Fuel 324 (2022) 124654

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Fuel
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/fuel

Full Length Article

Experimental study on the effects of injection timing and n-butanol energy

ratio on combustion and emissions of n-butanol/diesel DFDI engine
Yuanqi Bai , Ying Wang *, Lei Hao
School of Energy and Power Engineering, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an 710049, PR China

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: In this paper, a dual-fuel direct injection (DFDI) system was designed by utilizing two common-rail direct-in­
Dual-fuel direct injection jection systems in a modified single-cylinder engine. Diesel and n-butanol were directly injected to realize the
N-butanol stratifications of fuel-air mixtures and reactivity. The effects of the n-butanol energy ratio (BER) and fuel in­
Efficiency
jection timing on engine combustion and emission characteristics were studied under low and medium load. The
Injection timing
combustion phase was retarded, indicated thermal efficiency (ITE) decreased and COV of IMEP increased as
Combustion
Emissions increasing BER under each load. Under low load, the n-butanol injection timing was suggested near 125◦ CA
BTDC to increase ITE, by modifying the stratification of the n-butanol at a favorable level. With an advance of
diesel injection timing, the combustion phase was advanced at first and then retarded; ITE was also increased
firstly and then decreased. Under medium load, the two-stage high temperature heat release event could be
observed. Early n-butanol injection condition was preferred to achieve higher ITE and lower COV of IMEP. The
early diesel injection operation was suggested under medium load for increased ITE, together with the decreased
nitrogen oxide and soot emissions. In general, compared with pure diesel operation, stable and high-efficient
combustion could be achieved in n-butanol/diesel DFDI mode, while the ITE could increase 2.8%; NOx and
Soot emission decreased 82% and 79%.

compression ignition (PCCI) and reactivity-controlled compression

1. Introduction
In recent years, people face an energy crisis augmented with envi­
ronmental degradation in the transportation field. Due to high thermal
efficiency, good durability and reliability, diesel engines have been
applied widely in several transportation power plants [1]. In response to
strict emission regulations, the optimization for the in-cylinder com­
bustion cycle was one of the desirability approaches to high efficiency
and lower emissions combustion [2]. Hence, improving the energy
conversion efficiency of the compression ignition (CI) engine is
imperative.
However, conventional CI engines generally produce high PM and
NOx emissions. High emissions were mainly caused by high-temperature
diffusion combustion at temperature range of 1500–2000 K [3,4]. To
decrease exhaust emissions, the low-temperature combustion (LTC) has
attracted many researchers’ attention in recent years. The combustion
phasing control is a particularly crucial problem in LTC because it
significantly influences the transient output response, operating range,
emissions and efficiency [4]. Several LTC combustion modes such as
homogeneous charge compression ignition (HCCI), premixed charge
ignition (RCCI) and so on, have been widely investigated.
In HCCI combustion mode, the fuel and oxidizer are mixed homo­
geneously in the chamber, resultantly decreasing NOx and PM formation
[5,6]. However, the combustion phasing and heat release of HCCI are
mainly controlled by reaction kinetics rather than injection time. PCCI
[1] is proposed to form the concentration stratification. Some part of the
fuel is injected to build premixed environment and the rest of fuel is
injected near the top dead center (TDC). The combustion phase can be
controlled by the injection near TDC and the engine operating range can
also be extended to the heavier load [7]. However, PCCI is mostly
operated with a high EGR rate to delay ignition timing for an affordable
mechanical load, causing high CO and HC emissions [8]. What’s more,
to further extend the operating regime and reduce emissions, a method
of blending another fuel in cylinder is proposed, and named as RCCI
[9,10], in which port injection of low reactivity fuel (LRF) is combined
with in-cylinder direct injection of high reactivity fuel (HRF). The
application of RCCI combustion mode can also effectively control the
reactivity stratification and concentration distribution of in-cylinder
mixtures, enhance thermal efficiency and reduce emissions.
However, the current RCCI combustion system still has some

* Corresponding author at: School of Energy and Power Engineering, Xi’an Jiaotong University, No. 28 Xianning west road, Xi’an 710049, Shaanxi, PR China.
E-mail address: yingw@mail.xjtu.edu.cn (Y. Wang).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fuel.2022.124654
Received 3 March 2022; Received in revised form 12 May 2022; Accepted 17 May 2022
Available online 25 May 2022
0016-2361/© 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Y. Bai et al.
Nomenclature
PM Particulate matter
LTC Low-temperature combustion
CI Compression ignition
TDC Top dead center of power stroke
RCCI Reactivity controlled compression ignition
DFDI Dual-fuel direct injection
AHRR Apparent heat release rate
DI Direct injection
NOx Nitrogen oxide
PFI Port fuel injection
EGR Exhaust gas recirculation
BTDC Before top dead center of power stroke
BMEP Brake mean effective pressure
IVGT Instantaneous volume-averaged gas combustion
temperatures
imperfections: (1) The port injection creates a homogeneous environ­
ment in the cylinder, but some local areas have low reactivity and
equivalence ratio, leading to more incomplete combustion, higher HC
and CO emissions [11,12]. (2) To keep the port charge well premixed,
the intake temperature is always adjusted by heating up or hot exhaust
gas recirculation. The preheated intake gas would disturb the combus­
tion phasing and eventually result in a drop of the ITE [13]. (3) Pumping
loss produced by port injection has adverse effects on thermal efficiency
[14,15]. To overcome the insufficiencies of the port injection RCCI
mode, some researchers have developed the dual-fuel direct injection
(DFDI) combustion mode [13,14,16]. Due to lower pumping loss and
more precise fuel control, thermal efficiency and engine performance
would be improved by DI compared to its port fuel injection counterpart.
Wissink et al. [14] proposed an injection strategy for DFDI com­
bustion. Part of LRF was injected early and premixed effectively. HRF
was injected at 40-60◦ CA BTDC to establish a reactivity gradient.
Furthermore, the LRF was injected for the second time and burned in a
diffusion-controlled manner. The thermal efficiency was close to that of
RCCI and pressure rise rate was decreased. In the research of Saccullo
et al. [17,18], the two separate standard common rail direct injection
systems were adopted in a new single-cylinder engine. The methanol
and ethanol were employed as LRF and diesel was injected as HRF to
ignite sources. The alcohol adoption in DFDI engine could reduce the
dependence on fossil fuel. In the research of Lee et al. [19], the effects of
the ethanol substitution ratio on engine performance and emissions
were investigated on a DFDI engine fueled with diesel and ethanol.
However, the effect of injected strategy on the DFDI engine performance
should be further studied. Various alcohols such as methanol, ethanol
and n-butanol were selected as LRF in the researches of Lv’s group
[20–24]. Their experimental study was conducted on a DFDI engine
fueled with alcohol/biodiesel fuel under different engine load, injection
strategy and boundary conditions, and they named the combustion
mode as ICCI.
There were various fuels used in DFDI mode including alcohols. In
many countries, alcohols have been established as alternative fuels
owning several advantages in relation to fossil fuel [25]. The n-butanol
is also a promising renewable alcohol fuel, especially for the CI com­
bustion [26]. The n-butanol is a biomass-based renewable fuel that can
be produced by the fermentation of the biomass feedstock [27,28].
Compared with methanol and ethanol, n-butanol has higher heating
value and energy density. What’s more, n-butanol is not corrosive to the
existing fuel pipelines [29]. Many researchers have studied the direct
injection (DI) of neat n-butanol [28,30] or n-butanol/diesel blend
[31–33] in the CI engine. All these literatures indicate that NOx and soot
emissions decline with the use of n-butanol. Another application of n-
2
Fuel 324 (2022) 124654
ATDC After top dead center
HRF High reactivity fuel
LRF Low reactivity fuel
CN Cetane number
THC Total hydrocarbon emissions
InjB n-butanol injection timing
InjD diesel injection timing
IMEP Indicated mean effective pressure
COVIMEP Coefficient of variation of IMEP
PRRmax Maximum pressure rise rate
ITE Indicated thermal efficiency
CI Compression ignition
BER n-butanol energy ratio
Pmax maximum cylinder pressure
Tmax maximum IVGT
AHRRmax maximum apparent heat release rate
CA10-CA50 The duration between CA10 and CA50
butanol in CI engines is the dual-fuel combustion mode [27,34–39], in
which n-butanol is injected into the inlet port as LRF, and the combus­
tion phase is controlled by the HRF injection near TDC. The combustion
is dominated by the burn of diffusion-limited direct injected HRF and
kinetically limited n-butanol fuel [40]. In the research of Zhao et al.
[41], the HRF was injected at 60 ◦ CA BTDC and n-butanol was port
injection. The gradients of reactivity could be established with well-
premixed LRF and early injection of HRF. The reactivity stratification
and concentration distribution of in-cylinder mixtures were achieved in
RCCI combustion mode for higher thermal efficiency and lower emis­
sions. Soloiu et al. [39] studied that two pulses of direct HRF injections
was performed in RCCI mode fueled by n-butanol and methyl oleate. The
first injection timing of HRF was also fixed at 60 ◦ CA BTDC to establish
the reactivity stratification in cylinder, and a varied second injection
was applied for smooth combustion.
It has been confirmed by many scholars that DFDI is an advanced
combustion method. In DFDI combustion, the global fuel reactivity
could be adjusted by changing the ratio and injection timing of two fuels
to control the combustion process. However, systematic research of the
n-butanol/diesel DFDI combustion is still rare. Additionally, the com­
bined effects of n-butanol/diesel direct injection strategies and fuel en­
ergy ratio remain to be further investigated. Therefore, the objective of
this paper is to achieve a reactivity stratification control in the n-
butanol/diesel DFDI combustion mode at common low and medium
load conditions. Comparisons between DFDI and pure diesel mode were
also carried out. And the effects of important control parameters,
including diesel injection timing, butanol injection timing, and butanol
energy ratio on combustion performance and emission characteristics
were analyzed in detail.
2. Experimental setup and procedure
2.1. Experimental engine and bench
The experiments were carried out on a modified 192FA engine. The
prototype engine was a single-cylinder, air-cooled and naturally aspi­
rated CI engine. The main engine specifications were listed in Table 1.
Fig. 1 showed a schematic of the experimental test bench. Several
modifications were designed to form the dual-injection compression
ignition mode, including a dual-fuel injection system, test and control
systems.
2.2. Fuel injection system and tested fuels
A diesel injector and a gasoline direct-injection (GDI) injector for n-
Y. Bai et al. Fuel 324 (2022) 124654

Table 1
Main specifications of the DFDI engine system.
Engine Type 192FA
Cylinder number 1 emission; Horiba MEXA-600S smoke capacity was used to check smoke
Engine speed 1800 r/min
Bore × stroke 92 mm × 75 mm
Displacement volume 0.498 L
Compression ratio 19.0:1
Connecting rod length 121 mm
Combustion chamber ω type
Intake valve opening/closing 376/136 ◦ CA BTDC
Exhaust value opening/closing 132/348 ◦ CA ATDC
butanol direct-injection were installed in this DFDI engine. The setup of
the two injectors was shown in Fig. 2. The injector specifications were
described in Table 2. In DFDI experiments, the two high-pressure fuel
pumps were driven by independent motors, which fed fuels into two sets
of common rail systems. N-butanol fuel was injected by the appended
GDI injector, and diesel fuel was injected by the original diesel injector.
Two direct injectors were independently controlled by self-designed
ECU [42].
The base fuels used for all tests were the commercial 0# diesel and n-
butanol, which are selected as the HRF and LRF for reactivity stratifi­
cation in the cylinder. The key physical and chemical properties of diesel
and n-butanol are listed in Table 3.
2.3. Emissions and combustion test system
Kistler 6058A pressure sensor and Kistler 5064 charge amplifier were
used to measure the in-cylinder pressure. The signal of crank angle (CA)
was captured with a resolution of 0.1 ◦ CA by a crank angle adapter
(Kistler 2619A11) coupled with an electromagnetic sensor and a signal
wheel. Both the in-cylinder pressure and the corresponding crank angle
were processed by a Kistler Ki-Box combustion analyzer. An electrical
dynamometer was used to control the load and speed of the engine. The
EGR rate and lambda were determined by ECM EGR 5230. The con­
sumptions of diesel and n-butanol fuels were measured by two highly
precise electric balances (Heng Odd HA-ES30K-1) separately. A Toceil
20 N080 thermal mass flow meter was used to monitor the intake air
flow rate. Engine-out emissions were sampled directly from the exhaust
pipe. Horiba MEXA-584L gas analyzer was utilized to measure the THC,
CO emissions; AVL 4000L gas analyzer was utilized to measure the NOx
emission. The uncertainty and accuracy of the measuring instruments
are shown in Table 4.
2.4. Methods and definitions
The in-cylinder pressure traces were filtered from 200 cycles at each
stable operating point. The EGR rate and lambda were obtained from the
ECM EGR 5230. AHRR, combustion phase, maximum pressure rise rate
(PRRmax) and COVIMEP were calculated by KiBox Cockpit software from
200 consecutive cycles at each test condition.
The CA10, CA50, and CA90 were respectively defined as the crank
angle corresponding to 10%, 50%, 90% of total heat release. The com­
bustion duration was denoted as the crank angle between CA10 and
CA90. If the injection strategy of diesel was a single pulse, the ignition
delay was the time interval from the start injection timing of diesel to
CA10. If diesel was injected by multi-pulse strategy, the ignition delay
was defined as the interval of start injection timing of last diesel injec­
tion to CA10. [44] CA10-CA50 was the duration between CA10 and
CA50, which denoted the heat release rate at early part of the main
combustion [45].
The n-butanol energy ratio (BER) was used to express the energy
fraction of n-butanol in dual fuels, and BER was defined as:
mb × LHV b
BER =
md × LHV d + mb × LHV b
× 100%.
Brake mean effective pressure (BMEP) was defined as:
2π × i × T
BMEP =
100 × Vs
where i is number of revolutions per power stroke; Vs is the single-
cylinder displacement, in unit L; T is the torque measured by dyna­
mometer, in unit N⋅m.
Indicated thermal efficiency (ITE) was used to evaluate the fuel
economy of the DFDI engine, and ITE was defined as:

Fig. 1. Schematic view of n-butanol/diesel DFDI experimental setup.

3
Y. Bai et al. Fuel 324 (2022) 124654

30 × n × Vs × IMEP
ITE = × 100%
md × LHV d + mb × LHV b

where n is the engine speed in r/min; Vs is the single-cylinder

displacement, in unit L; md and mb is the fuel consumption of diesel
and n-butanol in kg/h; LHVd and LHVb are the lower heating value
(LHV) of diesel and n-butanol in unit kJ/kg.
The measured emissions were converted g/kWh using the following
relations [46,47].
1000 × (mair + md + mb )
CO [g/ KW∙h] = CO [ppm] × 0.966 ×
100 × BP

mair + mfuel
HC[g/ KW⋅h] = HC[ppm] × 0.479 ×
1000 × BP

mair + mfuel
NOx [g/KW⋅h] = NOx [ppm] × 1.587 ×
1000 × BP
( 0.43×AC
)
100 × 1 − e− = 0.12 × FSN 3 + 0.62 × FSN 2 + 3.96FSN
( )
5.32 mair + mfuel 1
Soot = 0.001 × × FSN × e0.3062×FSN × ×
0.405 1.2929 BP

where mair, md and mb are the mass flow rate of air, diesel and n-butanol
in kg/h; BP is brake power in kW; AC is the measured absorption coef­
ficient, and FSN is the filter smoke number.
Fig. 2. Setup of two direct injectors.

2.5. Operating conditions

Table 2
Injector specifications. In this experiment, the effects of the diesel injection timing (InjD), n-
butanol injection timing (InjB) and on the combustion and emission
Injector Bosch PA66 Xinfeng NFI3.1
characteristic of the DFDI engine were investigated at low (30% engine
Injector abbreviation InjB InjD load) and medium engine loads (60% engine load). During the experi­
Injection pressure 15 MPa 90 MPa
Hole number 7 6
ment, the engine speed was maintained at 1800 r/min. Under pure
Hole diameter (mm) 0.165 0.11 diesel mode, the BMEPs were 2.46 bar and 4.92 bar of low and medium
Spray included angle (◦ ) 60 150 loads. The consumption of fuel energy was same under pure diesel
operation and DFDI mode at each engine load. The total fuel energy was
fixed at 510 J/cyc at low load and 680 J/cyc at medium load. Under
Table 3 DFDI mode, the EGR rate was fixed at 5% and 20% under low load and
Properties of diesel and n-butanol [34,43]. medium load. The lubricating oil temperature was kept at 90 ± 5 ◦ C. As
Properties diesel n-butanol
suggested by Arora et al. [48], PRRmax was controlled below 8 bar/◦ CA
as knock occurred beyond this audible value. The COVIMEP was
Cetane number 51.5 16.6
controlled below 5% [49].
Research octane number / 96
Oxygen content (wt%) 0.00 21.62
Carbon content (wt%) 86.54 64.86 3. Experimental results and discussion
Hydrogen content (wt%) 13.49 13.52
Density (g⋅cm− 3, 20 ◦ C) 0.82 0.81
Lower heating value (MJ/kg) 42.6 33.21
3.1. Effect of n-butanol energy ratio on combustion and emission
Kinematic viscosity (mm2⋅s− 1, 25 ◦ C) 3.44 2.63 characteristics

In DFDI injection modes, the injection timing and injection pressure

were kept constant, and injection duration was adjusted at various BERs.
The pure diesel combustion engine was operated in pilot-main injection
(the original injection strategy) as a comparison. Under each load, the
total fuel energy remained the same for DFDI and pure diesel operation.
When BER was higher than 60% under low load or 70% under medium

Table 4
Accuracy and uncertainty of experimental instruments.
Unit Accuracy Uncertainty Unit Accuracy Uncertainty

THC ppm ±12 ±0.2% Air consumption L/min ±0.1 ±0.24%

CO % Vol. ±0.06 ±0.2% Diesel consumption g ±0.1 ±0.5%
NOx ppm Vol. ±30 ±0.2% N-butanol consumption g ±0.1 ±0.5%
Soot m− 1 ±1 ±1.0% Crank angle ◦
CA ±0.1 ±0.1%
EGR % Vol. ±0.5 ±0.5% Lambda ±0.05 ±0.6%
Speed rpm ±2 ±0.2% Cylinder pressure bar ±0.3 ±0.5%
IMEP MPa ±0.01 ±0.1% Air flow rate kg/h ±1.75 ±0.5%

4
Y. Bai et al.
load, the COVIMEP could exceed 5%. When BER was lower than 40%
under low load or 55% under medium load, the PRRmax was greater than
9 bar/◦ CA. Therefore, the BER was controlled between 40% and 60%
under low load, and between 55% and 70% at medium load.
3.2. Effect of BER on combustion and emission characteristics under low
load
In DFDI injection modes, the InjD was fixed at 30 ◦ CA BTDC under
low load for thermodynamically favorable operation at various BERs.
Moreover, as suggested by Li et al. [15], InjB was set as 320 ◦ CA BTDC
under low load. The EGR rate was fixed at 5%. The diesel and n-butanol
were injected early in cylinder, and then the reactivity stratification was
established in cylinder. As for pure diesel operation, the pilot injection
timing and main injection timing were 22◦ CA and 11◦ CA BTDC,
respectively. Fig. 3 a, b and c depicted the diagrams of the cylinder
pressure, heat release rate and instantaneous volume-averaged gas
combustion temperatures (IVGT) vs. crank angle. The DFDI mode was
depicted in the solid lines and the pure diesel operation was in the black
dash line.
As shown in Fig. 3, maximum cylinder pressure (Pmax) and maximum
instantaneous volume-averaged gas combustion temperatures (Tmax)
were lower for higher BER under DFDI mode. This was due to that n-
butanol cooled the charging during vaporization and higher activation
energy of n-butanol decreased the reactivity in-cylinder [23]. Therefore,
the higher the BER was, the lower Tmax and Pmax were. As shown in Fig. 3
b, the crank angle of maximum heat release rate (AHRRmax) was post­
poned for higher BER. As shown in Fig. 3 b and c, the crank angle of Tmax
was latest under pure diesel mode. The reason was that the diesel was
injected the later under pure diesel operation and latent heat of vapor­
ization value of the diesel fuel [16]. Comparing to DFDI mode, the Tmax
was higher in pure diesel operation. The reason was that high temper­
ature center was formed under pure diesel operation [15,16]. The in-
cylinder temperature was decreased under DFDI mode. To detailedly
explain the reason, the comparisons of combustion characteristics were
shown in Fig. 4.
Fig. 4 showed the variation of ignition delay, CA50-CA10, combus­
tion duration, COVIMEP, PRRmax and ITE under low load. It could be
found the ignition delay and CA10-CA50 became longer when BER
increased. The reason was that higher BER would cause lower reactivity
and lower temperature in the cylinder [50]. Therefore, the crank angle
of AHRRmax was postponed for higher BER. According to Jamrozik et al.
[47], combustion duration was strongly influenced by oxygen content in
the alcohol. The high oxygen content in the air-fuel mixture produced
many OH radicals, which decreased the combustion duration. Thus, the
combustion duration was decreased with a rise of BER. As shown in
Fig. 4 a, the ignition delay and combustion duration in DFDI mode were
longer than those in pure diesel mode, while the CA10-CA50 in pure
diesel operation was much longer than that in DFDI mode due to
Fig. 3. Cylinder pressure, AHRR curves and IVGT with different BER under low load.
5
Fuel 324 (2022) 124654
different injection strategies. Of course, the stratification of fuel and
reactivity under DFDI mode could prolong the combustion duration
[51].
As shown in Fig. 4 b, the COVIMEP of pure diesel operation was lower
than that in DFDI mode. The COVIMEP was mainly caused by the varia­
tion of turbulence in the cylinder [52]. The diesel and n-butanol were
injected early in the cylinder under DFDI mode; therefore, the influence
of turbulence cyclic variability was much more significant than that in
pure diesel mode. Thus, the higher BER could lead to larger COVIMEP,
and the influence of turbulence cyclic variability was more obvious for
higher BER. The PRRmax was mainly affected by the combustion phases
and burning rate [20]. Because the combustion phase was postponed
with a rise of BER in Fig. 3b, PRRmax decreased with a rise of BER. As
shown in Fig. 4 c, the ITE generally decreased with a rise of BER under
DFDI mode. Higher BER could cause the reduction in the reactivity and
in-cylinder temperature in the cylinder, and thus fewer fuels were
involved during the combustion process [53]. What’s more, higher BER
could prolong ignition delay. More combustion occurred in the expan­
sion stroke, leading to the lower ITE [21]. As a result, the BER was
suggested below 55% under low load.
Fig. 5 showed the comparisons of HC, CO, NOx and Soot emissions.
Under DFDI mode, the gas temperature in the boundary layer and
crevice region decreased with the increase of BER [24]. Furthermore,
the quenching effect was strengthened, the higher HC and CO emissions
were observed for higher BER. As BER increased, the in-cylinder tem­
perature was decreased. Therefore, the NOx was reduced for higher BER.
Moreover, n-butanol was oxygenated fuel. Higher BER could bring more
oxygen in fuel-enriched area, and the oxygen atom could react with the
soot precursor to reduce the soot emission [32,54].
In brief, the BER should be fixed as 50% under low load for balancing
NOx and soot emissions with ITE under DFDI mode. Compared with the
case in pure diesel operation, the NOX emission decreased 63.1%; Soot
emission decreased 73.6%; ITE increased 1.3% in the case of 50% BER.
3.3. Effect of BER on combustion and emission characteristics under
medium load.
Under medium load in DFDI modes, InjD was fixed at 60 ◦ CA BTDC
and InjB was set as 320 ◦ CA BTDC, which was suggested by Li et al. [15].
The EGR rate was fixed at 20% to decrease PRRmax. Under medium load
of pure diesel condition, the pilot injection timing was 24◦ CA BTDC and
the main injection timing was 10◦ CA BTDC. Under DFDI mode, higher
BER could result in the decrease of in-cylinder temperature, as shown in
Fig. 6a. Furthermore, when BER became higher, Pmax and Tmax were
decreased and the crank angles corresponding to Pmax and Tmax were
postponed. After the crank angle of Tmax in pure diesel mode, the in-
cylinder temperature was higher in pure diesel operation than those in
DFDI mode. The varying trends in crank pressure and IVGT as a function
of BER were the same as those under low load.
Y. Bai et al. Fuel 324 (2022) 124654

Fig. 4. The variation of ignition delay, CA50-CA10, combustion duration, COVIMEP, PRRmax and ITE under low load.

Fig. 5. The variation of Soot, CO, NOx and HC emissions under low load.

Fig. 6. Cylinder pressure, AHRR curves and IVGT with different BER under medium load.

From Fig. 6 b, although the first low-temperature heat release stage
was not remarkable under DFDI mode, the two-stage heat release pro­
cess could be observed except for BER = 70%. Furthermore, no low-
temperature heat release but two-stage high temperature heat release
caused by diesel pilot-main injection could be observed under pure
diesel operation. It could be seen from Fig. 6 c that the in-cylinder
temperature during the first-stage heat release process was from 850 K
to 1000 K. From the research of Bai et al. [43], the negative temperature
coefficient of diesel fuel was between 800 and 950 K. Additionally, ac­
cording to the research of Li et al. [55], the ignition delay of diesel was
shorter than that of n-butanol when the temperature was between 800 K
and 950 K. Therefore, the first-stage heat release was mainly governed
by the negative temperature coefficient of diesel. The diesel was injected
at 60◦ CA BTDC and well premixed in the cylinder. The ignition was
mainly controlled by low-temperature premixed combustion of diesel
fuel. The first-stage heat release was postponed and the peak value
decreased as BER was increased. When BER was increased to 70%, the
first-stage heat release could rarely be observed. The second-stage heat
release was produced by premixed n-butanol and diesel combustion
[56].
Fig. 7 a illustrated the variation of the ignition delay, CA10-CA50
and combustion duration with the different BER. Under DFDI mode,
increasing the BER resulted in increase of the ignition delay and CA10-
CA50, but a decrease of combustion duration. What’s more, the ignition
delay and combustion duration in pure diesel mode were lower than
those in DFDI mode, same as those under low load.

6
Y. Bai et al.
Fig. 7. The variation of ignition delay, CA10-CA50, combustion duration, COVIMEP,PRRmax and ITE under medium load.
As shown in Fig. 7 b and c, under medium load in DFDI mode, the
higher BER could lead to higher COVIMEP and lower PRRmax; The ITE
generally decreased with increasing BER like that under low load. To
keep the COVIMEP below 5% and PRRmax less than 8 bar/◦ CA, the BER
was suggested not to be higher than 70% and lower than 55%. The ITE
only showed a slight difference when BER changed from 55% to 65%.
However, when the BER was higher than 65%, the ITE under DFDI mode
was lower than that of pure diesel operation. Therefore, it is recom­
mended that the BER should be maintained below 65% under medium
load. Fig. 8 showed the comparisons of HC, CO, NOX and Soot emissions.
Under DFDI mode, the higher HC and CO emissions were observed for
higher BER; while the NOx and soot emission were reduced for higher
BER. The varying trends were also the same as those under low load.
Under medium load, ITE has little difference between 55% and 60%
BER. Compared with the case of 55% BER, NOX decreased over 62% in
the case of 60% BER. What’s more, the combustion noise was accepted
and soot emission was low with 60% BER. Also, compared with the pure
diesel operation, the NOx and Soot emission decreased 82% and 79%;
ITE could increase 2.8% in the case of 60% BER. Therefore, the BER was
fixed as 60% under medium load in the subsequent research to balance
NOX and soot emissions with ITE.
3.4. Effect of injection timing of n-butanol on combustion and emissions
Direct injection timing of n-butanol (InjB) generally affected the
preparation of the premixed charge. In this section, the InjB was adjusted
at wide range for optimum setting. The BER was fixed as 50% and 60%
under low and medium load respectively. What’s more, the InjD was
fixed as 30 and 60 ◦ CA BTDC under low and medium load, the same as
Fig. 8. The variation of Soot, CO, NOX and HC emissions under medium load.
7
Fuel 324 (2022) 124654
Section 3.1.
3.5. Effect of InjB on combustion and emission characteristics under low
load
Under low load, the InjB was adjusted from 350 ◦ CA to 100 ◦ CA
BTDC. The COVIMEP was higher than 5% when InjB was retarded after
100 ◦ CA BTDC. Fig. 9 depicted the variations of cylinder pressure, heat
release rate and mean temperature with different InjB under low load.
When the InjB was retarded from 350 to 200 ◦ CA BTDC, only a slight
change of in-cylinder pressure and AHRR could be observed. Therefore,
only in-cylinder pressure and AHRR of InjB = 200 ◦ CA BTDC were listed
in Fig. 9. Under low load, there was enough time for butanol to become
homogeneous in the cylinder when InjB timing was before 200 ◦ CA
BTDC.
According to the simulated study of Mikulski et al. [57] and Cai et al.
[26], Retarding InjB could cause LRF stratification in cylinder. LRF
stratification could improve combustion efficiency and the strongest
effect was seen at low loads [57]. Retarding InjB have positive effects on
combustion efficiency and ITE, which could increase temperature in
cylinder [57]. However, according to Li et al. [16] and Huang et al. [50],
more fuel could be trapped in the crevice volumes of the combustion
chamber with the delay of LRF injection time. Retarding InjB also have
negative effects on combustion efficiency, which could decrease ITE and
Tmax. As shown in Fig. 9, when the InjB was retarded from 200 ◦ CA to
125 ◦ CA BTDC, the positive effects were stronger than negative effects.
However, the negative effects were dominant with delay of InjB after
125 ◦ CA BTDC. Therefore, at InjB = 125 ◦ CA BTDC, the in-cylinder
temperature was highest; the stratification of n-butanol was formed at
Y. Bai et al.
Fig. 9. Cylinder pressure, AHRR and IVGT curves with different InjB under low load.
a favorable level before ignition.
When the InjB was retarded, the ignition delay was prolonged, as
shown in Fig. 10 a. A local lower oxygen content caused by LRF strati­
fication was responsible for the delay of the ignition [57]. As shown in
Fig. 10 b, a slight change of COVIMEP could be observed when InjB was
before 125 ◦ CA BTDC. However, COVIMEP at InjB = 100 ◦ CA BTDC was
higher than that at InjB = 125 ◦ CA BTDC. The reasons were that n-
butanol was uneven distribution in cylinder and more n-butanol was
injected in the crevice volumes [58]. Moreover, the asymmetric flame
development in-cylinder could also result in the decrease of the PRRmax
and ITE, as shown in Fig. 10 b and c. The ITE was highest at InjB =
125◦ CA BTDC. Stratification of LRF could improve combustion effi­
ciency [57]. However, if the InjB was retarded later than 100◦ CA BTDC,
the ITE would decrease, caused by lower combustion efficiency [50].
As shown in Fig. 11, CO, HC and soot emissions were lowest at InjB =
125◦ CA BTDC. If InjB was early, the n-butanol was premixed uniformly
in cylinder. The globally equivalent ratio was still low in cylinder under
low load. Therefore, the CO, HC emissions were higher. At InjB =
125◦ CA BTDC, the n-butanol stratification caused a local higher equiv­
alent ratio region which was beneficial for the improved combustion
efficiency [57]. Therefore, the CO, HC and soot emissions were
decreased. Furthermore, when InjB was later than 125◦ CA BTDC, more
fuel could be injected in the crevice volumes and the in-cylinder tem­
perature was decreased [50]. Therefore, the combustion efficiency was
decreased and the CO, HC emissions were increased if InjB was too late.
What’s more, the soot emission was also increased for late InjB. The main
reasons were that late InjB cause less time for fuel to mixing with air, and
lower temperature in cylinder, which made worse fuel atomization and
evaporation, together with more soot emissions [21,50]. What’s more,
lower in-cylinder temperature decreased the oxidation rate of soot [50].
As shown in Fig. 11 b, the NOx emission was highest at InjB = 125◦ CA
BTDC because the highest IVGT appeared at that time.
Generally speaking, when InjB was between 125◦ CA and 150◦ CA
BTDC under low engine load, the stratified charge was established in the
Fig. 10. Ignition delay, CA10-CA50, combustion duration, COVIMEP,PRRmax and ITE of different InjB under low load.
8
Fuel 324 (2022) 124654
cylinder. Compared with the case that InjB = 200◦ CA BTDC, ITE
increased over 2.3% at InjB = 125◦ CA BTDC. Additionally, HC, CO and
soot emissions were reduced. Therefore, InjB was suggested to be be­
tween 125◦ CA and 150◦ CA BTDC under low load in DFDI mode.
3.6. Effect of InjB on combustion and emission characteristics under
medium load
Under medium load, the InjB was swept from 350 ◦ CA to 150 ◦ CA
BTDC. The COVIMEP was higher than 5% when InjB was postponed after
150 ◦ CA BTDC. Fig. 12 a, b and c depicted the variations of cylinder
pressure, heat release rate and mean temperature with different InjB.
Under medium load, the total fuel mass and n-butanol injected mass
were more than those under low load, and the BER was also higher. It
needed more time for n-butanol to mix with air homogeneously under
medium load. Furthermore, retarding InjB led to more n-butanol trapped
in the crevice volumes of the combustion chamber when InjB was varied
from 350 ◦ CA to 150 ◦ CA BTDC [50]. Thus, as shown in Fig. 12, the
retarded InjB could cause a decrease of the Pmax, Tmax and AHRRmax.
The difficulty of ignition was relatively increased with the decrease
of the in-cylinder temperature caused by late InjB. Therefore, ignition
delay was prolonged when the InjB was retarded, as shown in Fig. 13 a.
According to the research of Huang et al. [50], poorly premixed LRF
could make combustion unstable. Therefore, COVIMEP was increased as
retarding the InjB, as shown in Fig. 13 b. To keep the COVIMEP below 5%,
the InjB should be set before 200 ◦ CA BTDC. Retarding the InjB could
result in lower in-cylinder temperature in the cylinder, and fewer fuels
were involved in the combustion process [43]. Therefore, the ITE and
PRRmax were decreased as postponing the InjB. In addition, as shown in
Fig. 14 a, the unburned HC and CO increased rapidly with later InjB.
Because late InjB could cause the declined in-cylinder temperature, the
NOx emission was decreased with late InjB, as shown in Fig. 14 b. There
was less time for n-butanol to mix with air under late InjB condition. Late
InjB increased the generation of the local rich-fuel region [59], and
Y. Bai et al. Fuel 324 (2022) 124654

Fig. 11. Soot, CO, NOx and HC emissions of different InjB under low load.

Fig. 12. Cylinder pressure, AHRR and IVGT curves with different InjB under medium load.

Fig. 13. Ignition delay, CA10-CA50, combustion duration, COVIMEP and PRRmax and ITE with different InjB under medium load.

deteriorated fuel atomization and evaporation [21,50]. Thus, Late InjB
could led to high soot emissions. Under medium load, early InjB is rec­
ommended for higher ITE and lower COVIMEP, HC, Soot and CO
emissions.
3.7. The effects of diesel injection timings on combustion and emissions
In DFDI engine, diesel injection could directly control ignition and
combustion phase. The InjB was fixed as 130◦ CA BTDC and BER was
50% under low load; while the InjB was fixed as 320◦ CA BTDC and BER
was 60% under medium load. The InjD was changed at wide range for
optimum setting.
3.8. The effects of InjD on combustion and emissions under low load
Under low load, InjD was swept from 20 ◦ CA to 40◦ CA BTDC. If InjD
was advanced before 40◦ CA BTDC, the COVIMEP was higher than 5%.
Fig. 15 a, b and c presented the in-cylinder pressure, AHRR and IVGT
with the variation of InjD. When InjD was advanced, Pmax, Tmax and
AHRRmax were increased at first and then decreased. Similar trends in
combustion characteristics have been observed in RCCI engines [60,61].
This was mainly due to that the stratified LRF could hardly be ignited by
compression and was ignited by directly injected diesel [62]. When InjD
was advanced, the ignition delay was prolonged, as shown in Fig. 16 a.
The advanced InjD could be attributable to the better-mixed charge of

9
Y. Bai et al. Fuel 324 (2022) 124654

Fig. 14. Soot, CO, NOX and HC emissions with different InjB under medium load.

Fig. 15. Cylinder pressure, AHRR and IVGT curves with different InjD.

diesel and air, which could accelerate combustion [63]. Therefore, the
CA10-CA50 decreased; Pmax, Tmax and AHRRmax were increased when
InjD was early. However, as InjD was further advanced before 35◦ CA
BTDC, the ignition was controlled by a kinetical regime [61]. Therefore,
diesel and n-butanol were partially blended due to too early InjD, which
resulted in local low reactivity [20]. The CA10-CA50 was increased;
Pmax, Tmax and AHRRmax were decreased when InjD was advanced before
35◦ CA BTDC.
As shown in Fig. 16 a, the CA10-CA50 was decreased at first and then
increased; combustion duration was increased at first and then
decreased when InjD was advanced. The varying trends in combustion
duration as a function of InjD was the same as those in Tmax. Higher in-
cylinder temperature produced sufficient reaction time for LRF
combustion and combustion duration was prolonged [50]. It was re­
ported that shorter CA10-CA50 could produce higher PRRmax [64].Thus,
as shown in Fig. 16 b, the PRRmax was increased at first and then
decreased as advanced InjD. The ITE increased at first as InjD varied from
20◦ CA to 35◦ CA BTDC and then dropped as InjD varied from 35◦ CA to
40◦ CA BTDC in Fig. 16 c. The decreased ITE was perhaps related to more
unstable ignition from n-butanol partially blended with diesel when InjD
was earlier than 35◦ CA BTDC.
As shown in Fig. 17, the CO and HC emissions were decreased at first
and then increased slightly as InjD was advanced from 20◦ CA to 40◦ CA
BTDC. The Tmax was increased at first and then decreased when InjD was
advanced. The NOX emission had the same trend with Tmax as a function
of InjD [16]. Moreover, the ignition delay was increased, and then diesel

Fig. 16. CA10–CA50, combustion duration, COVIMEP and PRRmax and ITE with different InjD under low load.

10
Y. Bai et al.
Fig. 17. Soot, CO, NOX and HC emissions with different InjB under low load.
was mixed better with air in the cylinder and diffusion combustion was
decreased; therefore, soot emission was decreased when InjD was
advanced from 20◦ CA BTDC to 35◦ CA BTDC [40]. However, advancing
InjD before 35◦ CA BTDC could lead to higher soot emission because the
lower temperature in the cylinder reduced the oxidation rate of particle
matter [24].
3.9. The effects of InjD on combustion and emissions under medium load
Under medium load, the InjD was set from 19 ◦ CA to 25 ◦ CA BTDC for
late InjD mode and from 55 ◦ CA to 65 ◦ CA BTDC for early InjD mode. If
InjD was set between 27 ◦ CA to 55 ◦ CA BTDC, the PRRmax was higher
than 8 bar/◦ CA.
Fig. 18 a, b and c presented the in-cylinder pressure, AHRR and IVGT
with the variation of InjD. Under late InjD mode (in dashed line), it could
be seen from Fig. 18 b that the two-stage high temperature heat release
event was obvious. The first-stage heat release was determined primarily
by the spontaneous combustion of diesel fuel. Then the remaining pre­
mixed butanol fuels were ignited by the first heat release and in-cylinder
pressure and temperature increased rapidly [13]. Pmax, Tmax and
AHRRmax were increased when InjD was advanced. Under early InjD
mode (in solid line), the low-temperature heat release event could be
observed. In Fig. 18, when InjD was advanced, Pmax, Tmax and AHRRmax
were decreased. It was due to that diesel and n-butanol were partially
blended due to too early InjD, which resulted in local low reactivity, and
further decreased the combustion temperature and pressure [50].
Furthermore, Pmax, Tmax and AHRRmax were lower when InjD was
advanced under early InjD mode.
Fig. 18 presented the ignition delay, CA50-CA10, combustion
Fig. 18. Cylinder pressure, AHRR and IVGT curves with different InjD (Dashed line: late InjD mode, solid line: early InjD mode).
11
Fuel 324 (2022) 124654
duration, COVIMEP, PRRmax and ITE with the variation of InjD. Under late
InjD mode, first-stage high temperature heat release advanced and
became higher for earlier InjD. Thus, as shown in the left part of Fig. 19 a,
CA10-CA50 was shortened with higher heat release rate at early part of
the main combustion when InjD was advanced. Furthermore, early InjD
led to a more extended ignition delay and more fuel burned in the
premixed combustion mode. The combustion duration was prolonged
and the second-stage heat release rate was higher. The combustion
phasing could be directly controlled with the InjD. It could be seen from
the left part of Fig. 19 b that PRRmax was increased with advanced InjD.
When InjD was advanced, ignition delay was prolonged. There was more
time for diesel to mix with air, which could promote better global
equivalence ratio before the start of main combustion. What’s more,
advanced InjD promoted in-cylinder charge temperature which resulted
in an improved oxidization [65]. When InjD was advanced before 27◦ CA
BTDC, the PRRmax was higher than 8 bar/◦ CA. What’s more, the ITE
increased with the advance of InjD in the left part of Fig. 19 c. The reason
was that when InjD was advanced, the diesel and air mixing process
became better, which increased combustion efficiency [66].
Under early InjD mode, ignition delay was increased with the
advance of InjD before 55 ◦ CA BTDC, as shown in the right part of Fig. 19
a. Thus, there was more time for diesel to be mixed with air. The diesel
was injected before the local in-cylinder temperatures were high enough
to trigger autoignition at their respective local equivalence ratios. By the
time that autoignition happened, all the HRF will be in a lean mixture
with air [67]. The diesel was premixed and the ignition was controlled
by the reactivity stratification with n-butanol [50]. However, early InjD
could make diesel spray impinge on the liner and decrease reactivity
stratification [11]. Combustion duration was decreased and the CA10-
Y. Bai et al.
Fig. 19. Ignition delay, CA50-CA10, combustion duration, COVIMEP, PRRmax and ITE with different InjD under medium load.
CA50 increased when InjD was advanced before 55◦ CA BTDC. The
combustion duration was highest when InjD = 55◦ CA BTDC. The reason
was that spatially stratified reactivity extended the combustion duration
[11]. Under early InjD mode, the combustion duration was also longer
than that under late InjD mode. Advanced InjD could make reactivity
stratification more unpredictable, and cause more obvious wall-wetting
phenomenon, which could decrease in-cylinder temperature and
PRRmax [50]. Therefore, retarding InjD under early InjD mode could in­
crease PRRmax. When InjD was retarded after 55◦ CA BTDC, the PRRmax
was higher than 8 bar/◦ CA. Moreover, COVIMEP was decreased as early
InjD, which could be attributed to the lower in-cylinder temperature,
weaker reactivity stratification and less fuel involved in combustion
progress when InjD was advanced [43]. COVIMEP exceeded 5% when InjD
was retarded after 65◦ CA BTDC. As the same reasons, ITE was decreased
for early InjD under early InjD mode, in the right part of Fig. 19 c.
As shown in Fig. 20, under late InjD mode, CO, HC and soot emissions
decreased and NOx emission increased with advancing InjD. In-cylinder
temperature was increased when InjD was advanced, which increased
NOx emission. Moreover, more diesel fuel burned in the premixed
combustion mode, which decreased soot emission. On the contrary,
under early InjD mode, the varying trends in CO, HC, NOx and soot
emissions were reversed with those under late InjD mode. The reason
was that combustion temperature was lower; more diesel spray
impinged on the liner; wall-wetting phenomenon was more significant
[68], when InjD was advanced before 55◦ CA BTDC. Therefore, incom­
plete combustion formed more CO and HC emissions; NOx emission was
decreased; Soot was increased with the advance of InjD.
However, it could be seen from Fig. 20 b that, the NOx and soot
emissions were simultaneously lower when InjD was set as 60◦ CA BTDC,
Fig. 20. The soot and gaseous emissions of DFDI engine with different InjD.
12
Fuel 324 (2022) 124654
compared with those emissions at InjD = 23 or 25◦ CA BTDC. The igni­
tion delay was much shorter when diesel was injected late (InjD = 25 and
23◦ CA BTDC). The diesel could not premix well before combustion. The
combustion was dominated by diffusion-limited diesel and kinetically
limited n-butanol [40]. Although the volume-averaged gas combustion
temperatures of InjD = 25 and 23◦ CA BTDC was lower than the InjD =
60 ◦ CA BTDC, longer diesel ignition delay allowed the charge to be
adequately mixed before combustion. Furthermore, rich fuel and high
temperature regions in the combustion chamber were reduced; soot and
NOx formation were inhibited; low temperature combustion could be
achieved when InjD = 60 ◦ CA BTDC [11]. Significantly, when InjD was
60 ◦ CA BTDC, the ITE was also higher than that under late InjD mode. In
brief, the early InjD mode was suggested under medium load for DFDI
engine.
4. Conclusions
1. The in-cylinder reactivity stratification could be realized by accu­
rately adjusting the InjB, InjD and BER in DFDI mode.
2. Compared with pure diesel operation, the higher thermal efficiency
combustion, lower NOx and soot emissions were simultaneously
achieved in the DFDI engine fueled by n-butanol and diesel. The NOx
and Soot emission decreased 82% and 79%; ITE could increase 2.8%.
3. Under low and medium loads, when BER was higher, reactivity in the
cylinder was lower; ignition delay, COVIMEP, HC and CO emissions
increased; Pmax, AHRRmax, Tmax, ITE, PRRmax, Soot and NOx emis­
sions decreased.
4. Under low load, the positive effects on ITE were stronger with
retarding InjB before 125◦ CA BTDC; the negative effects on ITE were
Y. Bai et al.
dominant when InjB was postponed after 125◦ CA BTDC. The InjB was
suggested near 125◦ CA BTDC under low load. ITE was improved; HC,
CO and soot emissions were also reduced.
5. Under low load, the COVIMEP, CO, HC and soot emissions were
decreased at first and then increased; the ITE, PRRmax, NOX emissions
were increased at first and then decreased as InjD was advanced from
20◦ CA to 40◦ CA BTDC. The advanced InjD could lead to the better-
mixed charge of diesel and air, which could accelerate combustion.
However, the too early InjD could decrease reactivity stratification in
cylinder.
6. Under medium load, negative effects were dominant with retarded
InjB from 350◦ CA to 150◦ CA BTDC. The early InjB was suggested for
higher ITE and low COVIMEP, HC and CO emissions.
7. Under early InjD mode of medium load, the reactivity stratifications
of diesel and n-butanol could be performed; the low temperature
combustion was realized, which resulted in an increase in thermal
efficiency and a decrease of soot and NOX emissions at a low level.
CRediT authorship contribution statement
Yuanqi Bai: Conceptualization, Methodology, Investigation,
Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing. Ying Wang:
Conceptualization, Writing – review & editing, Supervision, Funding
acquisition. Lei Hao: Investigation.
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence
the work reported in this paper.
Acknowledgments
This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of
China (5177616) and Overall Layout Design and Research of High Ef­
ficiency Aviation Kerosene Rotor Engine Project (2020-JCJQ-ZD-116-
11-01).
References
[1] Jain A, Singh AP, Agarwal AK. Effect of fuel injection parameters on combustion
stability and emissions of a mineral diesel fueled partially premixed charge
compression ignition (PCCI) engine. Appl Energy 2017;190:658–69.
[2] García A, Monsalve-Serrano J, Martinez-Boggio S, Gaillard P. Impact of the hybrid
electric architecture on the performance and emissions of a delivery truck with a
dual-fuel RCCI engine. Appl Energy 2021;301:117494.
[3] Wang X, Wang Y, Bai Y, Wang P, Zhao Y. An overview of physical and chemical
features of diesel exhaust particles. J Energy Inst 2019;92(6):1864–88.
[4] Singh AP, Kumar V, Agarwal AK. Evaluation of comparative engine combustion,
performance and emission characteristics of low temperature combustion (PCCI
and RCCI) modes. Appl Energy 2020;278:115644.
[5] Sharma TK, Rao GAP, Murthy KM. Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition
(HCCI) Engines: A Review. Arch Comput Methods Eng 2016;23(4):623–57.
[6] Soloiu V, Gaubert R, Moncada J, Wiley J, Williams J, Harp S, et al. Reactivity
controlled compression ignition and low temperature combustion of Fischer-
Tropsch Fuel Blended with n-butanol. Renewable Energy 2019;134:1173–89.
[7] Manente V, Johansson B, Cannella W. Gasoline partially premixed combustion, the
future of internal combustion engines? Int J Engine Res 2011;12(3):194–208.
[8] Lucchini T, Della Torre A, D’Errico G, Onorati A. Modeling advanced combustion
modes in compression ignition engines with tabulated kinetics. Appl Energy 2019;
247:537–48.
[9] Kokjohn SL, Hanson RM, Splitter DA, Reitz RD. Experiments and Modeling of Dual-
Fuel HCCI and PCCI Combustion Using In-Cylinder Fuel Blending. SAE Technical
Paper 2009;2(2):24–39.
[10] Raza M, Wang H, Yao M. Numerical investigation of reactivity controlled
compression ignition (RCCI) using different multi-component surrogate
combinations of diesel and gasoline. Appl Energy 2019;242:462–79.
[11] Reitz RD, Duraisamy G. Review of high efficiency and clean reactivity controlled
compression ignition (RCCI) combustion in internal combustion engines. Prog
Energy Combust Sci 2015;46:12–71.
13
Fuel 324 (2022) 124654
[12] Dong S, Wang Z, Yang C, Ou B, Lu H, Xu H, et al. Investigations on the effects of
fuel stratification on auto-ignition and combustion process of an ethanol/diesel
dual-fuel engine. Appl Energy 2018;230:19–30.
[13] Long W, Li Bo, Cao J, Meng X, Tian J, Cui J, et al. Effects of dual-direct injection
parameters on performance of fuel Jet Controlled Compression Ignition mode on a
high-speed light duty engine. Fuel 2019;235:658–69.
[14] Wissink M, Reitz RD. Direct Dual Fuel Stratification, a Path to Combine the Benefits
of RCCI and PPC. SAE Technical Paper 2015;8(2):878–89.
[15] Li Z, Qian Y, Huang G, Zhao W, Zhang Y, Lu X. Gasoline-diesel dual fuel intelligent
charge compression ignition (ICCI) combustion: Conceptual model and comparison
with other advanced combustion modes. Sci China Technol Sci 2021;64(4):719–28.
[16] Li Z, Huang G, Zhang Y, Zhao W, Li J, He Z, et al. Dual fuel intelligent charge
compression ignition (ICCI) combustion: Efficient and clean combustion
technology for compression ignition engines. Fuel 2020;279:118565.
[17] Saccullo M, Nygren A, Benham T, Denbratt I. Alcohol flexible HD single cylinder
diesel engine tests with separate dual high pressure direct fuel injection. Fuel 2021;
294:120478.
[18] Saccullo M, Benham T, Denbratt I. Dual Fuel Methanol and Diesel Direct Injection
HD Single Cylinder Engine Tests. SAE Technical Paper 2018-01-0259; 2018.
[19] Lee J, Lee S, Lee S. Experimental investigation on the performance and emissions
characteristics of ethanol/diesel dual-fuel combustion. Fuel 2018;220:72–9.
[20] Li Z, Li J, Huang G, Zhang Y, He Z, Qian Y, et al. A methodology for stratified-
charge preparation via low-reactivity fuel multi-injection strategy in intelligent
charge compression ignition (ICCI) mode. Fuel 2021;289:119751.
[21] Zhao W, Zhang Y, Huang G, He Z, Qian Y, Lu X. Experimental study of butanol/
biodiesel dual-fuel combustion in intelligent charge compression ignition (ICCI)
mode: A systematic analysis at low load. Fuel 2021;287:119523.
[22] Li Z, Wang Y, Yin Z, Geng H, Zhu R, Zhen X. Effect of injection strategy on a diesel/
methanol dual-fuel direct-injection engine. Appl Therm Eng 2021;189:116691.
[23] Zhang Y, Mi S, Zhao W, Li Z, He Z, Qian Y, et al. Experimental study on the
application of bioethanol in dual-fuel intelligent charge compression ignition
(ICCI) engine. Fuel 2021;303:121181.
[24] Zhao W, Li Z, Huang G, Zhang Y, Qian Y, Lu X. Experimental investigation of direct
injection dual fuel of n-butanol and biodiesel on Intelligent Charge Compression
Ignition (ICCI) Combustion mode. Appl Energy 2020;266:114884.
[25] Liu H, Ma G, Hu B, Zheng Z, Yao M. Effects of port injection of hydrous ethanol on
combustion and emission characteristics in dual-fuel reactivity controlled
compression ignition (RCCI) mode. Energy 2018;145:592–602.
[26] Cai Y, Jia M, Xu G, Li Y, Wang T. Feasibility study of the combustion strategy of n-
butanol/diesel dual direct injection (DI2) in a compression-ignition engine. Fuel
2021;289:119865.
[27] Chen Z, Liu J, Wu Z, Lee C. Effects of port fuel injection (PFI) of n-butanol and EGR
on combustion and emissions of a direct injection diesel engine. Energy Convers
Manage 2013;76:725–31.
[28] Han X, Zheng M, Tjong JS, Li T. Suitability Study of n-Butanol for Enabling PCCI
and HCCI and RCCI Combustion on a High Compression-ratio Diesel Engine. SAE
Technical Paper 2015-01-1816; 2015.
[29] Trindade WRS, Santos RG. Review on the characteristics of butanol, its production
and use as fuel in internal combustion engines. Renew Sustain Energy Rev 2017;69:
642–51.
[30] Zheng M, Li T, Han X. Direct injection of neat n-butanol for enabling clean low
temperature combustion in a modern diesel engine. Fuel 2015;142:28–37.
[31] Huang H, Teng W, Li Z, Liu Q, Wang Q, Pan M. Improvement of emission
characteristics and maximum pressure rise rate of diesel engines fueled with n-
butanol/PODE3-4/diesel blends at high injection pressure. Energy Convers Manage
2017;152:45–56.
[32] Huang H, Liu Q, Yang R, Zhu T, Zhao R, Wang Y. Investigation on the effects of
pilot injection on low temperature combustion in high-speed diesel engine fueled
with n-butanol–diesel blends. Energy Convers Manage 2015;106:748–58.
[33] Huang H, Liu Q, Teng W, Pan M, Liu C, Wang Q. Improvement of combustion
performance and emissions in diesel engines by fueling n-butanol/diesel/PODE3–4
mixtures. Appl Energy 2018;227:38–48.
[34] Soloiu V, Muinos M, Harp S. Investigation of Dual Fuel PCCI (PFI of n-Butanol and
DI-ULSD) Compared with DI of Binary Mixtures of the Same Fuels in an
Omnivorous Diesel Engine. SAE Technical Paper 2015-01-0857.
[35] Zhu Y, Chen Z, Liu J. Emission, efficiency, and influence in a diesel n-butanol dual-
injection engine. Energy Convers Manage 2014;87:385–91.
[36] Tian W, Zhang H, Wang L, Han Z, Yu W. Effect of Premixed n-Butanol Ratio on the
Initial Stage of Combustion in a Light-Duty Butanol/Diesel Dual-Fuel Engine.
Energies 2020;13(17):4295.
[37] Soloiu V, Carapia CE, Smith R, Weaver A, McKinney L, Mothershed D, et al.
Internal Combustion Engine Division Fall Technical Conference. ICEF 2020;2020:
2021.
[38] Soloiu V, Moncada JD, Gaubert R, Muiños M, Harp S, Ilie M, et al. LTC (low-
temperature combustion) analysis of PCCI (premixed charge compression ignition)
with n-butanol and cotton seed biodiesel versus combustion and emissions
characteristics of their binary mixtures. Renewable Energy 2018;123:323–33.
[39] Soloiu V, Moncada JD, Gaubert R, Knowles A, Molina G, Ilie M, et al. Reactivity
Controlled Compression Ignition combustion and emissions using n-butanol and
methyl oleate. Energy 2018;165:911–24.
[40] Wissink ML, Curran SJ, Roberts G, Musculus MPB, Mounaïm-Rousselle C. Isolating
the effects of reactivity stratification in reactivity-controlled compression ignition
with iso-octane and n-heptane on a light-duty multi-cylinder engine. Int J Engine
Res 2017;19(9):907–26.
Y. Bai et al.
[41] Zhao W, Zhang Y, Huang G, He Z, Qian Y, Lu X. Experimental investigation on
combustion and emission characteristics of butanol/biodiesel under blend fuel
mode, dual fuel RCCI and ICCI modes. Fuel 2021;305:121590.
[42] Ning Le, Duan Q, Liu B, Zeng Ke. Experimental assessment of lean-burn
characteristics for a modified diesel engine operated in methanol direct injection
spark ignition (DISI) mode at full throttle condition. Fuel 2020;279:118455.
[43] Bai Y, Wang Y, Wang X, Wang P. Development of a skeletal mechanism for tri-
component diesel surrogate fuel: N-hexadecane/iso-cetane/1-methylnaphthalene.
Fuel 2020;259:116217.
[44] Rahnama P, Paykani A, Reitz RD. A numerical study of the effects of using
hydrogen, reformer gas and nitrogen on combustion, emissions and load limits of a
heavy duty natural gas/diesel RCCI engine. Appl Energy 2017;193:182–98.
[45] Klippenstein SJ, Harding LB, Davis MJ, Tomlin AS, Skodje RT. Uncertainty driven
theoretical kinetics studies for CH3OH ignition: HO2+CH3OH and O2+CH3OH.
Proc Combust Inst 2011;33(1):351–7.
[46] Duraisamy G, Rangasamy M, Govindan N. A comparative study on methanol/diesel
and methanol/PODE dual fuel RCCI combustion in an automotive diesel engine.
Renewable Energy 2020;145:542–56.
[47] Ren S. Experimental and Numerical Investigation of Homogeneous Charge Induced
Ignition Combustion on a Heavy-Duty Engine. Ph.D: Tsinghua University; 2018.
[48] Arora JK. Design of real-time combustion feedback system and experimental study
of an RCCI engine for control. 10168460. Ann Arbor: Michigan Technological
University; 2016:203.
[49] Hariharan D, Gainey B, Yan Z, Mamalis S, Lawler B. Experimental study of the
effect of start of injection and blend ratio on single fuel reformate RCCI. J Eng Gas
Turbines Power 2020;142(8):081010.
[50] Huang G, Li Z, Zhao W, Zhang Y, Li J, He Z, et al. Effects of fuel injection strategies
on combustion and emissions of intelligent charge compression ignition (ICCI)
mode fueled with methanol and biodiesel. Fuel 2020;274:117851.
[51] Jiang P, Liu X, Cao L, Wang Q, He Z. Numerical investigation of dual-fuel direct
injection on RCCI combustion performance at low load condition. J Mech Sci
Technol 2021;35(9):4247–59.
[52] Geschwindner C, Kranz P, Welch C, Schmidt M, Böhm B, Kaiser SA, et al. Analysis
of the interaction of Spray G and in-cylinder flow in two optical engines for late
gasoline direct injection. Int J Engine Res 2020;21(1):169–84.
[53] Zhao W, Mi S, Wu H, Zhang Y, He Z, Qian Y, et al. Towards a comprehensive
understanding of mode transition between biodiesel-biobutanol dual-fuel ICCI low
temperature combustion and conventional CI combustion - Part ІІ: A system
optimization at low load. Energy 2022;241:122886.
[54] Luo J, Zhang Y, Zhang Q, Liu J, Wang J. Evaluation of sooting tendency of
acetone–butanol–ethanol (ABE) fuels blended with diesel fuel. Fuel 2017;209:
394–401.
14
Fuel 324 (2022) 124654
[55] Li Y, Chen Y, Wu G. A new skeletal mechanism for diesel-n-butanol blends
combustion in engine. Fuel 2020;264:116856.
[56] Li Z, Zhang Y, Huang G, Zhao W, He Z, Qian Y, et al. Control of intake boundary
conditions for enabling clean combustion in variable engine conditions under
intelligent charge compression ignition (ICCI) mode. Appl Energy 2020;274:
115297.
[57] Mikulski M, Bekdemir C. Understanding the role of low reactivity fuel stratification
in a dual fuel RCCI engine – A simulation study. Appl Energy 2017;191:689–708.
[58] Zeng W, Keum S, Kuo T-W, Sick V. Role of large scale flow features on cycle-to-
cycle variations of spark-ignited flame-initiation and its transition to turbulent
combustion. Proc Combust Inst 2019;37(4):4945–53.
[59] Liu H, Tang Q, Yang Z, Ran X, Geng C, Chen B, et al. A comparative study on
partially premixed combustion (PPC) and reactivity controlled compression
ignition (RCCI) in an optical engine. Proc Combust Inst 2019;37(4):4759–66.
[60] Northrop WF, Fang W, Huang B. Combustion Phasing Effect on Cycle Efficiency of
a Diesel Engine Using Advanced Gasoline Fumigation. J Eng Gas Turbines Power
2013;135(3).
[61] DelVescovo D, Kokjohn S, Reitz R. The Effects of Charge Preparation, Fuel
Stratification, and Premixed Fuel Chemistry on Reactivity Controlled Compression
Ignition (RCCI) Combustion. SAE Technical Paper 2017;10(4):1491–505.
[62] Zhang H, Guo L, Yan Y, Sun W, Li J, Wang Q, et al. Experimental investigation on
the combustion and emissions characteristics of an N-butanol/CTL dual fuel
engine. Fuel 2020;274:117696.
[63] Zhu L, Qian Y, Wang X, Lu X. Effects of direct injection timing and premixed ratio
on combustion and emissions characteristics of RCCI (Reactivity Controlled
Compression Ignition) with N-heptane/gasoline-like fuels. Energy 2015;93:
383–92.
[64] Pan S, Liu X, Cai K, Li X, Han W, Li B. Experimental study on combustion and
emission characteristics of iso-butanol/diesel and gasoline/diesel RCCI in a heavy-
duty engine under low loads. Fuel 2020;261:116434.
[65] Ganesh D, Ayyappan PR, Murugan R. Experimental investigation of iso-butanol/
diesel reactivity controlled compression ignition combustion in a non-road diesel
engine. Appl Energy 2019;242:1307–19.
[66] Kokjohn SL, Hanson RM, Splitter DA, Reitz RD. Fuel reactivity controlled
compression ignition (RCCI): a pathway to controlled high-efficiency clean
combustion. Int J Engine Res 2011;12(3):209–26.
[67] Martin J, Boehman A. Mapping the combustion modes of a dual-fuel compression
ignition engine. Int J Engine Res 2021:14680874211018376.
[68] Oh J, Oh S, Kim C, Lee S, Lee S, Jang H, et al. Effect of multi-angle diesel injector
nozzle on emission and efficiency of natural gas/diesel dual-fuel combustion in
compression ignition engine. Fuel 2022;316:123442.