observed that torque decreases as speed increases. It
showed decreasing trend. Fig 5 shows graph of percentage
substitution vs. torque. As percentage substitution increasers,
torque decreases. Fig 6 shows Speed vs. power curve. As
sped increases, power increases. Power increases as %
substitution increases as shown in Fig 7.Lambda vs. power
graph shows increasing and decreasing trend as shown in Fig
8.As lambda increases, torque decreases initially and
increases afterwards as shown in Fig 9.
VI. CONCLUSION
Brettschneider analysis was done for available set of
experimental data of diesel-CNG dual fuel engine. It is
necessary to know effect of addition of CNG in diesel engine
on values of lambda. It was intended to evaluate values of
lambda and how they vary for diesel-CNG mixture. Lambda
values were calculated by using Brett Schneider equation for
each percentage of substitution. It was observed that
minimum value of lambda was 1.228287 and maximum
value was 1.484604.Lambda is leanest at 60 % of CNG
substitution. This analysis is useful to calculate actual air fuel
ratio in diesel-CNG dual fuel engine. Actual air fuel ratio can
be calculated by multiplication of stoichiometric air fuel ratio
and lambda. Different graphs were plotted from Brett
Schneider analysis. Lambda shows increasing and decreasing
trend against % of substitution and speed. Torque decreases
as speed and percentage of substitution increases. Power
increases with speed and percentage of substitution. As
lambda increases, torque decreases initially and then it
increases. Average value of lambda for engine was 1.31231.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
Authors are sincerely thankful to Mr. Shrikant R.
Marathe, Director, ARAI, Pune, India Mr. N.V. Marathe,
Deputy Director, ARAI, Pune, India and and other staff of
EDL department of ARAI, India for their guidance support
and help. Authors also acknowledge help and cooperation
from librarian MNIT, Jaipur India and library staff of ARAI,
Pune, India.
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Table 1

Percentage Average AvgCO in % Avg CO2 in Avg O2 in AvgNOx in Avg HC in

substitution Torque Nm % % % %
10 750 0.1675 9.605 6.335 0.1715 0.00676
20 825 0.1866 10.833 5.05 0.1692 0.0368
30 510.3 0.04333 6.5166 11.95 0.1785 0.056
40 512.5 0 .036666 6.4833 11.95 0.1756 0.0052
50 585 0.04 7.42 10.66 0.1672 0.0049
60 581 0.06 7.62 10.5 0.1759 0.0054
70 574.4 0.08 8.72 10.28 0.1741 0.0067
80 597.6 0.0833 9.066 9.7666 0.1665 0.0092
90 584 0.09 9.366 9.433 0.1644 0.0104

Table 2

CNG Diesel Hcv Ocv CO2 CO HC O2 NOx Cf N1 N2 N3 D1 D2 Lambda

% %
10 90 2.313 0 9.49 0.17 0.007 5.83 0.172 14.5 15.5 0.57518 9.66 1.5781 9.758 1.36674
20 80 2.5 0 10.7 0.2 0.037 5.05 0.169 13 15.9 0.62168 10.9 1.625 11.378 1.22829
30 70 2.688 0 11.7 0.11 0.006 5.8 0.179 11.5 17.6 0.67008 11.81 1.6719 11.874 1.28739
40 60 2.875 0 11.7 0.08 0.005 5.7 0.176 10 17.5 0.71735 11.78 1.7188 11.832 1.27743
50 50 3.063 0 11.6 0.08 0.005 5.8 0.167 8.5 17.5 0.76412 11.68 1.7656 11.721 1.27795
60 40 3.25 0 11.7 0.13 0.005 10.5 0.176 7 22.4 0.80993 11.83 1.8125 11.867 1.4846
70 30 3.438 0 11.6 0.16 0.007 6.1 0.174 5.5 17.9 0.856 11.76 1.8594 11.796 1.27349
80 20 3.625 0 11.1 0.15 0.09 6.6 0.167 4 17.9 0.90276 11.25 1.9063 11.286 1.30206
90 10 3.813 0 11 0.14 0.01 6.9 0.164 2.5 18.1 0.94967 11.14 1.9531 11.166 1.31286

% substitution vs lambda Speed vs Lambda

y = -9E-17x6 + 9E-13x5 - 3E-09x4 + 7E-06x3 -
y = 1E-10x6 - 3E-08x5 + 4E-06x 4 - 0.0002x 3 + 1.6
1.6 0.0079x2 + 4.7454x - 1165.3
1.5 0.0064x2 - 0.1064x + 1.9571 1.5
R2 = 0.7781
Lambda
L am b d a

1.4 R2 = 0.446 1.4

1.3 1.3
1.2 1.2
1.1 1.1
1
1
0 20 40 60 80 100 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 2000
% Substitution
Speed in RPM

Fig 2 Fig 3

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 Speed vs Torque % Substitution vs Torque
y = 1E-06x 5 - 0.0003x 4 + 0.03x 3 - 1.4068x 2
850 850 + 31.733x + 548.17

Torque in Nm
Torque in Nm

800 800 R2 = 0.9761

750 750
y = -1E-04x 2 + 0.2182x + 690.82 700
700
R2 = 0.7377 650
650
0 20 40 60 80 100
0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500
% Substitution
Speed in RPM

FIG.4 FIG.5

Speed vs Power
% Substitution vs Power
200 y = -7E-08x 6 + 2E-05x 5 - 0.0026x 4 + 0.1604x 3 -
200 4.9639x 2 + 70.603x - 235.72

P o w er in kw
150
P ow er

100 150 R2 = 0.9837

y = -3E-05x 2 + 0.1471x - 37.107
50 100
R2 = 0.9814
0 50
500 1000 1500 2000 2500 0 20 40 60 80 100
Speed
% Substitution

FIG.6 FIG.7

Lambda vs Power Lambda vs Torque

y = 1E+08x 5 - 1E+09x4 + 3E+09x 3 - 3E+09x2
350 + 2E+09x - 6E+08 900
P o w er in kw

250 R2 = 0.6739
Torque

800
150
700 2
y = 5013.4x - 13757x + 10179
50
2
1.2 1.25 1.3 1.35 1.4 1.45 1.5 600 R = 0.4404
1.2 1.25 1.3 1.35 1.4 1.45 1.5
Lambda
Lambda

Fig 8 Fig 9

174