One dimensional modeling of a diesel-CNG dual fuel engine

Some of the previous studies have shown that the use of compressed natural gas (CNG) in diesel engines potentially produce engine performance improvement and exhaust gas emission reduction, especially nitrogen oxides, unburned hydrocarbons, and carbon dioxide. On the other hand, there are other researchers who claimed that the use of CNG increases exhaust gas emissions, particularly nitrogen oxides. In this study, a one-dimensional model of a diesel-CNG dual fuel engine was made based on a 4-cylinder 2.5L common rail direct injection diesel engine. The software used is GT-Power, and it was used to analyze the engine performance and exhaust gas emissions of several diesel-CNG dual fuel blend ratios, i.e. 100:0, 90:10, 80:20, 70:30, 60:40 and 50:50. The effect of 100%, 75%, 50% engine loads on the exhaust gas emissions were also studied. The result shows that all diesel-CNG fuel blends produces higher brake torque and brake power at engine speed of 2000-3000 rpm compared with 100% diesel. The 50:50 diesel-CNG blend produces the highest brake torque and brake power, but also has the highest brake specific fuel consumption. As a higher percentage of CNG added to the dual fuel blend, unburned hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide emission increased while carbon dioxide emission decreased. The nitrogen oxides emission concentration is generally unaffected by any change of the dual fuel ratio.