The Contribution of Lubricant to the Formation of Particulate Matter with Reactivity Controlled Compression Ignition in Light-Duty Diesel Engines

John Storey, Scott Curran, Adam Dempsey, Samuel Lewis, N. Ryan Walker, Rolf Reitz, Chris Wright

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

22 Scopus citations

Abstract

Reactivity controlled compression ignition (RCCI) has been shown in single- and multi-cylinder engine research to achieve high thermal efficiencies with ultra-low NOX and soot emissions. The nature of the particulate matter (PM) produced by RCCI operation has been shown in recent research to be different than that of conventional diesel combustion and even diesel low-temperature combustion. Previous research has shown that the PM from RCCI operation contains a large amount of organic material that is volatile and semi-volatile. However, it is unclear if the organic compounds are stemming from fuel or lubricant oil. The PM emissions from dual-fuel RCCI were investigated in this study using two engine platforms, with an emphasis on the potential contribution of lubricant. Both engine platforms used the same base General Motors (GM) 1.9-L diesel engine geometry. The first study was conducted on a single-cylinder research engine with primary reference fuels (PRFs), n-heptane, and iso-octane. The second study was conducted on a four-cylinder GM 1.9-L ZDTH engine which was modified with a port fuel injection (PFI) system while maintaining the stock direct injection fuel system. Multi-cylinder RCCI experiments were run with PFI gasoline and direct injection of 2-ethylhexyl nitrate (EHN) mixed with gasoline at 5 % EHN by volume. In addition, comparison cases of conventional diesel combustion (CDC) were performed. Particulate size distributions were measured, and PM filter samples were collected for analysis of lube oil components. Triplicate PM filter samples (i.e., three individual filter samples) for both gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy (GC-MS; organic) analysis and X-ray fluorescence (XRF; metals) were obtained at each operating point and queued for analysis of both organic species and lubricant metals. The results give a clear indication that lubricants do not contribute significantly to the formation of RCCI PM.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)64-79
Number of pages16
JournalEmission Control Science and Technology
Volume1
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 1 2015

Funding

Acknowledgments Funding for this work was provided by the Department of Energy (DOE) Fuels and Lubricants Technology Program managed by Kevin Stork through a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) administered by Wisconsin Engine Research Consultants, LLC.

Keywords

  • Low temperature combustion
  • Particulate matter
  • Reactivity controlled compression ignition

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