2023 | 003

Research of a China II-compliant

marine diesel engine using two-stage
turbocharging and EGR system
Emission Reduction Technologies - Engine Measures & Combustion Development

Xiannan Li, Shanghai Marine Diesel Engine Reserch

Institute
Xiaoxuan Chen, Shanghai Marine Diesel Engine Reserch Institute
Xinrui Li, Shanghai Marine Diesel Engine Reserch Institute
Dandan Su, Shanghai Marine Diesel Engine Research Institute
Tao Ping, Shanghai Marine Diesel Engine Reserch Institute
Zhen Ma, Shanghai Marine Diesel Engine Research Institute
Jie Zhong, Shanghai Marine Diesel Engine Reserch Institute
Li Huang, Shanghai Marine Diesel Engine Reserch Institute

This paper has been presented and published at the 30th CIMAC World Congress 2023 in Busan,
Korea. The CIMAC Congress is held every three years, each time in a different member country. The
Congress program centres around the presentation of Technical Papers on engine research and
development, application engineering on the original equipment side and engine operation and
maintenance on the end-user side. The themes of the 2023 event included Digitalization &
Connectivity for different applications, System Integration & Hybridization, Electrification & Fuel Cells
Development, Emission Reduction Technologies, Conventional and New Fuels, Dual Fuel Engines,
Lubricants, Product Development of Gas and Diesel Engines, Components & Tribology,
Turbochargers, Controls & Automation, Engine Thermondynamis, Simulation Technologies as well as
Basic Research & Advanced Engineering. The copyright of this paper is with CIMAC. For further
information please visit https://www.cimac.com.
 ABSTRACT
In 2015, with the aim to upgrade the domestic emission rules for inland waterway vessels, China
released CNI & II (Limits and measurement methods for exhaust pollutants from marine engines,
GB15097―2016) which has already into force in July 1, 2018. This national standard sets up
domestic emission control areas and is intend to strengthen the emission control of vessels operated
in rivers and offshore in China.

To meet CNI emission limits, Shanghai Marine Diesel Engine Research Institute (SMDERI) developed
the 6CS21TS based on the Chinese brand 6CS21 diesel engine. The new 6CS21TS engine also
boasts lower emissions, better economy and higher power density， which uses two-stage
turbocharging system. 6CS21TS diesel engine have been presented on CIMAC2019 (Paper NO.060)
in Vancouver and have a good impact.

In order to meet the more strict CNII emission limits, SMDERI has further developed the 6CS21TS-
EGR diesel engine based on 6CS21TS，The new engine uses two-stage supercharging combined
with EGR technology，in addition，common rail fuel injection, strong Miller cycle and high
pressure turbine bypass also used to reduce emission and fuel consumption simultaneously. The
6CS21TS-EGR diesel engine has two operation modes called low fuel consumption and low emission,
the low fuel consumption mode refers to meeting the CNII emission limit, apart from this, the low
emission mode can also meet the IMO Tier III emission limit. However, the low fuel consumption mode
can achieve lower fuel consumption rate.

SMDERI has carried out series experimental research work such as fuel injection and combustion,
variable EGR rate, different pressure ratio distribution, different Miller timing, etc. Lots of experimental
research results show that the Brake Mean Effective Pressure (PMEP) of 6CS21TS-EGR diesel
engine can reach 2.4MPa, 17% and 30% rated load EGR rate can reach the CNII and IMO Tier III
emission limits respectively, the weighted fuel consumption rate in the low fuel consumption mode can
be reduced by 2.9%, and the pressure ratio can reach 6.6. At the same time, the feasibility of Variable
Valve Timing (VVT) technology to improve low-load exhaust smoke has been proved by postponing
20°CA valve timing.

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1 INTRODUCTION
Under the background of "peak carbon dioxide
emissions and carbon neutrality", reducing fuel
consumption rate, as well as meeting the CHINA II
emission limit specified in GB15097-2016 stand-
ard, has become the research focus of marine
diesel engines. The use of high power density
diesel engine can improve the energy efficiency of
ship operation and help the goal of "peak carbon
dioxide emissions and carbon neutrality", which is
also one of the research directions of internal
combustion engines.
The medium-pressure EGR type is used for re-
search. In this scheme, pressure before high-
pressure turbine is higher than pressure behind
the low-pressure compressor, so that part of ex-
haust gas can flow to the air inlet pipe by control-
ling EGR valve. It has the advantages of simple
structure, easy layout and high EGR rate. The
schematic diagram of the modified 6CS21TSE
diesel engine is shown in Figure 1.

In order to meet the application requirements of

low fuel consumption, low NOx emission and high
power density of marine diesel engines, two-stage
turbocharging system which has the advantages
of high pressure ratio, wide operating range, good
speed-up performance compared with single-
stage turbocharging comes into being. In addition,
larger air-fuel ratio allows the diesel engine to
adopt a larger amount of residual exhaust gas and
Figure 1. Schematic diagram of 6CS21TSE
achieve a larger exhaust gas recirculation(EGR)
rate, thus further reducing NOx emissions. There-
fore, the combination of EGR and two-stage tur-
bocharging technology makes diesel engines
have better fuel economy and emission perfor-
mance.

In this paper, experimental study on the influence

of two-stage turbocharging and exhaust gas recir-
culation technology on performance of marine
diesel engine is completed on the established
prototype of 6CS21 diesel engine with two-stage
turbocharging and EGR system (for convenience Figure 2. Test bed of 6CS21TSE
of discussion, it is defined as 6CS21TSE diesel
engine). The experiment verifies the beneficial The working principle of the two-stage turbocharg-
improvement of two-stage turbocharging and EGR ing and EGR system of 6CS21TSE diesel engine
system on emission and fuel consumption rate of is as follows: after passing through the low-
marine diesel engine, and provides a technical pressure turbocharger, fresh air is mixed with the
route for marine diesel engines to achieve the exhaust gas cooled by EGR cooler, and the mixed
goal of high efficiency and low emission. gas is compressed by the high-pressure turbo-
charger and then cooled by charge air cooler be-
2 RESEARCH OBJECT fore entering the cylinder. For exhaust gas, the
The main technical parameters of 6CS21TSE EGR valve and the high-pressure turbine bypass
diesel engine are shown in Table 1. valve are respectively arranged in front of the
high-pressure turbocharger. By adjusting the
Table 1. Main technical parameters of 6CS21TSE opening of EGR valve, the EGR rate of diesel
engine is controlled, and by adjusting the opening
of the high-pressure turbine bypass valve, the
Parameter Unit Value
turbocharger speed and boost pressure are con-
Type - Inline, four stroke
trolled.
Fuel injection system - Common rail
Turbocharging system - Two stage
3 EXPERIMENTAL STUDY
Bore diameter mm 210
Stroke mm 320 3.1 Influence of EGR rate on engine perfor-
Rated speed r/min 1000 mance
Rated power kW 1320 The EGR rate test is performed at rated power.
BMEP MPa 2.4 During the test, the EGR rate was gradually in-

CIMAC Congress 2023, Busan Paper No. 003 Page 3

creased by adjusting the opening of EGR valve.
Fig. 3 shows the result when the EGR rate is be-
tween 0 to 31%
(a) fuel consumption rate and peak firing pressure
(b) Temperature before turbines
(c) NOx, HC and PM emission values
Figure 3. Influence of EGR rate on diesel engine
performance and emissions
CIMAC Congress 2023, Busan Paper No. 003
Figure 4. Combustion heat release rate test re-
sults with different EGR rates
It can be seen from fig. 3 that when EGR rate is
under 26%, the change of the EGR rate has a
gentle influence on the overall performance of
diesel engine. However, when the EGR rate ex-
ceeds 26%, performance parameters of diesel
engine such as fuel consumption rate, PM emis-
sion and temperature before turbine increase ob-
viously with increasing EGR rate, accompanied by
the rapid decrease of NOx emission. When the
EGR rate increases by 1%, fuel consumption rate
increases by 3g/kW·h, temperature before turbine
increases by 17°C on average, and the NOx
emission value decreases by 1 g/kW·h on aver-
age. This is because that increasing EGR rate
causes lower excess air coefficient in the cylinder
of diesel engine decreases, longer ignition delay
period and lower peak value of combustion heat
release rate. From combustion heat release rate
curves of different EGR rates in Figure 4，it can
be seen that in-cylinder combustion is sharply
deteriorated due to insufficient intake air: after-
burning is increased, the combustion duration is
correspondingly prolonged, the fuel combustion is
more and more insufficient, and the PM emission
is greatly increased.
According to the above analysis, with the increase
of EGR rate, the NOx emission of diesel engine
decreases, while the performance parameters
such as fuel consumption rate, combustion dura-
tion, temperature before turbine and PM emission
increase obviously, and when EGR rate exceeds
a certain range, the deterioration of each perfor-
mance parameter intensifies. Therefore, in order
to comprehensively optimize diesel engine emis-
sions and performance, further optimization re-
search is needed.
Page 4
3.2 Influence of injection timing on engine
performance
Injection timing is one of the key parameters on
organization of diesel engine combustion. It is of
great significance to determine the injection con-
figuration and optimize engine performance by
adjusting the injection timing to study its influence
on two-stage turbocharging and EGR system. Fig.
5 shows the experimental results of the influence
of injection timing on diesel engine performance at
a constant EGR rate.
(a) Fuel consumption rate and peak firing pres-
sure
(b) Temperature before turbines
CIMAC Congress 2023, Busan Paper No. 003
(c) NOx, HC and PM emission values
Figure 5. Influence of injection timing change on
diesel engine performance at a constant EGR rate
(EGR rate =18.8%)
As can be seen from Figure 5, at a constant EGR
rate (EGR rate =18.8%), with an increase of 1°CA
in injection timing, the average in-cylinder peak
firing pressure increases by about 3.7bar, and the
average fuel consumption decreases by 1.73
g/kWh. The relationship between peak firing pres-
sure and fuel consumption with injection timing
shows a trade-off relationship. When the injection
timing increases by 1°CA, the temperature be-
fore high-pressure and low-pressure turbine drops
by about 5.1°C and 5.3°C respectively. Mean-
while, with the increase of injection timing, the
NOx emission tends to increase obviously, but the
influence of injection timing on HC and PM is gen-
erally small. In other words, the NOx emission can
be effectively reduced by delaying injection timing
without obvious increase of HC and PM.
3.3 Influence of common rail pressure on
engine performance
Common rail pressure can change combustion by
changing the fuel spray, and further affect perfor-
mance and emissions of diesel engine. Experi-
ments at two typical working conditions, 10% and
100% load, are performed. Figures 6 and 7 show
the test results of the influence of common rail
pressure change on diesel engine performance
under two working conditions with constant EGR
rate.
(a) fuel consumption rate and peak firing pressure
Page 5

(b)NOx, HC and PM emission values
Figure 6. Influence of different common rail pres-
sure on diesel engine performance under constant
EGR rate (EGR rate = 0%, 10% load)
(a) Fuel consumption rate and peak firing pres-
sure
(b)NOx, HC and PM emission values
Figure 7. Influence of different common rail pres-
sure on diesel engine performance under constant
EGR rate (EGR rate = 18.8%, 100% load)
It can be seen from figure 6 and figure 7 that at
100% load, when common rail pressure increases
by 100bar, the peak firing pressure increases by
1bar and the fuel consumption rate decreases by
1g/kw·h. the average NOx emission increases by
CIMAC Congress 2023, Busan Paper No. 003
0.7g/kw·h, and there is no obvious change in HC
and PM emissions. At 10% load, when rail pres-
sure increases by 100bar, peak firing pressure
increases by about 1.1bar, fuel consumption de-
creases by about 2.5g/kw·h, NOx increases by
0.3g/kw·h, the PM emission decreases by
0.8g/kw·h, and the HC emission remains almost
the same. That is, by increasing the rail pressure,
the PM emission of diesel engine can be effective-
ly reduced, but at the same time, the NOx emis-
sion will also increase.
According to the test results and analysis of the
effects of EGR rate, injection timing and common
rail pressure on the performance and emission of
6CS21TSE diesel engine, the sensitivity of each
factor is in the order of EGR rate＞SOI >common
rail pressure. With the increase of EGR rate, the
NOx emission of diesel engine at different loads
tends to decrease obviously, and when EGR rate
exceeds a certain limit, the NOx emission de-
creases rapidly, but the fuel consumption rate and
the temperature before turbine increase sharply.
Therefore, in order to reduce the fuel consumption
rate and NOx of diesel engine at the same time,
the most effective measures is to appropriately
increase EGR rate, increase injection advance
angle and adjust rail pressure.
3.4 Influence of intake timing on engine per-
formance
The 6CS21TSE diesel engine adopts two-stage
turbocharging system and strong Miller timing.
The intake valve is closed 40°CA before the bot-
tom dead center (hereinafter referred to as
IVC500 or strong Miller timing) to ensure the peak
firing pressure of the diesel engine within the limit
at high load. However, insufficient intake air oc-
curs at low load. Therefore, the intake valve is
closed 15°CA before the bottom dead center
(hereinafter referred to as IVC525 or weak Miller
timing) at low loads. Fig. 8 shows the test results
of two valve timing. During the test, there is no
EGR rate at 10% and 25% load, and the EGR
rates of IVC500 and IVC525 at 50% load are set
to 7% and 10% respectively.
Page 6
 (a) Fuel consumption rate
(d) Smoke number

Fig. 8 Influence of intake timing on diesel engine

performance

It can be seen from Figure 8 that the smoke num-

ber of diesel engine at 10% and 25% load is re-
duced by 65% and 37% respectively and the NOx
emission is increased by 36% and 22% respec-
tively. In addition, with the application of weak
Miller timing, the fuel consumption of diesel en-
gine decreases by about 2 g/kw·h and the peak
firing pressure increases by about 7.5~8.4 bar.

It can be seen from fig. 8 that for 50% load, the

fuel consumption of diesel engine is 232 g/kw·h
and the smoke emission is 1.17FSN under the
(b) Peak firing pressure
condition of strong Miller timing and relatively high
EGR rate (7%), while the fuel consumption and
smoke emission of diesel engine under the condi-
tion of relatively high EGR rate and weak Miller
timing are obviously reduced, indicating that by
adjusting the intake timing, inlet charge in the
cylinders can be effectively improved, thus opti-
mizing the performance of diesel engine.

Through the analysis of the test results, it can be

seen that by using weak Miller timing at low loads,
the intake air flow of the diesel engine increases
and the in-cylinder combustion is more sufficient
so that the low-load performance is obviously
improved. It shows that the combination of EGR ,
two-stage turbocharging technology and variable
valve timing technology can achieve lower fuel
consumption and emissions at the same time.
(c)NOx emission value
3.5 Improvements of two-stage turbocharg-
ing and EGR system on engine perfor-
mance
After design and experimental optimization,
6CS21TSE diesel engine can realize two modes:
emission mode (hereinafter referred to as LE
mode) and economy mode (hereinafter referred to

CIMAC Congress 2023, Busan Paper No. 003 Page 7

as LB mode) by adjusting EGR rate, injection tim-
ing, common rail pressure and other parameters
through electronic management system. LE mode
can meet the requirements of IMO Tier III regula-
tions, while LB mode can meet CNII standards.
Compared with LE mode, the fuel consumption
rate is further reduced. Fig. 9 shows the compari-
son of power generation characteristics of 6CS21
diesel engine and 6CS21TS diesel engine, which
comprehensively represents the performance
improvement of marine diesel engine by two-stage
turbocharging and exhaust gas recirculation sys-
tem.
(a) Fuel consumption rate and peak firing pres-
sure
(b) Pressure ratio, branch pipe exhaust tempera-
ture and EGR rate
Figure 9. Influence of diesel engine performance
by use two-stage turbocharging and exhaust gas
recirculation system
It can be seen from fig. 9 that in LB mode, the
lowest fuel consumption rate is 200.8g/kW·h at
100% load; The peak firing pressure is 210bar,
and the maximum temperature before turbine is
567.4℃. In LE mode, the minimum fuel consump-
tion rate is 205.5g/kw·h at 100% load; the peak
CIMAC Congress 2023, Busan Paper No. 003
firing pressure is 194.3bar, and the maximum
temperature before turbine is 630.2℃. That is to
say, when the diesel engine runs in this mode,
there is a larger mechanical load margin, but the
thermal load margin is relatively small. In LB
mode, the weighted fuel consumption rate of the
diesel engine is 222.0g/kw·h, which is 2.9% lower
than the original engine's 228.55g/kw·h; When
operating in LE mode, the fuel consumption rate
under all working conditions is 227.9g/kw·h, which
is 0.3% lower than that of the original engine.
At the same time, the NOx emission of 6CS21TSE
diesel engine has also been greatly reduced. Fig-
ure 10 shows the influence of two-stage turbo-
charging and exhaust gas recirculation system on
diesel engine emission. In LE mode, the weighted
NOx emission of diesel engine is 1.96g/kw·h, with-
in the of IMO Tier III limit of 2.26g/kw·h, which is
77.8% lower than that of the original engine. Un-
der LB mode, the comprehensive emission of
NOx+HC is 4.45g/kw·h. The NOx emission is
50.1% lower than that of the original engine, the
weighted PM emission is 0.12g/kw·h, and the
weighted CO emission is 1.50g/kw·h, which are
lower than CNII limit of 6.2g/kW·h, 0.14g/kw·h and
5.0g respectively. That is to say, 6CS21TSE die-
sel engine greatly reduces NOx emission under
the condition that the fuel consumption rate is
reduced.
(a) low emission (LE) mode emission value
Page 8

(b) Low fuel consumption (LB) mode emission
value
Figure 10. Influence of diesel engine emissions by
using two-stage turbocharging and EGR system
4 CONCLUSION
(1) The NOx emission of diesel engine can be
reduced by increasing the EGR rate, but when the
EGR rate is greater than 26%, the performance
and combustion characteristic parameters such as
fuel consumption rate, combustion duration, tem-
perature before turbine and PM emission will dete-
riorate significantly. The EGR rate of 6CS21TSE
diesel engine should be controlled within 26%.
(2) In order to reduce the fuel consumption rate
and NOx emission of 6CS21TSE diesel engine at
the same time, the effective measures are to in-
crease EGR rate, increase injection advance an-
gle and adjust injection pressure. When weak
Miller timing is applied at low loads, engine per-
formance is obviously improved. It shows that the
combination of two-stage turbocharging, exhaust
gas recirculation and variable valve timing tech-
nology can realize the optimization of fuel con-
sumption rate and emission at the same time.
(3) 6CS21TSE diesel engine can realize two
modes of low emission and low fuel consumption
under the same hardware configuration. In low
emission mode, the weighted fuel consumption
rate is 227.9 g/kw·h, which is 0.3% lower than that
of the original engine, and the weighted NOx
emission result is 1.96 g/kw·h, which can meet the
IMO Tier III regulations. In low fuel consumption
mode, the weighted fuel consumption rate is
222.0g/kw·h, which is 2.9% lower than that of the
original engine. The NOx emission is reduced by
50.1%, and the emission of pollutants such as
NOx+HC, PM, CO can meet CNII standard.
5 DEFINITIONS, ACRONYMS,
CIMAC Congress 2023, Busan Paper No. 003
ABBREVIATIONS
IMO: International Maritime Organization
EGR: Exhaust Gas Recirculation
NOx: Nitrogen Oxides
PM: Particulate Matter
BMEP: Brake Mean Effective Pressure
HPTC: High-pressure Turbocharger
LPTC: Low-pressure Turbocharger
ICAC: Inter Charge Air Cooler
HPTV: High-pressure Turbine Bypass Valve
CAC: Charge Air Cooler
BSFC: Brake Specific Fuel Consumption
FSN: Filter Smoke Number
CA: Crank Angle
IVC: Intake Valve Close timing
EGRC: Exhaust Gas Recirculation Gas Cooler
EGRV: Exhaust Gas Recirculation Gas Valve
PR: Pressure Ratio
PFP: Peak Firing Pressure
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