PPC Operation with Low RON Gasoline Fuel. A Study on Load Range on a Euro 6 Light Duty Diesel Engine

Gasoline Partially Premixed Combustion (PPC) is a promising alternative combustion concept that can offer both high indicated efficiency and low exhaust emissions in terms of NOx and soot, compared to conventional diesel combustion (CDC). Previous research has shown that PPC can operate with gasoline-like fuels of varying RON numbers. Some of the most promising results come with the use of gasoline of low octane number, around RON 70. In this study, a commercially available; 2 litre Euro 6 light duty diesel engine is being operated under various load and speed conditions with the use of RON 75 gasoline. The aim is to evaluate the ability of the engine to operate under PPC conditions with the use of as much OEM hardware installed as possible, in this case a double stage turbocharger. High amount of EGR, approximately 30%, is used in order to control NOx production and combustion reaction rates, together with a double injection strategy, which is beneficial at controlling the pressure rise rate and enable high load operation. The engine is operated at three different RPM levels, 1200-1800-2400 and between 2 to 16 bar IMEPg. Results show that combustion instability poses the limit at the low load while low oxygen content restricts the high load operation. Due to the premixed type of combustion, a fast combustion event is possible, giving a higher effective expansion ratio, which improves the indicated efficiency to levels higher than CDC, while indicated emissions are comparable to CDC operation