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REFERENCE TECHNICAL BULLETIN SIAT 2005

N. V. Marathe
The Automotive Research Association of India, India
Diesel Will Continue - Why And How ?
Intoduction
Increasing threat of global warming has practically created
a boost towards control on green-house gases, particularly
emitting from I.C. Engine driven vehicles in addition to
other regulated undesired species such as NOx, CO, HC
& PM. CO
2
being a prominent green-house gas,
automotive industry is being pushed to meet the challenge
of drastically reducing demands of CO
2
emissions from
new vehicles.
While a great deal of efforts, time and money is being
channelled into development of electric vehicles using fuel
cell technology, the commercial viability is still perhaps
few decades away as several issues including cost and
weight are yet at a very primitive stage of a break-through.
Alternate fuel sources like natural gas, LPG, ethanol,
hydrogen, etc. have been tried out in different parts of the
world according to the availability and other infrastructure
developments established region-wise. Still, use of
alternate fuels, inspite of definite benefits in terms of
emissions, has been limited. Therefore, lot of stress has
been put on conventional gasoline and diesel engines to
meet the newer demands and therefore, they still continue
to be a popular power plant for automotive and other
industrial applications.
By virtue of basic combustion cycle and its efficiency,
diesel engines have an upper edge over gasoline engines
in terms of better fuel economy, which has direct relation
to lower CO
2
emissions. Number of technological solutions
have been employed to modern highly sophisticated direct
injection (DI) diesel engines. Technology is well supported
by turbocharging, intercooling, high-pressure fuel injection
systems, combustion management, smart electronic
engine management control systems, etc. These features
offer great inherent fuel consumption benefits from diesel
engines in addition to lower emissions, smooth and quiet
operation comparable to modern gasoline engines.
Though, traditionally diesel engines have been a choice
for heavy duty and commercial applications, recently a
larger acceptance for diesel cars has been shown by
European market. While on the other hand, diesel is
fighting hard in US as large SI engines are available there
giving acceptable performance.
In India too, traditionally, diesel engines have been the
prime-movers for commercial sector. Pollution level in
most of the Indian cities have reached to a critical level.
Two approach routes have been considered namely
pushing of CNG and LPG for commercial vehicles and
i ntroducti on of l ow sul fur content di esel so that
sophisticated technological solutions can be effectively
brought.
Combustion related issues for diesel engine
emissions
Air-fuel mixing rate and quality decides the period of
i gni ti on del ay. At the end of pre-mi xi ng phase,
spontaneous ignition of diesel results in a very high rate
of heat release. In this situation, molecular nitrogen in
the intake air dissociates and reacts with oxygen in the
intake air. Therefore, this phase of combustion is mainly
responsible for the formation of NOx. While this is
happening, diesel is continued to inject, depending upon
the power requirement. In this case, fuel on the outside
of the spray cone may find oxygen to combust completely
but fuel in the center of the cone may starve for the air.
This phase of diffusion combustion results in partial
combustion and soot formation. Towards the later part of
diffusion combustion, a major part of the soot formed may
get oxidized. And remaining soot will be counted as
particulate. Thus it can be noted that advancing the
injection process, carbon based particle emission can be
reduced while NOx emission may be higher. Retardation
will reduce NOx emission but increase particle emission.
This characteristic of diesel process is known as NOx-
PM trade-off and has been a challenge for engine
designers. Carbon monoxide (CO) is a result of incomplete
combustion and is one stage away from soot. Therefore
CO is considered as soot precursor. In general, CO
emissions are low from diesel engines, however, meeting
future limits of CO will not be a very simple task. Unburned
hydrocarbons (HC) result from fuel avoiding combustion
due to being trapped in the injector nozzle or around the
piston land or by not reaching the required temperature
of self ignition, for example in part load conditions.
Technological solutions for future diesel engines
In the present age diesel engines, fuel injection starts
typically at the end of or after the compression stroke
(compression TDC). This feature reduces ignition delay
period significantly and, therefore, premix phase of
combusti on becomes l ess evi dent. Thi s type of
combustion contributes in less NOx creation. Engine
design parameters such as VCO type injector nozzles
and high top ring position in the piston help to reduce
unburned HC. In general, technological options which can
reduce emissions of regulated gases and particles are
mainly associated with reduction in ignition delay period.
Four-valve designs will ensure higher air intake into the
engine without much demand of high turbocharger boost
pressures which may rise intake air temperature and
hence more NOx. Requirement of higher intake swirl has
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REFERENCE TECHNICAL BULLETIN SIAT 2005
been diluted in combination with high injection pressures.
Four-valve design permit unimpeded intake airflow and
thus improved volumetric efficiency. As an off-shoot, this
design allows centrally located injector nozzle providing
symmetrical and uniform air swirl, injection spray pattern
and air-fuel mixing thereby improving combustion
efficiency.
There is a growing trend for higher injection pressure. It
is required to achieve very fine atomisation of injected
fuel so that the ignition delay, so thus premixing phase, is
reduced (for NOx reduction) and possibility of injected
fuel finding sufficient air for complete combustion during
diffusion phase is improved (for PM reduction). To meet
this requirement, higher injection pressures of the order
of 1500 bar and above are defined. Therefore, there will
be a shift from conventional inline and rotary fuel injection
pumps to unit injectors (UI) and common rail (CR) injection
systems. CR systems additionally provide the possibility
of multiple phase injections, which helps in achieving
optimum control on different phases of combustion in
accordance with the engine operating conditions. It also
provides a possibility of post injection to deal with some
of the after treatment devices like De-NOx. New injection
systems like CR and UI essentially operate with electronic
control.
NOx emission is one of two major concerns in diesel
exhaust. Exhaust Gas Recirculation (EGR) has been
very effective as a NOx reducing measure. Mixing of some
amount of exhaust gas to intake air can reduce NOx
formation through the following mechanisms
(a) Quantity of nitrogen and oxygen available in the
combustion chamber is reduced so that chances of
NOx production is also reduced. EGR displaces a
definite amount of fresh air thereby achieving this
situation. However, beyond certain EGR rate,
corresponding reduction in oxygen content may
increase formation of particulate matter.
(b) Specific heat (thermal capacity) of exhaust gases is
higher than air. Therefore, addition of exhaust gas
to intake charge helps in absorption of certain
amount of heat of combustion thereby reducing peak
combustion temperatures, which is responsible for
control on NOx formation.
Since EGR is detrimental to increased PM emission and
fuel consumption, its application needs careful tuning.
EGR rates from 5 to 30 percent has been successfully
applied in partial load conditions. Cooled EGR offsets fuel
consumption penalty to some extent. Besides normal
exhaust gas addition to intake charge by external means,
there is a growing concept of optimally playing with the
event of opening of intake valve for a very short duration
during early part of exhaust stroke so that a definite
amount of burnt gases is trapped in the intake port, which
would then be flown with intake charge during induction.
Since the introduction of turbocharging to diesel engines,
issues such as low engine speed boost and turbo-lag
during transient speed/load changes have been a major
i mpedance for road vehi cl es. Vari abl e geometry
turbochargi ng (VGT) or mul ti -stage wastegate
turbocharging addresses this issue effectively. Particularly
VGT overcomes this shortcoming by having a constant
boost capability, largely independent of engine speed.
Very stringent emission limit values finds limitations with
engine-alone improvements alone. Therefore, some kind
of exhaust after treatment is required to support the
limitations of in-cylinder combustion process. Diesel
engine technology is, therefore going through dramatic
changes in terms of after treatment development. The
most serious issue of this system is durability and its
tolerance to sulfur.
Very low limits of PM emission dictated by Euro-4
regulation essentially requires a Diesel Particulate Filter
(DPF), which is one of the few technologies available
today. Such a trap would be required to regenerate itself
to avoid a rising exhaust back pressure with consequent
deterioration in fuel economy and also destruction of trap
due to temperature. External regeneration systems like
fuel burners or electrical heaters have been employed in
some cases but they pose issues of excessive cost,
increased fuel consumption, excessive system size, high
maintenance and limited reliability. Following are new-
generation systems proposed particularly for heavy-duty
applications.
(a) Continuously Regenerating Trap (CRT) is based on
some catalytic reaction in the system, which
essentially requires very low sulfur fuel (less than
15 ppm). To function correctly, the system must
operate at a certai n mi ni mum temperature
achievable only at higher engine loads and a certain
ratio of NOx-PM engine out emission.
(b) Additives are added to the fuel to reduce ignition
temperature of the carbon trapped in the filter, thus
achieving self-regeneration. However, the fuel
additives will be filtered ultimately and may block
the device, therefore, such a system requires
periodic servicing. Additive-based systems are
typically useful for light-duty applications where
vehicle mileage tends to be comparatively low and
so filter servicing events.
(c) For light-duty application, NOx Trap is under
development stage. It employs local fuel enrichment
to initiate regeneration. Heavy-duty vehicles are
extremely sensitive to fuel consumption and so any
fuel enrichment required would further deteriorate
fuel consumption levels. Therefore, viability of NOx
Trap for heavy-duty application is still a question
mark.
Selective Reduction Catalyst (SCR) or in other terms
de-NOx catalyst is the key to achieve very low NOx
emissions from heavy-duty diesel engines. This will
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REFERENCE TECHNICAL BULLETIN SIAT 2005
require a renewable reducing agent, for example urea,
which will be replaced at the time of the vehicle refilling.
This technology is in the early stage of development and
yet to prove commercially for vehicular application. There
are some examples of use of de-NOx catalyst in large
stationary plants, gas turbines. It involves a complex
system to inject urea and does the job of reduction agent
in the exhaust. Any excess reducing agent will cause
emission of ammonia, which is far more unpleasant and
dangerous than NOx. Presently, Open Loop map of NOx
emission is used to calculate the dosing level since NOx
sensors are not matured. To avoid excessive dosing, de-
NOx effi ci ency i s presentl y l i mi ted to 55-60%.
Development of NOx sensor may allow close loop NOx
control and further improvement in conversion efficiency.
Bottlenecks of this system to vehicular applications lie in
its size, space requirement, higher cost and chiefly the
issue of making urea available at filling stations.
To achieve monitoring and control of engines fitted with
such sophisticated systems, it is necessary to adapt On
Board Diagnostics (OBD). It is meant to check electrical
continuity for engine emission control systems, report
major functional failures of emission control devices,
monitor specific thresholds for sensor outputs, etc. There
is also a growing concept of actual measurements of
emissions on the running vehicle followed by corrective
measures on-line.
Simultaneously, fuel manufactures also have a role to play
in securing the desired fuel qualities. Lower sulfur fuels
(less than 50 ppm) will improve PM emissions drastically
and enhance reliability of after-treatment devices. Other
major parameters like Cetane Number, narrow band of
density, controlled poly aromatic hydrocarbons, etc. will
make future fuels suitable to get along with developing
engine technologies.
It can be concluded that, no doubt, engine improvements
supported by fuel refinement and matured exhaust after
treatment devices will keep diesel engines in race for some
more years to help use crude oil optimally and lead to an
overall optimisation of CO
2
emissions.