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Effect of EGR on performance and emissions of a methanol–diesel reactivity controlled compression ignition (RCCI) engine

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Abstract

In the context of global efforts to pursue carbon neutrality, the research on the application of methanol fuel in diesel engines has ushered in a new peak. To identify the combined effects of methanol substitution rate (MSR) and EGR on the combustion process, performance and emission characteristics in methanol–diesel RCCI engines and provide a theoretical basis for the development of methanol engines, the parametric experiments were performed by changing the MSR, EGR rate, and engine load at 1800 rpm. The results showed that methanol-diesel RCCI combustion exhibited relatively longer combustion duration, lower maximum cylinder pressure and PPRR, higher BTE and lower ESFC, significantly higher HC and CO emissions compared to CDC combustion. The maximum in-cylinder pressure and PPRR are found to decrease with the increase in MSR as well as EGR rate. With the MSR increased from 0 to 30% without EGR at 90% load, the BTE increased by 4.02%, the ESFC decreased by 3.29%. At lower engine loads, further increasing MSR resulted in reduction of BTE and increasing ESFC, but the utilization of EGR improved the fuel economy. HC and CO emissions increased with increase in MSR and EGR rate, and decreased with increase in engine load. The soot emission reduced with the increase in MSR, and increased with the increase in EGR rate and engine load. NOx emissions decrease with increase in MSR and EGR rate. At 90% load, with the EGR rate increased from 0 to 20%, the NOx emission at 30% MSR can be reduced by 73.6%. With an increase in MSR, the NO emission decreases dramatically, while the NO2 emission gradually increases, which led to lower total NOx emission and higher NO2/NO rate. Methanol–diesel RCCI mode combustion with the support of EGR has potential to reduce the NOx emissions and improve the fuel economy.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful for the support given by the Yunnan Province Science and Technology Program (Grant No. 202103AA080002) and National Innovation and Entrepreneurship Training Program for College Students (Grant No. 2021106740023).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Yunnan Key Laboratory of Internal Combustion Engines, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming, 650500, Yunnan, China

    Fenlian Huang, Lingling Li, Meng Zhou, Mingding Wan, Lizhong Shen & Jilin Lei

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  1. Fenlian Huang
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  2. Lingling Li
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  3. Meng Zhou
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  4. Mingding Wan
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Contributions

FH contributed to methodology, writing—review & editing, project administration. LL contributed to investigation, writing—original draft. MZ contributed to data curation, review & editing. MW contributed to methodology, formal analysis. LS contributed to writing—review & editing, investigation. JL contributed to formal analysis, supervision, conceptualization.

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Correspondence to Lizhong Shen or Jilin Lei.

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Technical Editor: Mario Eduardo Santos Martins.

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Huang, F., Li, L., Zhou, M. et al. Effect of EGR on performance and emissions of a methanol–diesel reactivity controlled compression ignition (RCCI) engine. J Braz. Soc. Mech. Sci. Eng. 45, 440 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40430-023-04289-5

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